This way you will have a tight stomach within 8 weeks

I will confess right away: this is not about a miracle cure to lose ten kilos in eight weeks. We don't all need to have the once-famous ‘Britney belly’. But it is nice to feel good about your body, and that has everything to do with taking good care of yourself. For example, I noticed that by not exercising, I became lazier. Biking to the office is part of my daily routine, but extra effort outside of that? I didn't feel the need for that. But still, it was time to do something about it. Eating a chocolate bar every day unfortunately doesn't make you happy in the long run. In the short term, it does work well for your happiness, but that's beside the point.

Because I felt absolutely no motivation myself, I decided to hire a personal trainer. That is quite drastic, but in my case really necessary. I can definitely recommend it for a short period. The idea that you have an appointment with someone that you have to cancel otherwise is just a good motivator. Additionally, you learn a good routine that you can maintain even without your trainer.

What works best is definitely a HIIT, or High Intensity Interval Training. This means that you first ensure that your heart rate is between 170 and 180 beats per minute, because that is when you burn the most calories. The cardio exercises you do to maintain this heart rate are alternated with strength training. My favorite cardio machine is the stair climber. You probably know it from the Kardashians, so the hope is of course that you end up with just as great a butt (which is totally unrealistic, but hey, the idea helps with perseverance).

For strength training, there are so many options that it's impossible to name them all. Fortunately, there are more than enough fitfluencers who can help with choosing different workouts. The most important thing is the variety. So do leg exercises one day, arm exercises the next day, and the best part is: your abs can always be included in workouts for both your upper and lower body. Sit-ups with weights in your hands, a dumbbell between your feet when lifting your legs; be creative!

Before you know it, the skin around your belly tightens, you lose that one centimeter that makes your belly look just a bit tighter, and you eat just a bit healthier than when you don't exercise, because otherwise you feel it's a shame to ruin your hard work with a bag of chips and a bar of Tony's Chocolonely. So yes, as I warned: you don't get the result for nothing. But maybe you'll be even prouder when you know how much perseverance it took to achieve this.

Image: @christinanadin