Simple Ways to Lose Belly Fat

You can do Crunches, Side Bends, Russian Twists and other abdominal exercises all you want and still not lose belly fat. Why? Because you’ve fallen prey to the myth called “spot reducing.”

“Spot reducing” is the mistaken notion that you can perform an exercise specifically targeting one muscle group, such as the abs, and reduce body fat in that area. Target exercises can strengthen a muscle, and they may offer additional tone, but they will not eliminate fat in that specific spot. In actuality, fat burns off in reverse order from how it went on. So, if your stomach was the first  area that gained extra fat, it will be the last place to lose it.

Banish the myth and use the following guidelines to achieve a slimmer waistline and reduce your body fat. The result will be improved sports performance, appearance, confidence and overall health.

Strength Training
Perform a full-body strength training workout three times a week on non-consecutive days. Strength training burns calories while you’re working out, but your body continues to use up fuel even after the session. Plus, as you build muscle mass, your body will use more calories throughout the day, burning even more fat.

In your strength training sessions, focus on multi-joint exercises, like Deadlifts, Squats, Lunges, Push-Ups, Inverted Rows and Pull-Ups. Incorporate bouts of high-intensity interval training at the end of your workouts. Try a Tabata routine by sprinting, or performing any other intense exercise, for 20 seconds, resting for 10 seconds, and repeating eight times.

Use Combos
During strength training sessions, perform three multi-joint exercises in succession to rev up your heart rate and metabolism. A good example: Squat, Overhead Press and Upright Row. Do not rest between exercises, but take a minute or two between sets. Perform five sets of each combo. Try to perform two to four combos each workout.

Build Endurance
After performing an upper-body exercise, immediately perform Sprints, Mountain Climbers or Burpees. This will increase your heart rate and metabolism, thus burning fat. Try this sequence:

• 10 Push-Ups
• Rest 10 seconds
• Sprint 40 yards
• Rest 10 seconds
• 10 Pull-Ups
• Rest 10 seconds
• 10 Burpees
• Rest 10 seconds
• 10 Bench Dips
• 45 seconds of Mountain Climbers

Contract Abs
Contract your abs several times a day while standing or sitting. This keeps the muscles engaged and improves posture, making it appear that you have less belly fat. Contract your abs for five seconds. Relax and repeat 10 times.

Meal Frequency
Eat a small meal every two to three hours, five or six meals per day. This regulates your blood sugar, keeps your metabolism active and limits overeating, since you won’t feel as hungry as you would with longer intervals between meals. Frequent small meals enable the body to use all your nutrients as fuel, rather than storing them for later.

Sleep
Sleep between eight and nine hours per night to promote the distribution of human growth hormone (HGH). This fat-burning hormone increases the effectiveness of your workouts and is essential for building muscle. In fact, studies show that sleeping for only five to seven hours contributes to belly fat, impedes workout recovery and can lead to muscle breakdown.

Photo:  healthyoates.com

Jim Carpentier is a certified strength and conditioning specialist, a New Jersey-licensed massage therapist and a health/fitness writer. He currently serves as associate health and wellness director at the Greater Morristown YMCA in Cedar Knolls, N.J.

 

Source: http://www.stack.com/2012/05/10/simple-ways-to-lose-belly-fat/

5 Ways to Burn Fat Faster

April 8, 2013 | Anthony Yeung

Everyone who wants to burn fat wants to do it fast. Everyone. But, with so much advice and information floating around, it can be difficult to find an effective way to accomplish this goal.

The key to fat loss is calories. You have to expend more than you consume. There are two ways to do this: burn more calories with exercise and eat fewer calories. (Calculate how many calories you should eat.)

This article focuses on strength and nutrition factors that increase your ability to burn fat faster.

Gain Muscle

Over 60% of the calories you burn are from your body’s resting metabolic rate (RMR), which is the amount of energy it takes to maintain vital functions. Even if you lie in bed all day, you’ll still burn calories.

Your RMR depends on how much muscle you have. The more lean muscle, the more calories your body burns. So, it’s important that you work out to build muscle. You will simultaneously increase your RMR and burn more calories through exercise.

What to do: To build the most muscle and burn the most calories during workouts, perform complex multi-joint exercises like Squats, Deadlifts, Pull-Ups, Rows, Push-Ups and Bench Presses. Do three to four sets of eight to 12 reps, and make sure your last few reps are difficult.

