For women, losing the fat around their midsection can be both the battle and the war.
Achieving a flat belly can be challenging. Between balancing work, a healthy diet, and exercise, it can be hard to get rid of stubborn belly fat. However, it's not impossible; and luckily for you, with the exercises below, we're settling your battle in searching for the top ab routines, to ensure you win the war for your best summer body.
Click through the slideshow below to check out the top ten exercises to get a flatter stomach, just in time to show it off on the beach.
*For each workout, choose a combination of at least eight different ab exercises targeting various muscle groups. Complete 8-12 repetitions, and 2-3 sets.
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At the beginning of the year, we are being shown how significant 2025 will be for love. From March 1, 2025, until April 12, 2025, Venus, the planet of love and relationships, will be retrograde. Venus goes retrograde approximately every 18 months and hasn’t been retrograde since the Summer of 2023. With love taking a step back at the beginning of the year, we move through a time of understanding the emotional world better and letting go of trying to control outcomes here.
What Does 2025 Have in Store for Love?
It’s time to refocus your relationship priorities overall, and with this retrograde happening in both Aries and Pisces, Aries being the first sign of the zodiac and Pisces being the last; there is a chapter we are closing and a new one we are walking into.
Another significant factor that is influencing relationships this year, is Jupiter’s entry into Cancer. Jupiter brings blessings, abundance, luck, and expansion, and in water sign Cancer, brings these gifts to your emotions. Cancer rules emotional safety, foundations, close loved ones, family, support, and emotional well-being, and with Jupiter in this sign from June 9, 2025, until June 30, 2026, we experience blessings in stability within love. This is a good year for building stronger foundations in love, aligning with those who are loyal and supportive, knowing what you need emotionally, and being a lot clearer on it.
Letting Go of the Past: The Astrological Theme of 2025
Overall, the guideline for the year when it comes to love is to focus on the bigger picture and let things work themselves out without forcing them to. Magic will come in for you this year when you can assess your needs and wants, let go of illusions or smoke and mirrors, and focus on the things you want for yourself rather than what you don’t. Your focus and beliefs on love are the priority right now, and things will be coming full circle for the better.
Read below to see your personal 2025 love forecast. Read for your sun, moon, and rising signs.
ARIES
2025 is one of the more significant years for you, Aries. A lot of the major transits are happening in your sign, which includes Venus retrograde in Aries at the beginning of the year, Neptune in Aries from March 2025 until 2039, and Saturn in Aries from May 2025 until 2028. Not to mention, Chiron, the wounded healer is currently in your sign until 2027.
What this means for you when it comes to love, is that you have learned a lot about where you want to be here, and it’s the year to implement more of these tools and knowledge of the heart.
This year for love is about honoring your integrity and what you need personally to thrive in life and creating that space to let it in. You need someone who will be there for you through whatever you are experiencing in life and not someone who adds to these challenges. This year is a time of rising above, and choosing better for yourself.
TAURUS
2025 for you when it comes to love, is all about perspective and taking better care of your heart, Taurus. Uranus, the planet of change, rebellion, progress, and upheaval, has been in your sign since 2019, and this year you get a break from all of the surprises. From Jul. 7, 2025, until Nov. 7, 2025, Uranus leaves your sign and enters Gemini, giving your mind and your heart some time to breathe.
This year you are being given the opportunity to see things for what they are, rather than what you fear them to be. You are able to see your relationship dynamics clearer, allowing you to feel more confident in what you are building and creating for yourself in this area of your life. What you are working on this year is letting go of overthinking, and allowing things to play out the way they are meant to in love.
GEMINI
This year you are feeling in balance when it comes to love, Gemini. Relationships are important to you in life overall, as you are a relationship-oriented sign, but it can be difficult at times to keep the balance and perspective here. This year, with lucky Jupiter in your sign until June, you have the opportunity to be blessed with some fortunate circumstances personally and within romance.
You are feeling yourself this year, and this is attracting you success and new opportunities within love.
Uranus will also be in your sign this year from Jul. 7 until Nov. 7, and some surprises are in store for you. Pay attention to what happens in your love life during this period, as similar themes will be coming back around for you when Uranus officially enters its Gemini transit from 2026 - 2032. Overall, this year is about balancing what’s coming and going in love, and finding your peace within your inner confidence for it all.
