Tag fitness

All of us know water is an essential ingredient in our healthy lifestyle, but after a while drinking plain water gets boring. Eventually, you will start drinking less and not end up getting your daily eight 8-ounce glasses. So how do you make plain water more appealing and exciting?

Add Citrus Slices or Cucumber to Your Water

There are several things that are good for you by themselves that also make water better tasting. For example, try adding a slice of citrus fruit, such as lemon, lime or orange to a glass of water or several slices of one fruit to a pitcher of water. To add even more zest to your water, and kick up the visual appeal, crush a sprig or two of fresh rosemary and add it to the pitcher along with the citrus fruit.

For something a little different, try adding slices of cucumber to your pitcher. Not only does it add flavor to your water, but the green rind around the slice creates interesting visual appeal.

Green Tea

So far we have talked about how to make plain water more enjoyable to drink, but brewing it into green tea has certain medical benefits too. Due to the polyphenols in green tea, studies have shown it can help:

• relieve rheumatoid arthritis
• reduce high cholesterol
• prevent infection
• boost an impaired immune system

Hot or cold, green tea is good for you.

Mint Tea

Another tea many people enjoy is mint tea. Just boil some water and add fresh mint leaves. Mint has health benefits too numerous to list. Two of the more popular ones include soothing a stomach upset by stress and weight loss.

Mint tea contains theanine, a natural compound shown to have a calming effect. Green tea helps you lose weight too due to its diuretic effect. Drinking it helps get rid of extra fluid your body does not need and with it extra weight. Because mint tea has a small amount of caffeine, it can increase your endurance and help you work out longer in the gym, thus burning even more calories.

Try Some Fizzy Water

For some “fizzy” water, try drinking Seltzer water or Club Soda. Both come in natural and calorie-free fruit flavors, so you are not adding any additional calories to your healthy diet – just taste. Or you can make your own fizzy water with one of the new consumer soda machines. Add the bubbles, but not the favor mix. Sure, there’s a little controversy on the subject of drinking carbonated water but even more so on not drinking enough water. Try using the “fizzy water” as more of a treat rather than to drink it all of the time.

The old school of thought concentrated on drinking at least 64 ounces of just plain water per day and optimally one ounce for every two pounds of body weight. Now nutritionists mostly agree that some of your daily water requirement can come from other sources, such as coffee, tea, and certain fruits and vegetables. It all adds up and makes life more interesting!

Why Cardio Is Key to Belly Fat Loss

The reason why cardio is key to belly fat loss can be summed up in two words – calories burned. To lose a pound of weight in a week, you have to expend 3,500 more calories than you take in. To accomplish such a calorie deficit on a consistent basis, you have to exercise at a moderate to high-intensity level. Cardio routines typically have this intensity advantage over other forms of exercising.

Why Cardio Training for Belly Fat Loss?

While cardio training is key to blasting belly fat (and weight loss in general, along with healthy eating) don’t overlook the health benefits of weight and resistance training. Toned and defined muscles burn more calories, so by also improving your muscle definition, your body becomes better at burning fat when doing cardio training due to an increased metabolism. However, it is cardio that truly lights your “furnace”. It does no good to have a more efficient metabolism, if you are not going to use it.

And if you are a women, don’t worry about “bulking up” if you do strength training. You will get toned and defined without increasing your muscle mass significantly.

The After Burn for Continued Belly Fat Loss

Once reason cardio training is best is due to the “after burn”. When cardio training, you should strive to get your heart rate elevated to a target heart rate of around 80% of your maximum heart rate (220 minus your age). By holding it in its elevated state throughout your cardio training session, you get an after effect where your body keeps burning calories at a higher rate once you stopped, then if you had not elevated it to begin with.

To get to your target heart rate, you have to do 20 to 40 minutes of moderate to high intensity training, like swimming, running, cycling or using an elliptical trainer.

The Rest of the Belly Fat Loss Story

While cardio is an important component of belly fat loss, an equal partner is eating healthy. All the cardio in the world is not going to get you closer to your goal if you also don’t eat right.

