Are you over 40? Do you want to lose belly fat? You'll frequently get the advice to do crunches and other exercises targeting the abdominal muscles.
At first sight, that's logical. You're working out a body part, so the fat on this body part is getting less. Unfortunately our metabolism doesn t work that way:
It is not possible to burn fat in just one part of your body. It's genetically programmed where you increase weight and where you lose it first. And: Over 40 this genetic program is getting more prevalent.
"I want to lose belly fat" is something I hear very often- but, unfortunately, it is not possible to lose fat on a body part. But we can accomplish something much better: We can get an overall thin body.
If you want to make the muscles around your midsection stronger, then crunches are a great way to do it. If you want to shape your figure, exercises like the reverse bicycle really assist to tone up your body. I recommend to do some exercises for the lower back muscles as well, to make the whole midsection strong. This will improve posture and prevent lower back pain. For many over 40 back pain is rather common- our desk-bound lifestyle contributes to that greatly.
Crunches are- comparably- a waste of time when it comes to losing weight. The belly muscles are relatively small, so if you spend 15 minutes on crunches you burn much less calories as if you'd spend 15 minutes exercising your leg muscles. In the same amount of time, you leg muscles will burn more calories.
So: Don't do crunches to lose belly fat over 40, do crunches to tone up your core.
Lose That Belly Fat
The idea that the fat and the quantity of food consumed are directly proportionate is a misconception. Smaller quantity of protein and carbohydrates at lesser intervals would only help one for easy digestion than fewer heavy meals and also help lose fat. Your daily food need contain carbohydrate and protein rich items such as oatmeal, beans, green vegetables sprouted cereals, peas apples and leafy vegetables.
Roughly 3500 calories makes one pound of fat going by the analogy one should not attempt to reduce fat more than 2lbs.a week. Cutting done fat-rich beef and fried items and addition of more vegetables not only help reduce fat but also keeps the system more disease resistant.
Lose fat is synonymous with regular exercise. The kind of exercise one should choose depends on a variety of factors like ones interest, the extra pound to shed out and the time at his disposal. One should not attempt to do the exercise for more than 45 minutes a day normally. In picking up weights one need to be careful to pick up one that one can handle for not more than 25-30 repetitions.
Losing fat should not be confused with losing weight as the two are very different. One can easily work out and eat right and burn fat while still gaining weight through the gain of muscle mass. Therefore it would be considered a better concept to strive to lose fat and gain muscle definition as just losing weight can be hazardous to one's health.
Lose fat is easy achieved by the presently popular Yoga exercise for about an hour a day. The beauty of the exercise is that while it reduces the fat by consumption of calories it keeps the body and mind cool and healthy. Walk into any good yoga training center and reap the benefits. But never attempt to do the same from self study books that may surely land you in trouble.
Both Perryp & Dana Goldberg are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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