Dieting may be a short-term fix to dropping a dress size and burning the calories but it will prove unsustainable in the long-term. Instead, if you want to burn off the fat, why not embark upon an exercise routine that will see you boosting your fitness in no time?

Does this sound at all familiar? You've tried lots of different diets but in the end, they've all failed. Now you feel frustrated and you wonder if you'll ever fit into that dress size from several years ago.

Well, help is at hand because the basic fact is that diets don't work. Embarking on a diet to lose weight typically follows the pattern below:

Calorie counting forever is not sustainable, either for dieting goals or good health but if the diet is dead, how do you drop a dress size without dieting? The solution is to gradually introduce a structured regime of exercise that burns calories, makes maintaining a healthy weight easy and also tones up problem areas.

Super six toning areas

The 'Drop a dress size without dieting' plan focuses on training six key problem areas. By toning the 'Super six', specific muscles will become firmer and everything will be 'pulled in', resulting in an all-round leaner physique.

Super six toning areas

To target the super six, complete the following exercises:

Stomach

Upper stomach muscles: Sit-ups and crunches

Lower stomach muscles: V-sit leg extensions

Obliques (Sides of the abdomen)

Oblique crunches on a stability ball

Thighs and bottom

Any aerobic activity such as cycling, walking, jogging, running, rowing... , which uses the legs.

Underside of upper arms

Any triceps exercise, for example: Tricep dips, tricep extensions, tricep kickbacks.

Core

Core exercises train your inner postural muscles. These muscles aren't visible but are fundamental to holding you in and keeping you upright.

Good core exercises include

The plank, sitting on a stability ball and stability ball floor bridge.

Bulking up through exercise?

Many women focus solely on cardiovascular exercise (working the heart and lungs) because they are concerned that if they start weight-training, they will bulk up their muscles. Women are not naturally predisposed to building large muscles and will find it virtually impossible to develop anything remotely like a muscular physique. What training with weights will achieve, will be a lean, toned, slim body, with additional spin-off benefits including:

• Increased calorie burn 24 hours a day due to the higher 'energy cost' of toned muscles compared with body fat.
• Reduced risk of osteoporosis (brittle bone disease) as the skeleton is strengthened when resistance training is carried out.

How often should I train?

To optimally tone muscles, training for a minimum of two sessions per week is necessary. After 72 hours, the physiological improvements that occur following a training session begin to ebb away, so a single weekly session reduces training gains. However, by completing two sessions per week, (with a suitable rest period in between sessions), you ensure that improvements are maintained.

It is also important to note that training for seven sessions per week will not produce seven-fold improvements. Rest is the key ingredient in any training programme and it is vital to allow time for the body to recover following training.

A minimum of one day's rest between sessions is necessary to facilitate recovery and the rebuilding that occurs after training. If rest is omitted, fatigue and over-training can occur, resulting in reduced gains because the body is still tired from the previous session.

How many times should I complete an exercise?

Frequently, advice is given that to tone up muscles, lots of repetitions with light weights are necessary. This advice is suitable for basic maintenance but to reactivate dormant muscles, challenging the body with fewer repetitions using a higher weight will bring about quicker and more improved results.

Resistance exercises (triceps, obliques and stomach)

Build up to completing three sets of 12 repetitions, with a 60 second recovery between sets.

Core exercises

Build up to holding each exercise for 60 seconds.

Cardiovascular exercises

Build up to completing three, 20 minute sessions each week.

End results

Simply by carrying out the specific exercises outlined above, within six weeks, you will notice that your body has become noticeably leaner and firmer. Additionally, you will have broken out of the yo-yo diet syndrome and by sticking to your new-found healthy regime; you will see your dress size falling instead of rising!