Cut out processed and fast foods from your diet. Not only do many of them contain saturated and trans fat, but they normally have high amounts of salt – the main cause of water retention and higher numbers on the scale. Instead, create your own dishes by concentrating on fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean meats.

Cardio is key to belly fat loss, however without strength training and a healthy diet, cardio alone will not get you to your goal of losing belly fat.

You can find more “Belly Fat Success Tips” in our weight loss category found at http://myfitnessnut.com and while you’re they, be sure to subscribe to our monthly fitness newsletter and be kept up to date on the latest developments in the world of health and fitness.

If you recently had a baby, you may be asking yourself, “Why do I still look pregnant?” This is due to postpartum belly fat, an unwelcome reminder of your recent pregnancy and childbirth. Your stomach and the skin covering it was swollen considerably due to your pregnancy, and now your belly may look squishy and flabby, and still appear to be rather round.

It took an extended period of time for you to deliver your child, and it is going to take time to recover from your pregnancy. It’s alright, you will get there with the right attitude.

The Ups and Downs of Postpartum Belly Fat Loss

If you think of your abdomen as a balloon, one that slowly inflated as your baby was growing inside of you, then you will realize that childbirth is the beginning of a slow leak. Gradually you will have the ability of returning to your pre-pregnancy form, and there are some steps you can take to help speed up the loss of postpartum belly fat. Some new mothers, and many doctors support this claim, have stated that breast-feeding helps them to lose unwanted weight after pregnancy.

This could be because your uterus takes 6 to 8 weeks to return to its normal size after childbirth. Breast-feeding actually increases the speed with which your uterus returns to its original size, and this helps your tummy become smaller faster. Also, all the extra fat which your body stored to nourish your baby while he was growing inside of you starts to naturally burn off. You can accelerate this postpartum belly fat reduction through exercising, and there are multiple “new mom” fitness and workout courses available both online and from licensed physical trainers.

Reduce Postpartum Belly Fat with Exercise

Be patient, adopt a sensible physical fitness regimen, and remember that it took roughly nine months for your stomach to grow large enough so that it could accommodate a full term child. Other factors that play an important part in how quickly your postpartum belly fat disappears include your genes, your normal body size and how much weight you gained during your pregnancy. Want some good news? If you gained 30 pounds or less during your pregnancy, exercising, breast-feeding and proper nutrition can quickly slim you down.

Reduce Postpartum Belly Fat with Your Diet

One other thing you can do to guard against postpartum belly fat lingering is to realize that you need a lot fewer calories now that you are not pregnant. Especially if you are not breast-feeding, you will need to closely watch what you are eating, and how much.

Losing postpartum belly fat is a process which takes time, even if you are blessed with great genes and you practice proper nutrition. If you minimize your alcoholic intake, eat complex carbohydrates, whole grains, lean proteins, fruits and vegetables, and perform whole-body exercises, you can accelerate your postpartum belly fat loss and positively impact your overall health.

You can find more “Belly Fat Success Tips” in our weight loss category found at http://myfitnessnut.com and while you’re they, be sure to subscribe to our monthly fitness newsletter and be kept up to date on the latest developments in the world of health and fitness.

here are two main types of fat: subcutaneous and visceral. The first type, subcutaneous, is found just under the skin. Visceral fat, also known as belly fat, is found behind the stomach muscles and in the abdominal cavity, and around many of our internal organs. Why you may think fat is fat, the two types are very different.

Belly Fat Increases Your Risk for Certain Diseases

This visceral fat does a couple of things biologically that can lead to a whole host of dangerous diseases. For example, excessive belly fat inhibits insulin to do its job, a condition called insulin resistance. So as your body becomes more insulin resistant, it has a harder time controlling your blood sugar. This can lead to diabetes.

Also, this visceral fat secretes hormones and proteins into your blood stream. When you have normal belly fat amounts, the hormones and protein are beneficial to your body, but as you gain belly fat, too much is secreted and that is when it can start to cause problems. The excess hormones contribute to atherosclerosis, a buildup of plaque on the walls of your arteries, and eventually lead to clogging of the arteries; excess secreted proteins from belly fat cells constrict blood vessels causing high blood pressure known as hypertension.

