Abdominal Fat And How You Can Lose It
How to lose body fat around the tummy, this has to be the one part of the body most of us would like to see trim and taut.
For the mature woman this can be a problem, it’s not called ‘the middle aged spread’ for nothing.
Menopause time can be even more of a problem, so for those of us who have not reached that stage of our lives yet, we have a lot to look forward to!
Not only is it very appealing to have a flat tummy, and make you feel good, it is important for our health.
Carrying around extra abdominal fat, can increase the risk for heart disease, some forms of cancer, diabetes and bad cholesterol.
Fat is stored in two areas around the midsection:
- In and around the liver and other organs, called visceral (viss-er-al).
- Thin people can also have visceral fat surrounding their organs.
- Under the skin, around the hip and thigh area, call subcutaneous (sub-cue-tain-ee-us). Doing abdominal exercises can tighten these muscles but it will not get to the visceral fat.
- Subcutaneous fat may cause dimpling and cellulite.
The obvious of course is to eat healthy, which is more fruit, grains and vegetables, exercise as much as you can. If you don’t feel comfortable joining a gym, do what my sister has done, and buy some weight equipment for home. It will come with a chart on all the different ways to lift the weights, so you don’t have to know a lot about how to do it.
Diet, aerobic exercise, weight training and abdominal exercise are the way to lose that stubborn fat around the middle.
The recommended amount of exercise to do is at least 4 to 5 times a week, including aerobic exercise and weight training.
This can be a little unrealistic for those of us who have a busy life, with work and kids etc. I would find it nearly impossible to get to the gym 4 or 5 times a week, sometimes I am lucky if I get there 3 times.
A healthy diet is easy, doing breathing exercises, drinking plenty of water, going for a walk a couple of times a week, or go to the gym and eat breakfast in the mornings.
Make sure your calorie intake is not greater than the amount you burn. An easy way to do this, eat 5 small meals a day instead of 3 main meals. Try to include more foods which help to speed up your metabolism.
All these are simple yet very effective things to do, to lose that abdominal fat.
Another very important thing to do, is understand your body better and you do that by reading as much as you can, and learning.
Learn to do some floor exercises at home, stretching, abdominal exercises and yoga. It all helps to make a difference and keep you flexible and looking younger.
If you have never thought about joining an aerobics class before, go and check one out at your nearest gym. I do aerobics classes at the gym, and it is full of women around my age (40′s) and older. An added bonus of joining a gym, once you have been going for a while, you will get to make some new friends!
When you see those ads on television for exercise machines to use at home, to get your stomach flat, think again. They don’t work no matter how good they sound. I know this, because I have tried a couple and they just end up under the bed or in the garage gathering dust.
Also, be aware if you are a stress eater, as you are a prime target to put fat on your tummy. Stress will cause the body to produce more of the hormone cortisol, also known as ‘the stress hormone’.
When you are stressed, the body produces higher amounts of cortisol, which can have negative effects on the body such as:
- Increased abdominal fat.
- Decrease in muscle tissue.
Start doing meditation or relaxation techniques, so you can learn to relax more and stress out less.
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