4 Foods to Avoid

While no diet will target ab flab specifically, "many of us tend to store fat around our abs," says Barbara J. Moore, Ph.D., president of Shape Up America!, "so losing weight in general will help decrease fat in that area." Avoid these diet don'ts to make your middle a flab-free zone.

1.Fully Loaded Baked Potato."A large baked potato equals three to four slices of bread, which could add up to 60 hefty grams of carbohydrates," says Lisa Dorfman, R.D., a triathlete from Miami and author of The Vegetarian Sports Nutrition Guide (John Wiley & Sons, 2000). Not to mention that cheese, sour cream and butter all pack on extra fat and calories.

Better bet: Top a small spud with fat-free salsa or a half cup of 1 percent milk-fat cottage cheese. A plain sweet potato is also a great alternative. It has more flavor, so you can skip the fatty toppings.

2.Pad Thai or Chow Fun. Many Asian dishes are just noodles with fattening oils and way too much sodium.

Better bet: If you crave noodles, order an appetizer portion and ask for the sauce on the side so you can control the oil and sodium-laden soy sauce.

3.Oil. "Some people add as much as five tablespoons of oil to their greens, for a whopping 70 fat grams or 600 calories," says Dorfman. That's more than your fat quota for the whole day.

Better bet: Bag the oil and make salads more interesting with texture (egg whites or beans), flavor (parsley and other herbs or balsamic vinegar) and crunch (croutons).

4.Alcohol. Liquor and beer pack tons of excess calories.

Better bet: Sip one glass of wine on occasion, but leave the beer guzzling to the college boys.