5 things
that won’t give you a flat tummy
|
1.
Low
fat diets
Low fat foods do
not help to get rid of excess belly fat!
When you take the fat out of a food to make it taste good and bind it
back together again something has to be added to it. If it’s a savoury food this is usually salt
otherwise it will be sugar. Sugar makes
you fat. It converts to fat quicker than
fat itself because it raises your insulin levels which can cause fat
storage. Many so called “healthy foods”
are full of sugar particularly cereal bars and indeed the breakfast cereals
themselves.
2.
Alcohol
When people are
trying to drop a few pounds they are generally careful about what they eat but
tend to forget about the liquid calories especially alcohol. Alcohol provides the body with empty calories
meaning that aside from sugars there is no fat, protein, vitamins or minerals
contained in it that the body can use. However
at 7 calories per gram it contains more calories than both carbohydrates and
protein (4 cals/g). Because it cannot be
stored in the body it must be oxidised and converted into energy. Whilst this is happening the body is not
using fat and carbohydrates and these will be stored as fat.
3.
Stress
Another biggie as a
cause of fat around the belly is that dreaded word - stress.
Stressing
and worrying causes your adrenal glands, (small glands on top of that kidneys
that control stress and fluid balance) to release the nasty little hormone cortisol
into the bloodstream. We do need some cortisol but when we have too much in the
bloodstream we become less sensitive to leptin, the hormone that tells us when
we are full. No surprises what happens
next – we overeat big time and then usually start stressing about how much
we’ve eaten and so the cycle continues. Managing stress is key to balancing
hormones and balancing hormones and blood sugar is key to weight loss
particularly belly fat.
4. Sit ups.
Onto the
exercise approach. Contrary to popular
opinion and media hype simply doing endless crunches/situps will not give you
that flat tummy if you have body fat to lose.
Below are a few reasons not to waist (pun intended) your efforts on sit
ups.
a)
They are unsafe if you have recently had a baby because they
can cause any separation you have in your abdominals to widen further.
b)
Ineffective at flattening your stomach, regardless of
whether you’ve had a baby or not. What sit ups do are work the rectus abdominus
muscle (that’s your six-pack muscle, by the way), but, have you ever noticed,
when someone puts weight on their mid-section, it’s rarely above their belly
button is it? It’s the lower abdominals you want to work to flatten or tone
your abdominals. So its transverse ab work that’s important here, which those
of you attending any of my classes will be familiar with.
c) They do nothing to improve posture, mimicking
the very same positions that most people find themselves in their day to day
routines, driving, sitting at a computer and so on. The very same position (flexion) that can
contribute to everyday back pain and poor posture.
5.
Spot
reduction
This means working
only one area of your body in an effort to reduce body fat. Spot reduction is
not possible. To lose fat from the
stubborn areas you have to work the whole body.
You will notice that during any of my classes we use a total body
approach working legs, back, butt, chest, shoulders, arms and abdominals /core.
Your heart and lungs get a workout and by using the bigger, thicker muscles
like legs and butt you burn far more calories than lying on a mat doing endless
exercises for your mid section!
So there we have it. I hope that has given you an insight into why
it can seem so difficult to slim the waistline.
Let me know and if you have any other
questions that I may be able to help with please ask. If you are thinking it, you can bet you’re
your bottom dollar there are hundreds of other people puzzling over it too!
Have a
healthy, happy week
Marie x
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