Belly Fat Is Still Just Fat
Thursday, October 8th, 2009It may come as a shock, but for many who are dedicated to daily workouts, six months of crunches may not produce the flat abs you hope for. Hundreds of crunches will definitely improve core strength and function as a hedge against injury. However, they aren’t enough to get the job done.
For one thing, if you have a wonderful set of abs but they’re buried under layers of fat, neither you nor anyone else will get a look at them. The place to start is to lose fat. Slender men and women typically eat five or six small meals a day, roughly three hours apart. The instant effect will be to bump your metabolism throughout the day and that results in burning more calories on an ongoing basis.
One of the biggest misconceptions about belly fat is that there is something special about it due to its location. It’s still just body fat. However, it’s also true that fat does tend to accumulate in certain areas on various body types (apple, pear, hourglass, etc.) and can have some serious health consequences.
In post-menopausal women (and men with that rotund shape), the problem is an accumulation of fat around the organs. This is dangerous for a whole host of physiological reasons, but the worst is that it tends to show up significantly in cardiac arrest cases.
The best way to lose abdominal fat-is not attempt to spot train. You know how to lose belly fat – eat less and exercise more. What it takes is cutting back enough on fats and carbohydrates and other high calorie foods while monitoring the amount and duration of your exercising.
If you bump up your level of physical activity even one notch, it can make a significant difference in the amount and speed of your weight loss. Simply going for a 20 minute walk a mere 3 days a week can account for the loss of 10 to15 pounds over the course of a year.
Look for places where you could add a little exercise to your daily activities and get ready to feel better and look better. The only way to get at dangerous belly fat is to amp up your cardio routines and burns more calories than you consume. Get your hands on a Body Mass Index (BMI) chart and plot your fat level. It should be in the mid to low twenties if you want to experience optimum health.