Because visceral fat is located so close to the liver, fat cells enter that organ directly through the portal vein. Once inside, they can cause dementia, high LDL cholesterol, and breast and colon cancer.

Results of a Belly Fat Study

In a 14-year study that ended in 2012, 12,785 patients were broken down into three categories: normal, overweight and obese. What the study found is the group with a normal BMI, but with excessive visceral fat was 2.1 times more likely to die than the obese group that had a 1.4 greater risk of dying. The point is belly fat is extremely dangerous even if you carry a weight commensurate with your height.

How to Get Rid of Belly Fat

The good news is that even though people complain about it being the hardest last few pounds of fat to lose, this visceral fat is also one of the first fats to start going. Focus eating fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains and the good fats – the unsaturated and Omegas. Do 20 to 40 minutes of cardio exercises four days per week with a couple of days of strength training.

If you take in fewer calories through proper eating and start burning more calories through exercising, the calorie deficit will start to burn off excessive belly fat.

You can find more “Belly Fat Success Tips” in our weight loss category found at http://myfitnessnut.com and while you’re they, be sure to subscribe to our monthly fitness newsletter and be kept up to date on the latest developments in the world of health and fitness.

Let’s be honest, losing belly fat (also known as visceral fat) is hard to do, but not impossible. But if it’s so difficult, why would anyone even try to get rid of it?

Because having an excess amount of visceral fat – the type of fat found deep in the abdominal cavity – is unhealthy and can lead to a whole host of diseases – many of which can be life-threatening. If you are a women with a waist measurement in excess of 35 inches, or 40 inches for men, you have an increased risk of getting heart disease, a stroke, sleep apnea, bone density loss, insulin resistance (leading to Type 2 diabetes) and some types of cancer.

How to Lose Belly Fat

So what are the secrets to losing belly fat?

Exercise and eating healthy foods.

Lose Belly Fat Through Exercise

There are many products and methods that tout themselves as being the Holy Grail when it comes to losing belly fat, but the fact of the matter is none of them work. Instead put that money into a gym membership. The only way to lose belly fat is to burn more calories than you eat.

Fortunately when you start to lose fat, belly fat is one of the first to go. But to set the record straight, but there isn’t a program that specifically targets belly fat – the body just doesn’t work that way.

Do high intensity cardio-style workouts four times per week. Add in a couple days of strength training per week (with one day off) and you have half of a recipe for losing belly fat and body fat in general. The other half is healthy food choices.

Lose Belly Fat Through Healthy Food Choices

You can only burn off so many calories per week working out. If you make bad food choices, both in the type and amount you eat, you will not create a calorie deficit and lose belly fat.

One tactic in portion control is eating on a smaller plate. This works by tricking the brain into thinking you ate more than you really did. So when it sees your plate empty, it thinks you are full.

The food you eat should be healthy. Focus on eating foods low in saturated fat and calories, but high in protein and fiber, such as fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean meats. These foods keep you fuller longer without adding in a ton of calories.

Avoid sugar. At first it gives you a lot of energy, but your body quickly metabolizes it by dumping insulin (usually too much) in your bloodstream. Once the sugar is gone, you “crash” from low blood sugar. So what do you do? Eat more sugar. This yo-yo effect eventually causes insulin resistance leading to Type 2 diabetes.

So as unglamorous as it is, it comes down to a combination of exercise and healthy food choices as the way to belly fat loss. Eating healthy food prevents you from consuming empty calories that have no nutritional value and exercising burns off calories. If you burn off more calories than you take in, you’ll lose belly fat. It really is that simple, but not easy.

You can find more “Belly Fat Success Tips” in our weight loss category found at http://myfitnessnut.com and while you’re they, be sure to subscribe to our monthly fitness newsletter and be kept up to date on the latest developments in the world of health and fitness.

How to Keep Motivated with Your Belly Fat Loss Plan

With a new year comes new resolutions and if you’re like many people, one of your New Year resolutions could be to start a belly fat loss plan. But statistically, like most people having the same resolution, you have already broken it by now.

