Posts Tagged ‘lose stomach fat’

How to Lose Stomach Fat Fast

Friday, March 5th, 2010

For most people, fat on the stomach persists for a long time and no matter what they do, it never goes away! How to lose stomach fat fast would be the foremost problem they would be struggling with, while doing the sit-ups and looking for ways and means to achieve a six pack set of abdomen muscles, but most fail. That is why it’s coined as ‘stubborn fat’! Dieting alone would not be of much help in losing overall weight and obtaining a flat stomach. To lose stomach fat, you have to understand the process of how it comes about first, only then you will know what you’re up against and how best to lose stomach fat fast.

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Why fat goes straight to the gut?

Contrary to popular belief, fat always goes to the stomach area first. The reason being that our bodies place them there for survival purposes. The brain places those fat contents in strategic locations to ensure that they are readily available when needed. This is especially true with regard to the waist line; the location of the fat deposits in this case is close to the liver and is readily available if a quick boost of energy is needed. If the brain senses strain, excitement or danger, it instantly starts pulling fat from these storage locations to give the body more resources and avenues to power itself during these emergency situations. And this is why the waistline is easily susceptible to fat storage and also why it is not easy to lose stomach fat fast.

Stress Hormone Cortisol makes us Fat

A major contributing factor to fat around our bellies is that of stress and the hormones that our bodies release during. Cortisol, a hormone, gets released during times of stress, when the brain senses excitement or danger (same scenario as above). Researchers have analyzed and pin point Cortisol as one of the main reasons for fat storage around the stomach. Though almost everyone suffers with daily stresses, stress cannot be eliminated as a whole. It is paramount that people who lead highly stressed lives, to take preventive measures to distress, so as to limit the production of Cortisol in the body. Also, it is very important to refrain from intake of foods that are high in carbohydrates or have high levels of fat content. Foods like cakes, breads, or any combination of fats and carbohydrates should be totally avoided. These kinds of foods are amongst the first to leave deposits of fat around the mid section, and make it hard to lose stomach fat fast. In their place, you can substitute them with low fat snacks, such as fruits and vegetables.

Lose Stomach Fat Fast Through Exercises

Watching your carbohydrate intake and avoiding fatty foods is not nearly enough, you have to combine it with an exercise program for you to effectively lose stomach fat. Exercises like general aerobics, sit-ups and crunches help to get your heart rate up, thereby causing the body’s metabolism to increase, and thereby helping you to lose stomach fat fast. By doing so, you are building abdominal muscles while burning up the fat around it. Lose stomach fat fast now, by having an exercise routine, eating right and taking your mind off things.

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Inordinately Fast Ways To Banish Belly fat

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

The best way to lose stomach fat and lose waist inches is really a myth! There is no one recognised best approach. It is more a collection and combination of pointers that together make up the ‘best way to lose stomach fat’. Amongst those combinations are all of the normal advice peddled out such as exercise, diet and so on. Here however we are going to take a quick look at some of the less obvious but potentially just as valuable approaches to burning belly fat.

1) Drink a cup of coffee and green tea everyday. Both of these have been proven to speed up the metabolic rate which therefore increases the amount of calories that can be burnt off each day by the body just by going about its normal daily routine. These drinks contain particularly high amounts of anti-oxidants that might also help prevent other diseases occurring!

2) Perform squats. The squat is perfect for giving the complete body a workout. All of the muscle in your body are required in some way or another for this exercise, some move dynamically others just act to support the body to stay in the right position. Doing squats increases both muscle mass and tone, burns off calories and because it is such a demanding exercise causes release of the muscle building and weight loss enhancing hormones into the blood stream.

3) Adaptations of your lifestyle. This includes a great many small changes that can have a profound effect overall on the number of calories that you burn each day. This can include taking the stairs rather than the lift, walking to work or cycling, or at the very least walking a few stops before getting on a bus, taking the dog for a walk regularly and so on. Let your imagination roam and see how many calories you can use up doing various activities throughout the day.