Get the “Afterburn” Effect

How you work out alters the amount of calories you burn after you finish exercising. Oxygen levels remain elevated to bring your body back to its resting state. The phenomenon is called excess post-oxygen consumption (EPOC). Your metabolism is elevated as your body restores oxygen and energy levels and clears waste through circulation.

Intense and intermittent exercise creates a larger EPOC effect than traditional cardio. You can actually burn more calories after your workout if you focus on high-intensity exercise, such as interval training.

What to do: Finish your weight-training workouts with an intense conditioner that targets your anaerobic system. Beginners should start with a 1:2 (or even 1:3) work-to-rest ratio, and eventually progress to a 1:1 ratio. (Try this interval workout.)

Eat More Protein

Protein aids in muscle growth, which helps increase your RMR. It keeps you full longer, which can come in handy when eating a calorie-restricted diet. Protein also has a high thermal effect, meaning that it takes more calories to digest. (Add muscle with the two-hour rule.)

What to do: Eat lean protein with every meal. Shoot for at least one gram of protein for each pound of body weight.

Take Fish Oil

A 2010 study published the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition found that fish oil supplementation increases lean mass and reduces fat mass. Also, fish oil reduces rates of heart disease, cancer symptoms and joint inflammation.

The exact amount of fish oil is debatable. The highlighted study called for four grams of fish oil per day (400mg EPA and 200mg DHA). However, I’ve seen it as high as one gram of fish oil for each percent of body fat. So, if you have 15 percent body fat, consume 15 grams of fish oil.

What to do: Take at least four grams of fish oil per day.

Consume a Pre-Workout Drink

Most athletes understand the benefits of post-workout nutrition; however, many ignore the importance of pre-workout nutrition. It may seem counterintuitive, because it calls for consuming calories to burn calories, but research supports it.

A study in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise concluded that “timing protein supplementation before heavy resistance training (HRT) may be a simple and effective strategy to increase energy expenditure by elevating resting energy expenditure (REE) the day after HRT. Increasing REE could facilitate reductions in body fat mass and improve body composition if nutritional intake is stable.” In other words, having some protein before your workout can raise your metabolism after your workout, which helps you burn fat.

What to do: Shortly before your weight-training session, drink (or eat) some whey protein orBCAAs. Or, drink a little of your post-workout shake.

Source: http://www.stack.com/2013/04/08/burn-fat-faster/

How to Eat Healthy and Lose Weight with Lifestyle Changes

Improving your diet usually doesn’t happen overnight. If you gorge on potato chips while playing video games or eat lots of sugary foods instead of well-balanced meals, you probably need to make some major life changes before you can learn how to eat healthy and lose weight.

Why not take it one step at a time? Here are some small lifestyle changes to help get you on the right track.

Try meditation

Deep breathing and creative visualization can be factors in lasting weight loss. According to a study in the Journal of Obesity, cortisol, a stress hormone, contributes to the accumulation of visceral fat around the abdomen. Through meditation and relaxation, participants reduced their cortisol levels and stress-eating habits.

Take your Vitamin D

Your body gets much of its Vitamin D from sunlight, but you can also get Vitamin D from a supplement. Vitamin D keeps your insulin levels in check and your metabolism operating properly.

Get enough sleep

A recent study in the journal Nature found that sleep deprivation triggers the brain to respond more intensely to junk food and weakens the frontal cortex, which controls impulses. It’s a bad combination.

Get a hobby

Having something you love to do (that doesn’t include food) can direct your attention away from thoughts or emotions that may trigger eating when you’re not really hungry. Knitting, walking, writing, reading or even talking to friends can reduce stress and increase your mind-body awareness.

Sources:

http://www.stack.com/2013/11/13/eat-healthy-and-lose-weight/

Daubenmier, Jennifer. “Mindfulness Intervention for Stress Eating to Reduce Cortisol and Abdominal Fat among Overweight and Obese Women: An Exploratory Randomized Controlled Study.” Journal of Obesity, 1 June 2011. Web. 07 Nov. 2013.

LeBlanc ES, Rizzo JH, Pedula KL, Ensrud KE, Cauley J, Hochberg M, Hillier TA. “Associations between 25-hydroxyvitamin D and weight gain in elderly women.” Journal of Women’s Health, 21 Oct. 2012.