3 Ways To Lose Belly Fat Fast: How To Lose Those Extra Inches Around Your Waist
Fat tends to show itself on different places in different people. Many people tend to battle what is known as android obesity. This has nothing to do with robots or your smartphone. It is simply the name given to specify the accumulation of excess fat around one’s abdomen. In addition to not being particularly attractive, android obesity can make one more susceptible to type II diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease. In this article we’ll take a look at three ways to lose belly fat that will put you on the fast path toward losing inches around your waistline.
A Few Words On Fat
Fat gets a bad rap, and many people are not aware that it is essential to our survival. In fact if a person cuts their fat intake too low, negative health effects can start to present themselves. Generally speaking, a person should have between 20 and 35 percent of one’s caloric content derived from fat sources in the diet. There are a number of bodily functions that are facilitated in the body through the use of fat, and it affects numerous hormones as well. Having said that, fat in and of itself is not an evil, but balancing fat intake and fat deposits on the body is important.
The Myth Of Spot Training
Before we progress, one myth should be dispelled right away. The idea of spot training has been around for decades and is not solidly based on observed fact. Spot training is the suggestion that if you work a particular area a lot (such as the abdomen), then you will lose fat in the particular area. This is false. I have seen a few anecdotal studies over the years that show very minor increases in fat loss where very high repetition movements are utilized, but by and large the idea of spot training is scrapped. To sum it up, don’t engage in hundreds of crunches thinking this is going to help you lose fat on your belly.
The First Way To Lose Belly Fat Fast: Monitor Your Fat Intake
It’s hard to know if you are consuming too much fat if you don’t monitor it. There are many great apps and websites out there today that will help you track your caloric intake, and in so doing will also breakdown the percentage of calories that you are consuming from fat. If after you begin monitoring your food intake you are say at 35 or 40 percent caloric intake from fat, you can cut back on your intake. Fat has 9 calories to it per gram, whereas carbohydrates and protein each have 4 calories per gram. When you cut back on your fat intake, you are consequently cutting back on your caloric intake more than if you were to cut back on carbohydrates or protein. Cutting back on caloric intake via fat tends to make the body pull from fat reserves for energy, and guess where that’s going to come from? You guessed it, your belly fat.
The Second Way To Lose Belly Fat Fast: Increase Your Aerobic Exercise
There are multiple sources of energy that the human body draws upon throughout the day. While no single one of these energy systems is solely at work at any time, some are primarily at work depending on which type of activity you are doing. When you do aerobic work, your body pulls primarily from what is known as the oxidative system. This means that most of the energy that your body is utilizing is being drawn from oxygen and fat. If you’re trying to lose excess fat, aerobic activity is a must. Even professional bodybuilders who do up to three hours a day of resistance training still engage in aerobic activity as they approach competition time. The reason for this that weightlifting draws primarily from an energy source other than aerobic. Therefore, even if you’re hitting the weights, aerobic exercise is still needed to cut down on the belly fat.
The Third Way To Lose Belly Fat Fast: Space Out Your Meals
Less as a consequence of planning and more through happenstance, many people tend to eat one or two large meals a day. These meals tend to be higher in caloric content, but there is also another downside to this sort of eating pattern. When you eat less frequently, your body perceives that there is a lack of food. The body starts to kick into survival mode and actually stores more fat under the pretense that food sources are rare. Before we had a fast food restaurant on every corner, this helped humans survive through pretty difficult times when food intake was limited. Now it just makes us fat. In addition to the previous two ways to lose belly fat, try eating smaller meals throughout the day. Your body will perceive plenty of food and stay away from the fat hoarding survival mechanism.
There are numerous ways to bring about fat loss. The three discussed here, when combined, are very effective ways to lose belly fat fast. Consider implementing these methods to trim down on your waist size, as well as fat accumulation elsewhere.
Paul Owens is a personal trainer in the Cleveland area. He is a Certified Personal Trainer through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and the National Council on Strength and Fitness. He is also a Corrective Exercise Specialist through the National Academy of Sports Medicine. He can be reached at http://www.clevelandpersonaltraining.com.