The number one reason people fail to keep their resolutions is a lack of motivation. We need something to keep us focused on our goal.

People are motivated by different things. Here is a list of the top 6 things that work to keep your motivation up:

1.) Set Realistic Goals for Your Belly Fat Loss Plan

Goals have to be realistic and attainable for them to keep you motivated. So before you write down your goal, ask yourself if it is doable. If not, you are setting yourself up for failure. It does no good to have a goal of losing 10 inches off your girth in two months – it ain’t gunna happen, it isn’t realistic and it certainly is not attainable.

2.) Keep a Journal of Your Belly Fat Loss Plan

Now that we have a realistic and attainable goal, writing it down and posting it where you can see it keeps you more accountable to yourself than just saying it. Also through journalism, your fears, frustrations and successes flow out through your pen or keyboard.

3.) Monitor Your Progress of Your Belly Fat Loss Plan

To know if you are making progress or not, you have to have a starting point. Measure your waist before you begin your belly fat loss program. Once a week take a reading at the same place on your waist and record the results in your journal. Don’t forget to write something about how you feel with that number.

4.) Pace Yourself on Your Belly Fat Loss Plan

One of two things that help you lose belly fat is exercising, especially cardio training. The other is food and portion choices. But if you have not exercised in a while, doing a high intensity routine for an hour will be counterproductive. You will be so sore for the next couple of days, that you won’t be able to exercise – thus defeating your purpose. Instead, take it slow and work up to an hour workout.

5) Mix Up Your Belly Fat Loss Plan

If you do the same cardio routine day after day after … you’ll soon tire of it. Instead, try new things, like cross training. Or sign up for a Pilates class. Frustrated? Try kickboxing or boxing itself. The point is there are so many different ways to exercise. Keep it fresh by occasionally adding in new things.

6.) Make Smart Food Choice on Your Belly Fat Loss Plan

This is where many people go wrong. Clean out your pantry/refrigerator of temptations. Get rid of the food you should not eat. Instead stock fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, tuna and walnuts among other “good” foods so that when you do eat, your have nothing but good things to choose from. Another trick is portion control. Instead of a regular size plate, eat from a smaller plate. The smaller amount of food looks like more, thus tricking your brain to think you are full.

You can find more “Belly Fat Success Tips” in our weight loss category found at http://myfitnessnut.com and while you’re they, be sure to subscribe to our monthly fitness newsletter and be kept up to date on the latest developments in the world of health and fitness.

The right answer is it depends on you! It depends on when you want to commit to exercising and eating healthy. But keep in mind, you didn’t gain belly fat overnight, nor will you lose it in that same amount of time. But dedication and persistence will pay off in a slimmer, healthier you.

Burn Belly Fat – The First Step

To know you are making progress, you have to know your starting belly fat measurement. Measure your waist just above your hip bone with a tape measure. The tape should be loosely around you and exhale just before taking your reading. This number is your starting point. Now when you take a periodic reading, you have something to compare to (and something to show you are making progress). This can be a huge motivator!

6 Ways to Burn Belly Fat Fast

Everyone has to start somewhere, so here are 6 tips you can use to start burning belly fat fast:

1. Sleep more
2. Drink more water
3. Do cardio exercises
4. Cut out sugar and processed foods (think fast food)
5. Get some color on your plate
6. Eat fat – yes you read that right!

Sleep more – Strive to get at least 7 hours of sleep each night. Not getting enough sleep can trigger sugar cravings and throw off your hormone levels leading to extreme blood sugar swings.

Drink more water – Keep a water bottle with you at all times. Occasionally sip from it throughout the day. Not only will it invigorate you, but if you drink a glass before a meal, you’ll feel fuller and end up eating less.

Do cardio exercises – Exercises that work your large muscles groups burn the most calories. Strive to do step aerobics, bicycling, jogging, walking, swimming, using an elliptical trainer, or racquetball. These exercises burn between 360 to 1,000 calories per hour of exercise.

Cut out sugar and processed foods – Calories from these food types end up as stored fat in exactly the areas where you don’t want it – the belly and buttocks.

