Todays eating plan and ab secret

BREAKFAST: Bowl of Kellogg's Corn Flakes with 1/2 banana cut into it & of course a cup of tea

SNACK: A marshmallow chocolate Easter egg, (af is obviously about to arrive)

LUNCH: 1 Italian roll with pickle mix cottage cheese. (I use plain chunky cottage cheese, chop up pickled onion, a gherkin and some spring onions. Mix it all together and add salt n pepper to taste

SNACK: I really don't know... probably a plum or two

SUPPER: My stepson has invited his girlfriend and their friends around, so I'll be cooking for quite a few hungry teenagers tonight. We will definitely be braaing to wind down. On the menu, a rib eye steak each and boerewors to share. A green salad with the usual ingredients, a potato salad, mielies on the cob and a French loaf stuffed with feta, garlic, sun dried tomatoes and olives. (I only stuff half with olives because half of us eat them and half of us don't). A glass of wine... my special treat.

THE MUCH AWAITED AB SECRET... (I will post a video on Monday, just in case you're confused).

1. Get yourself a big towel or yoga mat, you will sweat.
2. Lay down on the towel on your back.
3. Bend your knees so that your feet are on the ground and your knees are about 90 degrees to the floor. Walk your bum down, so that your back is absolutely flat on the ground, (a bit difficult for us ladies with a hollow back).
4. Straighten your arms next to your sides, palms facing the floor.
5. Tighten your abs and take 5 deep breaths. (This may take a little practice).
6. Now lift your shoulders about 2cms from the ground, taking care not to bend your neck or round your shoulders too much. Lift your arms from the ground so that they are in line with your knees. This is your starting position.
7. Now rock slightly forward, do not use your lower back at all, the aim here is to crunch your abs, you should be able to just touch your knees with your fingers.
8. Now here is the tricky part.... back down to your starting position. You may not rest your shoulders back on the floor, you need to remain 2cms from the ground and you need to keep your neck straight and shoulders only slightly rounded. You can test your position by placing one of your hands on top of your abs, they will feel tight and hard.
9. If you're doing it properly, you should start to feel your top abs begin to burn after about the 10th crunch.
10. Start with 10 crunches, lay flat and take 5 deep breaths. Now repeat the process.
11. Depending on how strong your abs are, you should start with 50 crunches and work your way up to 100. You will know you're ready to add an extra 10 when you are not feeling the burn at the end of your allotted amount.

SIDE AB CRUNCHES.

1. Repeat steps 1 through 6 above. Instead of crunching your abs up toward your knees, twist your body to the right and aim to touch your left knee with your right hand, taking care not to lift from your back, but rather from your stomach.
2. Back to starting position, now to the left and touch your right knee with your left hand.
3. If you feel you can, extend the crunch to just past your knee, but not too far, as you will start to lift your side of the floor.
4. Repeat.
5. Repeat steps 10 and 11.
6. You should start feeling a burn on the top and sides of your stomach.

LOWER ABS.

1. You might want to do this in private, because, well there is no dignified way of doing it and you will look stupid.
2. Find a continental pillow or fold a towel up and kneel down on it.
3. Make sure your knees are about 10cms apart.
4. Hands on your hips. Pull your stomach and bum in nice and tight.
5. Thrust your hips forward and moving to whichever side feels natural, begin a figure of 8 movement with your hips only, don't use your knees or your thighs.
6. Repeat 5 times and rest.
7. Repeat the process until you have done 25.
8. WARNING: This particular ab exercise if done too often or with too many reps causes that v shape going down into the pubic area. Now although it looks super sexy on men when that area is very defined, it can look a little strange on women. I learned this the hard way. What you're going for is more of a "come hither" look, not giant flashing neon lights.

Some strangeness.... If you put your hands on your top abs, the ones just under your rib cage, straight after you have finished a set of crunches, and particularly near the end of your work out you will still feel them contracting and releasing.