CANCER
2025 for you, Cancer, is about stability in love. You are growing emotionally from the ground up, and are feeling a sense of support, confidence, romance, and receptivity in your love life this year. You are one of the lucky signs of 2025, and this is due to Jupiter, the planet of blessings, entering your sign from June 9, 2025, until June 30, 2026. While Jupiter is in your sign, your life expands and you are able to see the gifts of your world that may have been harder to come by previously.
This is a year of spending more time with your loved ones and feeling more heard and supported emotionally. Safety and security are especially important to you this year, and you are only entertaining the people who feel that way about you and provide that. Many Cancers will be expanding their families this year or developing a long-term relationship, and overall this is a year of feeling stronger when it comes to love.
LEO
When it comes to love this year for you, Leo, it’s about trusting your intuition and listening more to what your heart is telling you. There are not many major transits happening in Leo in 2025, which means there is a lot of room to grow, but you may be feeling a lack of support or encouragement to do so. A lot of Leos are taking a step back to look at where they are currently in love, and yearning for some change and a new direction here.
Neptune will be in your 9th house of adventure for most of this year, and you are being asked to get inspired and do things differently, but don’t take unnecessary risks in love that may not serve you in the long run.
It can be easy to get lost in the fantasy of love rather than the actual reality you’ll live in here, and taking more time to understand yourself, your relationships, and the dynamics in your love life will be necessary. Overall, your heart is healing this year and you are moving away from the past and creating your new future.
VIRGO
This year when it comes to love, you are going through changes that are aligning you closer to your goals and dreams here, Virgo. You are focused on making things work that you want to see bloom, and also letting go of putting effort into people that aren’t reciprocating the same energy. With the North Node entering your sister sign Pisces and the South Node moving into your sign from Jan. 11, 2025, until Jul. 26, 2026, you are doing a lot of letting go over the next year.
However, with the North Node being in your 7th house of love, new doors and gifts are also opening up for you and your partnerships. The more you can let go of perfection and overworking your mind and your heart, the more blessings you will experience when it comes to love this year. In 2025, you also have two Eclipses in your sign, and there are overall a lot of changes Virgos are moving through this year. Your main guidance for love is to stand by the things that serve your heart and release yourself from what burdens it.
LIBRA
Love is coming to fruition for you this year, Libra. You have been through a lot in your personal life these past few years, and walking into 2025, you are ready for some positive change. This is a year of feeling in balance with your personal goals and dreams, and what you are experiencing romantically and financially as well. Relationship dynamics are serving you and your sense of abundance, and many gifts are coming your way in love this year.
With Neptune, Chiron, and Saturn all being in your 7th house of love, your love life and partnerships are the main focus for you in 2025.
You are moving through changes, overcoming previous obstacles, and bringing back the dreamy energy here. With Chiron in the 7th, you are still doing some healing of the heart, but with Neptune now entering, it all feels a little more romantic and spiritual at the same time. This year is about believing in the impossible in love, taking care of yourself, and allowing someone else to take care of you as well.
SCORPIO
This year is all about opportunity when it comes to love, Scorpio. You have your eyes on the prize and are focused on what you want for yourself, but also how you want to show up for love as well. You have goals and intentions that you are setting for your love life this year, and a lot of them reflect the passion and strength you are feeling as you enter the year. Vesta is in your sign this year until September, and you have a spark within you that is a magnet for success and love. You are walking forward confidently and are feeling inspired, sexy, and magical this year.
This is a very sensual and powerful year for you, and this energy is being reflected in the relationship experiences you are having. Jupiter also enters your 9th house of adventure halfway through the year, and there is something special about the trips you are taking and the risks you are taking in love. Overall, this is a year of doing things your way and attracting love to you through your inner confidence and charisma.
SAGITTARIUS
This is a beautiful year of feeling balanced and abundant in love, Sagittarius. There is a lot of energy coming in and you are giving a lot of love as well. This sense of synergy you are feeling within your love life this year has a lot to do with Juno, the asteroid of soulmates, in your sign from Feb. 19 - Apr. 15. Your people are coming in and you have options this year, Sag.
