Working out doesn’t have to feel like work. Choose calorie-burning activities that you actually enjoy. Play tag with your kids, take a dance class with friends or in-line skate in the park. When you train in order to have fun, socialize, feel energized or be happier, you’ll likely spend more time exercising.

Take one to two days off from exercise each week to give your muscles a chance to rest and repair. Overdo it and you are more likely to become exhausted or get injured. Yes, you have permission to rest up!

If you can carry a conversation effortlessly while exercising, you are working at a low intensity. To boost your calorie burn, pick up the pace. A good gauge: You should be able to chat, but not to sing during cardio.

Even if you love your current regimen, you need to change it up every few weeks to see results. Why? Over time, your body adapts and reaps fewer benefits. Even tiny tweaks like adding jogging intervals to your walk or using heavier weights will help burn more calories.

Aim to burn about 3500 calories weekly (500 calories per day) more than you take in and you could lose 0.5 kg a week. Hint: A 1.5 Km jog or 10 minutes of jumping rope are great ways to burn 100 calories fast!

Burn more calories on every stroll by using these techniques: Keep your elbows bent at a 90-degree angle and swing arms front to back; drop shoulders down and back; pull abs in tight; look forward so your chin is parallel to the ground; press off from the balls of your feet and land on your heels with knees slightly bent.

To burn fat, your exercise intensity needs to stay in the “fat burning zone”, which is somewhere between 60% and 80% of your maximal heart rate (MHR). Typically, you will have enough breath to carry on a conversation while you work out at this level.

Stare at the clock and a 30-minute run feels like the New York marathon. To make time fly, cover the console on the treadmill or elliptical, set a kitchen timer or stopwatch with the total number of minutes you aim to exercise and bust a move blindly until the alarm sounds.

Music can be a magical motivator. Make a cardio playlist with songs that have meaningful lyrics. Sizzling suggestion: Eminem’s ‘Till I Collapse’ with inspiring lines like: You gotta search within you, you gotta find that inner strength…and not give up…no matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face and collapse.

Shorter bursts of activity throughout the day all add up. Walk a bit further from the bus or train to work, and take the stairs instead of the elevator. Even housework counts as exercise. Vacuuming, mopping floors and cleaning the bathroom all burn calories and get your heart pumping!

Squeeze a small playground ball or yoga block between your knees during crunches or other abs exercises to tone your inner thighs while you focus on your middle. Now that’s twice as nice!

Abs can be one of your strongest muscle groups because you use them while sitting and standing. The downside? It can take extra effort to tone them. Do all of your abs exercises back-to-back until your belly begs for mercy.

Concentrate on standing tall with your head in line with your spine and your shoulders back to sneak in stomach toning throughout the day. How the middle magic works: Your abs and back muscles must engage to support perfect posture. Ab-racadabra!

Stress has many not-so-nice effects on the body and mind. Keep in balance by meditating, practice yoga or treat yourself to a massage to ease anxiety.

You don’t need to purchase pricey equipment to work on getting a firmer and flatter tummy. Try our gadget-free exercises to help you make over your middle. Of course, if you find a tone-up tool (think: Ab roller or Ab rocker) that excites you to exercise, feel free to use it, too.

Not all ab exercises are created equal. You may love crunches, but loathe planks, and that’s okay. Pick and choose a combo of moves (sit-ups, bicycles, oblique twists) that work for you based on your fitness and comfort levels. No move should cause pain. See our video for more suggestions.

For a stomach that begs to be shown off, aim to spend a total of five minutes working on your waistline most days.

Sure six-pack abs are nice, but the advantages of a strong core go way beyond simply aesthetics. Did you know that strengthening your abdominal muscles can actually help to keep your back in good shape and is essential for long-term health and well-being? Yup! What’s more: Strong abs help with good posture and standing up straight can actually make you appear slimmer.