4) Try and involve your friends. the chances are pretty high that a few of your friends would be interested in shedding a few pounds of weight so why not ask them to get involved. Research has shown that having a group of people with a common goal helps to keep each other remain on target and for longer in their quest. You can then swap notes, work out together and just generally keep each other going.

5) Give up the demon booze as a real kick start to your weight reduction diet! Alright so you needn’t give it up completely but reducing the amount of alcohol that you consume is never a bad thing. Alcoholic drinks provide nothing but empty calories devoid off any worth save that of weight gain. Experiment with raw juices instead, juice a few carrots and stay at home and read a book, raw juice are a superb source of minerals and vitamins and what is more there are no hangovers to cope with.

6) Mindset. Make up your mind. Do you really want to lose weight? If you do then you can. Scientists have long known what to do in order to lose weight afterall it is not rocket science. Select a sensible approach and stick to it. Nobody else is responsible for what goes in your mouth, nobody else is responsible fore whether you get off the couch and exercise or not. It is only you that can do this. If your goal is to lose stomach fat then this is likely to be one of the best ways.

Low-Calorie Diet – does it work

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Many understand the concept that by consuming too much fat it will end up being stored on our body. The science underlying this concept and the natural benefits of a low-calorie diet is less well understood. To be successful in a weight loss program we need to understand the role fat plays in our diet and why it does indeed make us fat.

The energy available from a food item will depend on the relative proportions of fat, carbohydrates, and protein that are present. This energy is measured by a unit called a calorie which has its origins and definitions in the amount of energy required to heat one liter of water one degree centigrade at sea level.

This is of course not a lot of use when trying to lose weight. In weight loss or exercise a calorie is a measure of energy expenditure and is more correctly a kilo-calorie (one thousand calories) and is calculated initially in a laboratory setting.

A guideline would be that a pound of fat (0.454 kg) stores 3500 calories of energy. To lose a pound a week on a low-calorie diet someone would have to reduce calorie consumption by approx. 500 calories per day (The maths behind this is the 500 calorie reduction is 3500 per week and that is equivalent to 1 lb of ugly fat).

The good news is that many foods purchased in the supermarket are well marked with the number of calories which can be used to make some estimates. There is a wide range of calorie use by our body depending on many factors, not the least of these being the activity level and muscle composition.

Women require a lower calorie intake than do men, mainly because of their lower muscle proportion. A sedentary lifestyle may only use around 1700 calories/day whereas with higher activity this may increase to 2900/day or even higher in a manual job. Normal walking could use around 100 calories per mile for a 150 pound (70kg) person. We would need to walk 5 miles every day to achieve a 500 calorie deficit if we did not move to a low-calorie diet.

The number of calories in our food depends on the relative percentages of fat, carbohydrates, and protein. A snack that has a high proportion of fat may have two times as many calories as a snack that consists of protein and carbohydrates. This is because fat has 9 calories per gram whereas protein and carbohydrate only have 4 calories per gram. Many dairy products have high fat percentages and a low fat option is a good way to cut some calories and move to a low-calorie diet.

Investigations have often concluded that lean and and heavy men have a similar calorific intake. How-ever the obese men ate a higher proportion of fatty food which is more easily stored as fat than other food groups. Carbohydrates and protein require more calories to convert them to fat. Studies show they can consume as much as 25% of the calories in the food during this process.

By lowering the fat percentage of the diet without even reducing the total calories consumed weight loss could be evident. However even with all the low fat food options popping up in our food stores we still consume too much fat. It is found in a lot of those nice little additions we put on our food for taste such as dressing and sauces, and of course in a lot of those little treats such as deserts, cakes, and biscuits.

If a low-calorie diet is the aim reducing or eradicating these will be of great benefit. Reducing fat will give a good result even with a similar calorific intake. Remember that fat has just over twice the number of calories as the other food groups and is a very good area to target in a weight loss program.

In any weight loss program it is best to not be in a rush so that the body can adapt to the changes and a boom and bust cycle of dieting and weight gain is avoided. One way is to look out for some enjoyable foods that have lower calories and can be used as replacements in a low-calorie diet. We all find it can be a little tricky to drop that treat we save up for ourselves, but we need to if we are to have a long and healthy life.