Get some color on your plate – The more color you have on your plate in the form of fresh fruits and vegetables, the better it is for you. These foods are normally high in fiber, but low in fat and calories.

Eat Fat – The key is to eat the right type of fat – the Omegas 3. Foods such as salmon, tuna, avocados and walnuts are chocked full of nutrients that keep you satisfied throughout the day.

The key to losing belly fat is not how fast you can do it, but to keep making steady progress. These 6 tips will help you get started. Seeing the numbers drop through periodic measurements will keep you motivated to keep going!

You can find more “Belly Fat Success Tips” in our weight loss category found at http://myfitnessnut.com and while you’re they, be sure to subscribe to our monthly fitness newsletter and be kept up to date on the latest developments in the world of health and fitness.

Carbohydrates Play a Big Roll in Belly Fat Levels

Carbohydrates can definitely affect your belly fat levels. Countless studies show that even a slight reduction in the amount of carbohydrate-heavy foods you eat can promote a loss of belly fat. This in turn reduces your risk of contracting type II Diabetes and multiple cancers, and improves your heart health.

The problem is that many low-fat and fat-free diet crazes strip protein alongside fat. Good fats and healthy proteins are then replaced with carbohydrates, waist levels become bigger, and your health plummets.

To fight belly fat, you want to be sure you are cutting back on simple carbohydrates, and not necessarily fat. One significant study showed that test subjects with even a moderate reduction in carbohydrate intake showed an immediate 11% drop in deep abdominal fat, versus 0% loss for those eating a standard diet. And overall body fat loss was 4% greater for the low-carb dieters as well.

Carbohydrates are Essential But They’re Not All the Same

Carbohydrates are definitely essential nutrients that your body and brain require as a source of energy, but they are not all made equal.

The carbohydrates include simple sugars, starches and fiber. And eating too many of any of those carbs can cause a spike in insulin, which increases fat collection in your belly. The problem with simple carbohydrates which are digested and absorbed quickly, like white bread, candy, cookies and sugar, is that they lead to higher rates of belly fat. This is because the arrival of too much glucose in your bloodstream causes higher insulin production to help balance out your blood sugar.

The insulin efficiently spreads out your usable glucose to your many organs and tissues, including muscles, and then stores any extra as body fat. Complex carbohydrates, including fiber, are digested more slowly. Many of the complex glucose bonds are removed as waste with the fiber in these carbohydrates, so belly fat is not generated.

Complex carbohydrates include vegetables, fruits, whole grains and oats. Add these to your diet, and remove sugar, sweets and white bread, and you can have a positive impact on your belly fat.

Lose the Bad Carbohydrates and Keep the Good

Simple carbs affect belly fat negatively, and complex carbohydrates help to cut down on the amount of belly fat you retain. Eliminate baked goods, candies and pastas, while adding lean meats, vegetables, whole grains and good fats like those found in avocados, olives and nuts to your diet. And remember that natural fruit juices are very high in fructose, one of the biggest carbohydrate culprits. Add reasonable exercise to this sensible nutrition plan, and you can limit the effect that your carbohydrate intake has on your belly fat.

You can find more “Belly Fat Success Tips” in our weight loss category found at http://myfitnessnut.com and while you’re they, be sure to subscribe to our monthly fitness newsletter and be kept up to date on the latest developments in the world of health and fitness.

Here’s How to Measure Belly Fat

Measuring belly fat starts by wrapping a tape measure around your waist at the point that is just above your hipbone. For many people this is also where their belly button is located.

When you measure belly fat, or any fat for that matter, be sure not to pull the tape tight. You want it to be snug, but not pressing into your skin. Also exhale just before taking your measurement, so that you are not holding in your stomach. Holding in your stomach, pulling the tape too tight, etc. are all little “tricks” people use to make their initial measurement smaller, but they are only kidding themselves?

Yes, their initial number will be smaller, but they won’t see as much of a loss on the tape when the belly fat starts coming off. Get a true measurement in the beginning and then enjoy seeing the measurement shrink instead of lying to yourself in the beginning with a false number. A healthy waist measurement for women is 35 or less; 40 or less for men.

