How to get fab abs in just six months

Lisa Rennison, a mother who shrunk from a size 18 to a size 6 in just six months by dramatically changing her lifestyle, has developed such a passion for keep-fit that she has become a fitness instructor.

Lisa Rennison, 40, from Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, has kept 6 stone (84 lbs) off for 12 years by dedicating herself to a strict diet and gruelling exercise regime.

She now teaches ab-toning, spin, body combat, circuit training and body conditioning classes at three different gyms near her home.

Lisa Rennison cycles to and from work (a total of one hour every day, 70 miles per week) and runs two back-to-back hour-long classes at the gym, five or six days a week.

Her fab ab exercises:

• Cycle crunches: Lie on your back with your legs in the air and spin them around while you roll side to side. It works on your obliques and your legs
• Sit-up crunches: Lie on your back and lift your legs and your upper body – if you use weights too it’s even better
• Full sit-ups: Lie down, bend your legs and keep them on the floor, and lift your whole upper body.
• Jack Knife: Lying down and pulling your legs and arms up simultaneously.
• V-Sit: Raise your legs straight in front of you and lift your upper body to meet them.
• Russian Twists: Sit down, hold a ball, and turn your upper body from side to side with your feet on the ground
• The Plank: Hold your body up, flat, in the air, on your elbows
• Scissors: Lie on your back with your legs off the floor and scissor them.

Her current diet:

Breakfast: I always eat the same breakfast, a bowl of oats mixed with water and chopped fruit like strawberries, blueberries and bananas, plus two tablespoons of fat-free yoghurt and decaff tea

Snack: I drink lots of water, and if I have to snack I eat fruit, especially bananas which are good for energy, or apples celery and carrots which make you feel full

Lunch: A wholemeal pitta or roll with Quorn – I don’t eat a lot of meat – plus spices like chillies which speed up metabolism. I always eat loads of salad, vegetables and fruit, especially beetroot and chickpeas, plus a tiny bit of extra extra light mayonnaise or yoghurt

Dinner: Quorn meatballs with my own tomato sauce and vegetables. I also have wholewheat pasta – I don’t eat any white food. For dessert I’ll eat fruit.

Special treat: If I’m in the mood for something sweet I mix cocoa powder with yoghurt to make it really chocolatey and delicious.