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Boost Your Metabolism Fast – some practical advice

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

One of the key principles of weight loss is finding ways to burn more calories and many people look for ways boost your metabolism fast. In many instances people will find that their body is not fully functioning for a number of reasons. An explanation for why your metabolism is not at peak levels could involve an unbalanced diet, inadequate exercise, and sometimes insufficient sleep. A number of key principals are behind this idea of being able to boost your metabolism fast, and these will be dealt with.

Metabolism is the total number of processes that occur in your body, both physical and chemical that enables your body to function in all the variety of ways. Basically food is released as energy by the digestive process where it is reduced to the different components. This process releases energy which is used to maintain other bodily functions both for maintenance and for rebuilding tissues and organs.

The two component parts of metabolism are anabolism and catabolism. In biology anabolism may be defined as “the process of building up body tissue, promoted by the influence of certain hormones and catabolism my be defined as “the destructive part of metabolism where living tissue is is changed into energy and waste products”.

Therefore when you are building muscle or storing fat your body is in an anabolic state and when losing muscle or fat it is in a catabolic state. In summary our bodies need to be in an anabolic state to gain muscle, and a catabolic state to reduce fat. This can prove challenging.

By using a variety of methods to boost your metabolism fast more food can be consumed without you necessarily gaining fat. If this is the right kind of food then muscle can be built while fat is being lost. Metabolism can be lifted using a variety of methods.

Working out with weights is a well established way to boost metabolism fast both during and after the exercise. This means that metabolism will be raised as the energy goes into helping the muscles rebuild which also reduces the storage of fat. The good news is that this could well take a few days with a focus on increased intensity.

Fat is latent, unlike muscles which continue to use energy even when relaxed. If your body has a higher proportion of muscle it requires a greater number of calories for maintenance.

By eating some healthy fats your metabolism may be lifted. Also a quantity of fat is necessary in your diet for the proper performance of the digestive system and is involved in the hormone production and the healing of cell membranes. Of course this needs to be kept in balance and if additional calories are taken in from healthy fats then a reduction in other sources of calories such as carbohydrates or proteins will need to be made.

Metabolism can be raised by taking a walk at lunch time, climbing the stairs, walking to work at least some of the distance. By getting involved in lots of this modest activity as can be worked in will result in benefits long after completion.

The body needs carbohydrates just not too much and preferably of the right kind. Stay away from the sugars and instead use vegetable sources, preferably un-cooked in the main. This will help boost your metabolism fast as the higher fibre content requires more energy to extract the nutrients.

Another good idea is to stoke up your metabolism is to increase the protein component of your diet which gives a dietary source to build muscle but also causes the body to consume calories in the digestion process, more so than other foods. This will further raise your metabolism levels.

Higher calorie consumption can be achieved by lifting the intensity level for short intervals. The body will continue to recuperate after the session has been completed.

Another idea is to eat more often with smaller meals. Food fires up the digestive system which in itself burns calories. Ideally these foods should be unprocessed as much as possible which requires more energy to break them down compared with processed foods. Raw fruit, vegetables, nuts and grains are the prefect way to work the digestive system extracting nutrients.

A final idea to boost your metabolism fast is to take on water at a lower temperature than your body. The thinking behind this is that energy is required to raise the temperature. There is some debate about this concept but it may well be good for you.

By adopting these tips you will soon be burning more calories and increasing your metabolism and set you on the path to realizing your goals.

For lots of other information on weight loss and building abs check out the articles on:-

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Reduce Belly Fat For These Very Good Reasons

Monday, February 8th, 2010

Probably the main reason for people wanting to lose weight is so that they look better, and this is why they want to reduce belly fat. Apart from looking better, there is the added benefit of the major improvement in health that good food and proper exercise can bring.