Measure Belly Fat But Don’t Forget Your Butt

Because of body composition, people store body fat in different areas, so to get an even more accurate picture, also take your hip measurement. The measurement is taken using the same “rules” however, have the tape around the widest part of your buttocks instead of your waist.

Once you have those two numbers, divide your waist number by your hip number to get your waist-to-hip ratio. A healthy ratio is 0.8 or less for women and 0.95 or less for men.

The Effects of an Excessive Belly Fat Measurement

So why are we concerned about our waist circumference or the above ratio? Excessive belly fat, called visceral fat, is worse than fat located in other areas as it can lead to many serious diseases, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance and liver disease, just to name a few. People with a high waist-to-hip ratio are particularly susceptible to diabetes and heart disease.

Visceral fat settles deep in the abdominal cavity taking up the spaces between internal organs. However once you start burning off fat, it is also one of the first places you will see results.

How to Reduce Your Belly Fat Measurement

Healthy eating and exercise are the best ways to get rid of body fat and to keep from gaining it back. Some of the fat you lose will be from the belly area. Your diet should consist of fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains, all of which are high in fiber, but low in fat and carbohydrates, especially simple carbohydrates such as sugar.

Exercise should focus on cardio as those are the preferred routines that burn the most calories for the time invested. Start out at a moderate or even low intensity; as you get more fit, ramp up the intensity.

It is never too late to start and anything you can do to become healthier is better than what you were doing before. Invest in your health by reducing your belly fat measurement!

You can find more “Belly Fat Success Tips” in our weight loss category found at http://myfitnessnut.com and while you’re they, be sure to subscribe to our monthly fitness newsletter and be kept up to date on the latest developments in the world of health and fitness.

Don’t rely on Sit-ups Alone for Reducing that Belly Fat

While many “diet and exercise programs” would lead you to believe you can, the cold hard truth is no, you can’t reduce belly fat by doing sit-ups. Reducing fat in just the abdominal area is touted as spot reducing, but the body does not work that way. The only way to lose belly fat is to reduce the fat from your entire body. In the process, a certain amount of fat lost will come from your abdominal area.

Body fat is your body’s “rainy day account”. During the good times when food is plentiful, we store fat so we have an excess supply to use as energy during the lean times. Unfortunately in many people, the belly is one of the first places fat gets stored.

The Value of Abdominal Exercises to Reduce Belly Fat

As noted, doing sit-ups does no good as far as losing belly fat, but they (and their close cousin crunches) are beneficial at strengthening your abdominal core muscles. And a strong core means better posture and less potential for back problems. A strength training routine performed a couple times a week will greatly improve your abs. You want your “six-pack” to shine through once you lose your belly fat.

We know that to lose a pound of weight per week, you have to burn more calories than you consume – 3,500 to be exact. We also know there are two ways to have a calorie deficit, working out and eating foods lower in calories (or a combination of both which actually works the best).

Working Out to Reduce Belly Fat

To burn the maximum amount of fat, two things have to happen. One, you have to increase your heart rate by performing a warm-up routine so your muscles are getting the maximum amount of oxygen. Two, you have to exercise your body as hard as possible (while monitoring your target heart rate) by doing intense workouts, such as cardio exercises, going on long runs or bicycling a long way.

Eating Fewer Calories to Reduce Belly Fat

Not all calories are created equal. Your focus should be on eating food low in saturated fat and carbohydrates, but high in fiber and protein. Such broad choices include fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grain products, seafood, beans and lean meats to name a few. And don’t forget to add in some of the good fats – the poly and monounsaturated fats. These come from olive oil, fatty fish such as tuna and salmon, nuts and avocados.

By lowering your overall body fat percentage, some of your loss will be belly fat. To accomplish the loss, eat healthy and exercise as defined in this article.

You can find more “Belly Fat Success Tips” in our weight loss category found at http://myfitnessnut.com and while you’re they, be sure to subscribe to our monthly fitness newsletter and be kept up to date on the latest developments in the world of health and fitness.