It seems that we place a lot of importance on taut, flat stomachs. Every day, advertisements promise to help us “Get a firm belly”, or “Get sculpted abs”. What they don’t advise us is that belly fat isn’t just unattractive, it’s risky to your health.
Lots of studies have discovered a link between belly flab and high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. Measure your waist to see if you have an unhealthy concentration of abdominal fat. For optimal health, men should have a waist circumference below 40 inches. Women should have a waist circumference below 35 inches.
Here are some interesting facts about weight loss:
1. The whole world needs to reduce weight. According to the World Health Organization, 1 billion of the world’s population are overweight. (That’s almost on a par with the number of people who are malnourished in the world.)
Globally, over 22 million children under the age of 5 are considered overweight. This epidemic is mostly due to increased consumption of processed foods high in calories and saturated fat, and a reduction in physical activity.
2. More or less two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese.
This is according to the World Health Organization. To add to this, the National Center for Health Statistics recently found that 34% of Americans are clinically obese.
3. 50% of American women and 25% of American men are currently on a diet of some kind.
With numbers like the ones above, it’s no wonder most Americans feel the need to calculate calorie intake.
However, society’s obsession with thinness comes at a price: Chronic dieting and emerging eating disorders are becoming more common among elementary school children.
4. America’s top three killers are linked to obesity.
National Geographic published some eye-opening facts about mortality in the USA.
They found that the top three most statistically likely causes of death were heart disease (with a 1 in 5 chance), cancer (with a 1 in 7 chance), and stroke (with a 1 in 24 chance). All of these have been linked to excess weight.
Move More, Eat Right
Cardio exercise will kick your fat-burning metabolism into overdrive. All it requires is persistence; if you can discover an activity you like, and stick with it, the pounds will melt away. It’s also imperative to alter your routine for maximum calorie burning, and to ward off boredom.
Throughout cardio exercise, your body works hard to burn fat.
When you train, don’t concentrate on a single muscle group while you disregard others. It’s tempting to do exercises involving our stronger muscle groups, but the weaker ones are the ones that profit the most from training.
Find or produce a routine that strengthens your upper body, arms, back, abs, core, glutes, and legs. Combine weight-lifting with calisthenics for an ultimate strengthening workout. Remember: the more muscle you have, the stronger you will be.
When we train, we generate tiny tears in our muscle tissue. Our muscles mend themselves when we rest, knitting themselves into something stronger than before. That’s why sufficient rest is of great consequence for muscle building.
Don’t train every day, particularly at first. Do an upper body workout, and then take a day off, doing only stretches and cardio. Then do your lower body workout, and take another day off. Give yourself at least one day a week to do nothing but rest and recover.
Try to get 8 to 10 hours of sleep on the nights when you’ve worked out. Between the sleep and the nutrition, your body will have everything it needs to reconstruct itself into a stronger, more muscular physique.
There are foods that can help you get a firm belly, too. Sugary carbs contribute to belly fat build-up, but foods high in protein and fiber are slenderizing. Search for a diet plan comprised predominately of complex carbs, lean protein sources, and unsaturated fats.
Good substitutions include low-fat dairy products instead of whole milk products; lean cuts of meat instead of fattier cuts; air-popped popcorn or rice cakes instead of chips; trans-fat-free margarine instead of butter; and whole fruit instead of fruit juice.
Vegetarians can also fulfil their protein needs by consuming milk, whey, eggs, cheese, nuts, and soy products.
Learn to Relax
Yoga puts you in touch with your body. When you practice yoga, you learn to clear your mind of the distractions that prevent you from really listening to your body. By getting back in touch with your needs, you can learn to differentiate between hunger and cravings.
The more you learn about your body and its amazing abilities, the more you will want to take care of it by avoiding junk food and radical diets.
Yoga is a real stress-buster. By practicing mindful breathing and quiet meditation, you can take your mind and body to a restful state. This decreases anxiety and can even cut your body’s production of the stress hormone cortisol.
Power yoga improves muscle and flexibility. Power yoga is a westernized version of vinyasa yoga that combines sun salutations with stretching, strength training, and intense bursts of cardio.
Now that you’ve learned how to lose calories without depriving yourself, it’s time to put these tips into use. Try to make one minor change per week until you’ve grown accustomed to your new lifestyle.
Should you require further information on this subject try Take Care of Your Abs, or would like to read other reviews by the same author, make sure you take a look at Jon Kews’ website ‘healthtrainingandfitness.com’.
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