A reduction in belly fat will increase well-being and make disease less likely. Not only does obesity affect your health but it also has a substantial influence on life span. A simple definition of obesity may be that if a man has greater than 25% body fat and a woman 32% they may be considered obese. An increasing percentage of the population is meeting this definition with an estimated 20% of some populations in developed countries being defined as obese.

Without a reduction in belly fat there is a much greater chance of developing heart disease, cancer and diabetes. These three are also responsible for up to 75% of all deaths in countries with high obesity levels.

With high levels of body fat your body has to work harder on a daily basis just to survive and handle the extra stress placed on your body. Obesity is also often associated with high cholesterol levels which compounds the work your heart has to do through a narrowing of the arteries. This in turn leads to problems getting sufficient blood to other organs such as the brain and to the muscles of the heart itself. Blood pressure then rises which can lead to heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure.

Scientific and medical substantiation is coming out regularly that there is a correlation between belly fat and many cancers such as colon and prostrate in men, and in women breast and uterine in particular. It is thought that fat may actually store cancer causing chemicals.

The manufacture of insulin by our body is a fine line of keeping the equilibrium between carbohydrate and fat in food intake. If carbohydrates are not needed directly it will be stored as fat. If this is combined with high consumption of fat our bodies can get out of equilibrium and will begin to manufacture even more insulin. Insulin’s role in maintaining blood sugar quantities is upset which can lead on to diabetes. Diabetes can lead to amputation of limbs, blindness, stroke, sexual problems, kidney failure, stroke, heart disease and not uncommonly, death.

The upside is that a modest exercise routine done regularly, tied in with a good diet, can see substantial reduction in risk factors, and may eliminate others. By reducing belly fat immediate health benefit will be evident, as well as some that will only show up in the longer term. Heart disease, many forms of cancer, and diabetes will all respond to a reduction in belly fat.

Now that you have learnt about some of the risks of belly fat and why we all need to lose it check out the attached link for lots more information:-

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Losing Belly Fat – Measure Progress

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

The most used way to measure progress in your battle to lose belly fat has been to measure your weight. This should ideally be done at the same time of the day and the  steady change noted rather than the adjustment each day.

How-ever this is certainly not the only way to calculate your progress in your loss of fat, even though the aim has been called weight loss. Important indicators can be measured that help determine progress in meeting goals.

Soon after starting an exercise program you will see some positive changes in your exercise capacity, or how long you can keep going on the same workout, before you begin to tire.

Or possibly you become aware that you can have an lift in intensity of exercise in the same period of time. These are all indicators of progress in your battle to reduce stomach fat. Even though you may not have been able to notice that you have started to do so you will be making substantial progress.

As your program moves along you will have increased energy both during and after the workout. The time to recover will show progress and energy levels increase. You will find that exercises that may have been difficult before are now substantially easier, and you don’t need to exert yourself so much. You may find yourself keen to get out of bed in the morning and begin the day, rather than being slow to get started.

As you lose stomach fat you will notice that your clothes now look like yours again, that trusty belt can be moved a notch closer to where you you wore it when you were married, your shirt is no longer so tight across your stomach. The great thing is that your weight will shift and your body will start to change shape.

Muscle weighs substantially more than fat for the same volume, it is denser, and as you workout your body composition will begin to change. Body fat percentages will reduce and this can be calculated by some simple pinch tests over some key areas such as over the hip and on the back of the arm above the elbow.

These indicators may have improved, you have shed fat, feel better, your clothes fit, you can exercise for increasing periods of time, and your fat levels have decreased and you haven’t lost any weight as such.

Measuring your weight is only one of the many facets to take account of in your new workout to lose stomach fat.

 

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Best Food To Lose Weight

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

One of the main reasons people go off their diet is because they get hungry and then have a hard job sticking with it. By just reducing food to lose weight you may be setting yourself up for failure when, in fact, you can eat more if you change the combination of food.

Many of the meals that we eat combine both fats and carbohydrates which is not a good thing to do. Unfortunately these two foods together will result in gaining more weight than if they were consumed separately at different times.