This is a year of feeling loved for the inspiring, outgoing, and unique being you are, and meeting more people who match your energy.
Saturn also enters your 5th house of romance this year, and you are learning a lot through your experiences with others. You are learning how to be more confident in who you are and what you want for yourself and also recognizing the importance of making more time for fun and playful experiences. This is the year to see love as a more light-hearted experience and to not take yourself too seriously.
CAPRICORN
You are letting things come to you when it comes to love this year, Capricorn. You are feeling beautiful, capable, and worthy, and you are receiving the gifts that come from this sense of confidence and patience. This past year, you were setting a lot of new goals for yourself and your relationships, and in 2025, you are experiencing the results of these efforts.
Jupiter moves into your sister sign Cancer from June 9, 2025, until June 30, 2026, and enters your 7th house of love, partnerships, romance, marriage, and harmony. Your love life and experience of it all are expanding this year, and benevolent Jupiter is sending blessings to this area of your life. This is a year of things coming full circle for you in love, and you feel less confused about it all and more sure of yourself and what is becoming for you here.
AQUARIUS
Love is a highlight for you this year, Aquarius. You are coming together with another, and many Aquarius’ will be forming new relationships or growing within a strong relationship. You are experiencing the fruition of your dreams in love, and are also able to heal and let go of past emotional experiences that have been overwhelming for you in the past.
The North Node enters your 12th house of closure this year, and you are motivated towards change, cleaning house, and releasing the cobwebs of the past.
You are walking into new emotional experiences with less baggage and self-doubt, and are experiencing a fresh start in love. This is a year of asking for what you need emotionally and receiving it. Love is coming in for you in harmonious and magical ways, and you are rewriting your story in love in 2025.
PISCES
You are moving through a lot of changes when it comes to love in 2025, Pisces. This is a year of closure, healing, and giving yourself a fresh start, and the way you enter the year will be a lot different than the way you end it. The North Node of Destiny enters your sign this year, and the South Node of Karma enters your 7th house of love. So, a lot of your focus this year is on your personal goals and path, and there may be some neglect or lack of focus on your relationships.
This can create some discord with those close to you, and your guidance for this year is to try to balance the personal successes and wins you are experiencing, with the love changes that also need your attention right now. Know that what leaves your life this year is being replaced by something better, and also know that your healing doesn’t need to have a timeline and you can take as much time as you need to grow. Overall, you are turning a new page in love in 2025.
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But we were kind of toying with the idea of moving here, and so from that point on, when we came back to the US, we were like, you know what, let's actually make the move. Like, why not? We were weighing the pros and cons of moving abroad, and the pros outweighed the cons. We don't have any property in the US. At the time, we didn't have any kids.
We both worked remotely, so there was nothing really keeping us tied to the US in any way outside of family, obviously. That was the only real con. We were going to miss church as well since Morocco is a Muslim country and we're Christian. So those were the two things that were like, okay, we're going to miss it, but, we can operate without it for a while.
Courtesy
So after we weighed the pros and cons, we started aligning everything in terms of logistics, like booking the flights, talking to our places of employment as well, because I did have to have a conversation with them to make sure that I could work outside of the US, and they were okay with it.
By the time we booked our ticket, we were not pregnant. Then, when we were in the process of moving from Nashville to Las Vegas because we did have to move back to my hometown to drop off some valuable stuff, that was when we found out that we were pregnant.
When we initially told our family that we were going to move abroad, it was like the beginning of 2024. So, one, we knew the election was looming, so we're like, you know what, this may be a good time to go. And our family was in support of it. When we found out that we were pregnant, there was a little bit of hesitancy and some pushback from a few relatives saying, maybe wait a little bit. Just have the baby in the States, and then once the child is one or two, then go abroad and all that stuff.
We were like, 'Hey, y'all, we're gonna still do this,' and so they were still supportive. And now that we're here, they're like, 'Oh yeah, you guys made the right move, for sure,' especially post-election day. We have been here two months [and] oh, man, it has been very relaxing.
