Most men would like washboard like abdominals and most women would like a nice flat tummy. It is a shame that many people believe that they can spot reduce the mid section by performing abdominal exercises. But the truth is if all you do is exercise your abdominal muscles, you are sure to be disappointed as this is never going to work. There is more involved in protruding abdomens and expanding waistlines than weak muscles.

The abdomen is where your body stores its excess body fat first, when this storage depot is filed up the body then creates other storage depots in other places. So, the real problem is one of a higher overall body fat percentage that has nothing whatsoever to do with weak abdominal muscles.

If your waistline measures greater than 40 inches(102 cm) for men, and 35 inches (89 cm) for women you are well on the way to serious health risks such as the 'big three' heart disease, cancer and diabetes. As the years pass by and you continue to gain weight the risks increase. If your diet is low in fiber, has lots of saturated fat, is high in calories and if you live a sedentary or inactive lifestyle you are in even bigger trouble.

To turn this situation around you need to do two main things. Get started on a proper exercise program and let it get to work on reducing your body fat levels and reducing the size of your girth to get back under the radar of health risks.

If you are new to exercise it is important that you seek the help of a fitness professional to set up your program. This program needs to contain mostly strength training exercise in order to stimulate your metabolic rate in the quickest possible manner. This special type of exercise will tone the muscles where the majority of fat is burned in the body and speed up your body's engine to burn more fuel 24/7.

The balance of your exercise program should contain interval training. This essentially is short bursts (8-12 seconds) of all out activity alternated with longer rest periods. An example of this would be sprinting for 10 seconds then walking for 30 seconds to one minute depending on your current fitness level. This is repeated 10 or more times, 2-3 times per week.

These two parts of your exercise program will work together to give you the very best results but you will need proper instruction not only to set it up, but to monitor results and increase intensity (degree of difficulty) over a period of time. Done correctly you will be amazed how quickly you will be able to deal to that expanded waistline.

The other factor is of course your eating plan. The rules for this are simple, 5-6 small meals spread throughout the day at 2-3 hours intervals. These meals are made up with a protein source as the central component with several raw or cooked vegetables and a complex carbohydrate (rice, pasta, grains etc) to balance it up.

Try and stick to natural, unprocessed whole foods as much as possible. Foods in pretty boxes made with dirt cheap ingredients with little to no nutritional value will not help you become healthier and get your body fat level under control. In fact they will work against you and that is not what you need.

Tip: Focus on what you should be eating, not what you shouldn't be eating.

Take the time to plan what you are going to eat the next day, prepare it and take it with you wherever you go. Then there will be no chance you will be hungry and be tempted to eat unhealthy fat forming foods.

Reducing the size of your waistline is just a part of improving your health and fitness. Like life it is a journey and all you have to do is take the first step. Making good choices now will not only reduce your excess body fat it will rejuvenate your entire life.