Researches have found that the fat you are ingesting is not necessarily being stored as body fat. By combining this with carbohydrate problems will result.

Carbohydrates release sugar into blood but are also easily converted into fat because it causes the pancreas to produce increased quantities of insulin. Insulin assists in the storage of various nutrients to storage sites. The production of insulin following a diet of fat and carbohydrate will result in even more storage of fat.

Insulin is the hormone that allows blood sugar to be used by the cells. A side effect of insulin is that it also causes fat to be deposited from both the fat intake and the carbohydrate intake; a double whammy is that it also provides a stimulus to your brain to produce hunger signals in your stomach!

Fat can be stored without insulin, but combine carbohydrates with fat and insulin and your body will be storing away fat at a greater rate. Your body will continue to gain weight if insulin levels increase because you feel compelled to eat greater quantities of carbohydrate. It is not a good idea to combine these two if you want to lose weight.

By eating carbohydrates which are quite quickly broken down into glucose you will receive an energy burst. Excess carbohydrates will be converted and stored as fatty deposits.

As a summary both fat and carbohydrates can be stored by the body as fat.Carbohydrates are stored if there is a surplus in calories above that required.

By reducing how much carbohydrate you take into your body you will put an end to this cycle, insulin levels will decline, and your body will return to balance. Ideally fats and carbohydrates should not be consumed in the same meal if your goal is eight loss.

A handy tip is to always eat protein in every meal and then combine either fat or carbohydrate but certainly not both, this will lead to some good progress.

To keep weight gain from occurring these bad combinations should be avoided. The list of ordinary foods that should be avoided includes lots of things that would already be familiar such as baking (cookies, cakes, desserts and puddings), bread, food with butter in it, deep fried food such as chips and fries, rich sauces and dressings, and rice with fat containing toppings.

Of course carbohydrates are a very necessary component our diet, together with protein, fat, and water. Carbohydrates should make up the bulk of our diet. The main sources are bread, cereal, rice, pasta, potatoes, and other grain products together with fruit and vegetables, legumes, nuts, dairy products, and sugars.

For more information check out:-

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How To Lower Calories To Lose Weight

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

There are a few fat loss secrets that you should know, but none of them are more important than the idea that you must cut calories to lose weight. It is often thought that by eating less and shifting to fresh salads that the fat will melt away.

The bad news is that our body is not wired that way. Humans are a survival type of animal and have developed over time so that fat is stored for when it may be required. By not consuming enough calories our bodies think it is starving which makes it want to keep the fat already stored.

The body is a wonderful self balancing system that will adjust with a reduction in food intake. How-ever when losing weight the hormones will signal that body metabolism should slow, appetite will increase, and anything possible should be stored as fat.

Studies have shown that a rapid weight loss, or a reduction in calorie intake significantly below what you need decreases leptin production. This hormone will signal to your body that calorie consumption is not adequate. Our bodies are very adaptable and will reduce metabolism, increase the cravings for more food, and store fat, all of which we want to avoid.

The major focus should not be on strict dietary intake to reduce fat. A more careful approach is preferred so that we do not get into a survival type situation. By taking this approach the reduction in calorie intake will be less but there will be a deficit in what is needed for the retention of your current weight which of course will lead to the goal.

If you can reduce the number of calories that you are taking in and combine this with a good exercise program of increasing intensity, then you will see results. This avoids your body moving into starvation mode and defeating your goals before you have even begun to achieve them.

To further assist you in losing weight you should never miss meals as a way to cut calories to lose weight. The body moves into protection mode if those steps are taken. Instead simply reduce your intake at each meal so that you have a modest calorie deficit.

As your exercise intensity increases and you build muscle you may find that you are eating as much as you ever were and still be losing weight.

For more information check out the attached link:-

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Excess Abdominal Fat Risks

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

The richer countries of the world have seen marked increase in obesity levels, especially in the last couple of decades, and a lot of this weight gain has been around the abdominal area.

Many people become frustrated about this when they look in the mirror and are unhappy about the restrictions on their activities. However there is no apparent realization that the excess belly fat has huge health implications out of proportion to overall weight gain.