Courtesy
I thought it was going to be a stressful move. I think, in a way, we kind of overthought it. We were like, oh my goodness, I don't know. Our lives are just going to be turned upside down because we're in a different country, but that wasn't the case.
I feel like moving here has been even beneficial for me being pregnant because this country moves at such a slower pace, and there's a lot more leisure time, and they actually value spending time with one another and going slower, but still getting work done. And I think that that's helped me being able to have a stress-free pregnancy, which I value as a Black woman because I know there's a lot of different things that can factor in stress for us.
It's been a very eye-opening experience as well because we're just being exposed to a different culture. It's not entirely different. I don't think it's too much of a culture shock, but with it again, being a very Muslim country, there's different values that they have here, that the US doesn't particularly [such as] valuing family.
You'll see a lot of fathers with their children. In the US, you usually see a mom out with the baby, or the moms out with the kids. Here, it's like the fathers are taking care of the kids. They're playing with them. It's very, very different to see that.
Courtesy
The food quality has been better to where I don't feel bloated or nauseous all the time after I eat, which has been very, very good for the baby. I'm eating a lot healthier. I don't feel like the food is tainted with all this GMO and all these different things, and also, it's just inexpensive as well.
We have eaten out every single day. We haven't cooked at all since we've moved, but, the food is so good to where I don't feel like I've eaten out. It's quality food, and the dollar has just gone a lot further here. Since we still do have our US jobs, we're earning US money. But for every dollar, there's 10 dirham (Moroccan money). So I feel like even that factor of finance has been stress-free, not thinking about inflation as much.
Overall, though, this experience has been great, and I think even for my husband, too; him working in finance and also having his US job. I think that there's been more balance for the both of us in making sure that we're not overworking ourselves versus in the US. [In the US,] there's kind of the grind culture; the grind don't stop.
But here they're like, no, we want you guys to work, but make sure that you're taking time for leisure. Make sure you're taking time for rest. And so we're doing just that, and I feel like we've both been more balanced in our work-life.
I feel like it's been really easy to get to know people here. We had a couple of people that we met the first time we traveled here during our honeymoon, including my cousin. So we were able to ask them for help or for different insights before we moved from the US here, but since being here, I feel like we've been able to get to know people through frequenting places. There's certain restaurants that we'll go to weekly, and they kind of know us, we know them, we'll chat. So that's been nice.
Courtesy
I guess an issue is the language barrier because there are four different languages that they speak here. They speak French, Spanish, Arabic, and English. So it's difficult to have a full-on, in-depth dialog with people because they don't speak English that well.
But I think just the friendliness of the environment is still something that we're able to connect to. The lady that we're renting this apartment from, she went out of her way and made a Moroccan couscous, and we're thinking she's just going to bring it, knock on the door, and like, Here you go. Enjoy it in private. But she came in and sat with us and ate a meal with us. Just the warmth of this country and the people in general has just been exceptional, and it's so different than what we've experienced in the US.
[Regarding giving birth,] we were considering having the baby here because, one, it's inexpensive healthcare here. It wouldn't have been as much. It would have been, maybe, a couple of thousand [dollars]. But I have free healthcare in the US, and so my family's like, free is better than having to pay for something. Also, they want to be there to support during that birthing process in the first few months of the baby's life too.
That's our first child, my parents' first grandchild. So I was like, let me have the baby in the US so that we're closer to them, but we definitely considered having the child here. We're gonna go back in early January, and then we'll come back in the summer, around June. After she's had her shots and has her passport and everything, we'll move back here permanently.
For this first leg of the move, it was kind of just exploring the housing market, seeing what apartments looked like; houses, checking out the pricing and everything like that, and kind of just familiarizing ourselves. Hopefully, by the end of this trip, we can have a home to come back to when we do return to Morocco.
We don't necessarily have a set date or a set amount of years that we want to be in Morocco. I do know I don't want to move again for at least three to five years, ideally, because we literally have spent our entire marriage moving. Whether it be from a different apartment or to a new city, and so we kind of want to settle in and have stability, especially for when the baby comes. So ideally, it would be nice to stay here for three to five years.
If we were to move out of Morocco, we would probably move to a different country altogether. But I don't know that we want to necessarily return to the US permanently. Not yet, at least.
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