Even the strongest, most well-developed ab muscles are invisible if they're buried under fat - most heavyweight power lifters, for instance, have tremendously strong cores, but can appear fat because of their relatively high level of body fat. If you have abdominal fat around your midsection, cutting your level of body fat is an absolute necessity if you're interested in getting a V cut, and one of the best ways to do so is with a weight-loss diet. Eat fewer calories than you burn each day, while making sure to get all of the nutrients your body needs to thrive, and you will lose weight at a healthy, controlled pace. There are countless weight-loss diets offered both online and in print. Some are healthy and sensible, others are amateurish and unrealistic, and still others are unhealthy. Most good weight-loss diets will recommend a diet based on some combination of the following advice: Eat few sugary, fatty foods. Eliminate desserts from your diet, except for rare indulgences. Eat lean, filling protein. Chicken breasts are a great choice, as are certain types of fish and leaner cuts of red meat. Low-fat dairy, nuts, and seeds are also good choices. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables. These nutrient-dense, low-calorie foods are essential for maintaining your body's health. Eat sensible amounts of carbohydrates. Whenever possible, opt for healthier, more-filling whole-wheat varieties of bread and nutritious starch products. Your weight-loss diet shouldn't be based on starvation or purging. Everyone needs to eat to a certain degree each day. Depriving your body of the food it needs will leave you tired and irritable and dull your senses. You'll be less able to perform the muscle-building exercises you'll need to build your V cut muscles and you may even experience muscle loss. In truly severe cases, you can even seriously endanger your health. Drinking water has been thought for years to aid in, or even facilitate, weight loss. More importantly, however, is its vital importance to nearly all bodily functions. Since you have (hopefully) started cardio exercise, you'll be losing much more water than usual through sweat, which you'll need to replace to keep yourself feeling alert, focused, and healthy. Many diets recommend at least 8 eight-ounce glasses of water per day. Certain studies have shown that cardio exercise, rather than resistance (strength-training) exercise, is the best choice for losing weight. However, some exercise aficionados swear by a combination of resistance training and cardio exercise, citing the fact that, while cardio alone can burn fat, building muscle through resistance training can raise your overall metabolism and thus increase the baseline caloric amount that you burn per day. If you're currently on a weight-loss diet, you're unlikely to build much muscle through resistance training. However, you will improve your form and, according to some sources, will greatly reduce the amount of muscle that you lose as you lose weight, instead losing fat almost exclusively. If you do opt for resistance exercise, perform a healthy, balanced regimen of weightlifting and body weight-type exercises. Proceed slowly - never jump straight to high-weight exercises, or you risk serious injury. One of the single most effective ways to lose fat doesn't involve drastic dieting or time-consuming exercise, which can be especially difficult to work into your schedule if you find yourself constantly busy. Simply look for opportunities to increase your physical activity level every day. Almost anything you can do to stay active throughout the day will have a boosting effect on your metabolism, which, all other things being equal, can cause you to lose weight. Try to look for ways to increase your activity during these everyday tasks: Daily commute/transportation. Rather than driving to work, consider walking, running, or biking. Investigate public transportation options, which will require you to walk to and from the stop. Work. If your job requires you to sit at a desk all day, look for opportunities to get out of the chair. Consider investing in a standing or walking desk, or, if you can, just place your computer on top of a box or two to create a "poor man's" standing desk. Switching up your desk routine is also a great idea for preventing back pain. Home relaxation. Rather than relaxing on the couch in front of the TV at home, keep moving on an elliptical trainer or do some simple exercises (like jumping jacks or lunges) on the floor. This kind of definition does not develop overnight.
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One-sentence summary -- Have a lean, healthy diet. Drink lots of water. Consider resistance training. Raise your overall activity level. Be consistent and patient.

While your mouse is in the cage, spend time talking to it, feeding it, and giving it fresh water. These things will give the mouse positive associations with your presence. This is important because you're so big that you can easily be seen as a threat. Get down to the same level as your mouse's cage. That way, the mouse won't always see you as a giant towering over it. Mice love treats. Feeding the mouse treats from your hand will give it more positive associations with you. However, you want to be careful not to get bitten, and not to encourage biting in the future. Put a treat in the palm of your hand and lower your hand into the cage slowly. The treat can be a piece of fruit or a rodent treat from the pet store. Wait for the mouse to approach you. Let it take the treat. This will teach the mouse to consistently approach you and that your hand is safe. Once the mouse is used to your hand coming into the cage, and it doesn't see you as a threat, pick it up. You can just gently scoop the mouse into your hand. If this is difficult, you can grab the mouse gently from the base of his tail and then quickly put him into your other hand. If you're going to use the tail to pick up your mouse, do so by the very base, and only do so for a moment. It can be quite painful for a mouse to be held or dangled by its tail. While you hold the mouse, speak to it gently, and try to make sure the experience is pleasant and not stressful. Do this everyday, spending more and more time with your mouse until it's very comfortable with you. Always try to end the holding session on a positive note. For example, if the mouse urinates on you, or bites you, and you immediately put it back in its cage, it will learn that those behaviors will get it to go home. Instead, aim to put the mouse back after a desired behavior, such as approaching food in your hand, or remaining still for a long moment.
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One-sentence summary -- Spend time with your mouse. Hand-feed the mouse. Pick up the mouse. Hold the mouse for increasing periods of time.

You will want a straight section of branch that has very few twists and knots. The stave will be about 5 feet (1.5m) long, so if you cut a branch down make sure not to split or crack the wood. Some of the best bow woods include yew, ash, and hickory. Any hardwood should work OK in a pinch. The stave should be no more than 2 inches (5.1cm) in diameter. Hold the stave upright, with a loose grip on the top and the bottom set against your foot. Gently push the center of the stave. The piece of wood will rotate and the natural curve of the wood will point away from you. This will show you the "inside" and the "outside" of the bow. You will be making cuts to the inside of the bow, but the outside must be left untouched. Any cuts made to the outside of the bow will severely affect the integrity of the bow, and will lead to it breaking early. Find the middle of the stave. Make marks approximately three inches out from the center in each direction. This will be the handhold. Like the back, it will remain untouched to keep the tension from snapping the bow in half.
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One-sentence summary --
Find the wood. Find the curve. Mark the handhold.