The worst of the offenders is the visceral fat lies within the abdominal cavity and spreads around the internal organs. This type of fat is higher risk than that found around your gut area on the outside of your stomach muscles (commonly called subcutaneous fat).

This visceral type of excess abdominal fat has been linked to increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, sleep apnea, various forms of cancer and certain types of metabolic irregularities, not to mention breast cancer and the need for gallbladder surgery in women. This must give some importance to an effort to get rid of that weight.

An indication of this fat type is the rounded body shape and not so much the pear shape. The best measurement is at the waist and this will often indicate potential health issues. A commonly used way of measuring the total body fat is the Body Mass Index (BMI), how-ever this does not provide information on visceral fat which is of higher risk.

Visceral fat will disappear more quickly with a good exercise and diet program and the risks of poor health will also drop. This fat seems to have a role in producing hormones that can adversely affect our health in liver function, cholesterol levels, and insulin resistance, and cancer susceptibility, and so it is well worth the effort of trying to reduce.

The more visible fat on the outside of the stomach muscles is actually of lessor risk but is harder to eliminate.

lowering the risks is worth doing and something can be done. Working out the major muscles of the body 3-4 sessions a week, even in a moderate way, will provide certain health benefits.

A combination of some mildly aerobic exercises such as walking and jogging, together with the use of weight training with an emphasis on the bigger muscle groups will increase calorie burn both during and after the exercise session.

Of course a sensible diet with a strong emphasis on fruits and vegetables, and lean meat will also assist in reducing that excess abdominal fat.

For more information check out :-

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Tough Talk About Toning Abs

Friday, January 8th, 2010

People interested in toning abs usually miss one crucial thing:? they tend to think it’s about the workout.? These are the folks who’ll do crunch after crunch and leg lift after leg lift.? They’ll work their abs till the pain is so excruciating they can no longer even move.? They’ll do this for months, maybe years:? still the persistent ring of flab still remains.? Even with the workouts, they still can’t see the ripples they’ve worked so hard to get.? So they’ve built their abs, but what can they do about toning them properly?

The answer is deceptively simple:? the key to toning abs is diet.? There are at least two factors in a good workout regimen;?the exercise and the diet.? This has always been the case, no matter what one advertisment or another tells you.? It doesn’t matter how much Slim fast you drink;?if you’re still sitting on your butt for sixteen hours a day and sleeping for the other eight, you won’t get in shape.? On the same token:? it doesn’t matter how many crunches, sit–ups, leg-lifts, bicycles, or waves that you do;? if you’re still eating pork rinds for lunch and Ho-Hos for dessert, your abs will always retain the same flabbiness you’ve been trying to get rid of this whole time.

This is a key concept that most of the get-fit-quick schemes on television conveniently forget to tell you.? All right:? so it’s not really that they’ve forgotten to tell you;?it?s that they want you to believe that you can have the body of a god without having to put any work into it.? They tell you these things in order to do one thing, and one thing only:? to sell you something.? Usually that something is sneakily paired with a something else (owned by the same company) to fill in the other component of a proper work-out regimen.? The truth is that these companies know that toning abs is, in fact, a two-pronged process.? They hope that you don’t figure that out till you’ve called their company and bought their product.?

Let me be absolutely clear:? any commercial you see is selling you something.? Welcome to America.? Every ad company wants to sell you something assuming you’re too stupid to realize what they’re selling you.? Frankly, if you’re gullible enough to think that a diet can tone your abs on its own, you deserve to be taken for the money you spend on that diet.? If you think that any single ab machine can give you the toned, rock-hard abs you see the models parading around with, you deserve to be taken for the money you spend on that machine.? Know that if you find a hybrid approach– exercise AND diet together– you will be much better off in your quest to tone those abs.

Dan Robey is the author of “The Power Of Positive Habits” which is publishing in 26 countries around the world.If you want to lose body fat faster, check out these 5 tips to Burn Stomach Fat the smart and effective way at http://findthetruthaboutabs.com.