How to Get Toned

Feeling flabby? Having a toned and shapely figure is completely within your power. Doing appropriate exercises and sticking to a balanced diet will help you to achieve a strong, taut body that not only turns heads, but also makes you feel more energized and good about yourself. You might even fit into those "skinny jeans" you've been saving at the back of your closet ... Here is how you can get toned.

Instructions

1. Exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes daily. Join a gym or aerobic class. Work with a personal trainer to learn the best and most appropriate exercises to tone up your body. Get yourself into some sort of routine that you'll stick to.

2. Incorporate some weight-training exercises into your routine as well as aerobics. If you're not familiar with weight-lifting equipment (or if that weight room in the gym makes you feel a bit lost and nervous), get started under professional guidance. A trainer can walk you through the basic equipment and explain safe ways to use it. Weight machines are usually an easier way to get started before you face the free-weight room.

3. Use brisk walking, cycling, swimming or jogging to get outside and tone your entire body.

4. Do household work that requires whole-body movement, such as dusting, gardening, cooking and washing clothes. Find an excuse to go up and down the stairs as much as possible.

5. Try a yoga class, which can help enhance the flexibility of your muscles and tone up your body.

6. Eat a balanced diet. Think more fruits, whole grains and green leafy vegetables, and less sugar, alcohol and junk food.

7. Treat yourself to a massage occasionally, to help improve your blood circulation and tone up all those new and improved muscles you're working on.

8. Keep a positive mindset. Remind yourself that you can do this, and that your mental state also affects how you look.

Tips & Warnings

• Be patient and know you're in this for the long haul. You can't tone your body in a day.