If you are a couch potato and looking for ways to lose your pot belly, this article is sure to give you a few tips that may be worth considering. Having a pot belly can be attributed to genetics; it means that someone in your family has one. It also means you are burning less number of calories than you are consuming. Whichever way, it is not very healthy. It is not very attractive either. In these days of perfect form and figure, a pot belly may actually cause you to lose your self esteem.
You can achieve a calorie deficit by either dieting or through exercising. Dieting is not an optimum solution. A diet leaves you with a nutritive deficit instead and the cravings for the forbidden foods grow stronger. If at all you have managed to shed some pounds off your belly, they are going to bounce back with a vengeance. That leaves you with just exercising as a reasonable option to lose belly fat.
Do you know that there are two kinds of fat that stays behind your pot belly and make it look like what it is? The subcutaneous fat that lies just beneath the skin is the first and the visceral fat that surrounds the internal organs in the abdominal region is undoubtedly the second type.
The subcutaneous fat is the one that you can pinch. Most of the exercises do not burn this fat. When the body burns fat, it is actually transported from the fat cell to the muscle cell where it is utilized. However, the fat from your subcutaneous skin is difficult to take out because of the fact that the blood supply to the area is limited. Thus, energy used up is also low.
High-intensity exercises do not burn up this fat. If you have had carbohydrate food before the workout, the glycogen from the carbs is used up instead of the fat from the cells. The exercises that stimulate blood flow to this region does burn up some fat. Low-intensity aerobic exercises and walking increase blood flow to the subcutaneous fat. Typically, if you walk for 30 minutes to one hour it is reasonable. If you want to shed more pounds, walking a few miles, several times a week would really help. If you are a veggie or a fruit lover, here is some good news. A diet that is low in carbohydrates is seen to increase blood flow to the subcutaneous fat. You can take a suggestion from this: combine a low-carbohydrate diet with low-intensity aerobics for tangible results. You’ll be surprised to see those last few pounds disappear.
Visceral fat is that which surrounds the organs of the body. It has plenty of blood supply unlike the subcutaneous fat. Visceral fat is easy to lose. That is the good news, but the bad news is that visceral fat can increase your cholesterol, blood pressure, and triglycerides. If you are centrally obese, you stand a higher risk of developing metabolic and cardiovascular medical problems including diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease, etc. The visceral fat secretes cytokines, which are proteins that serve as messengers between cells. Studies have shown that cytokines trigger the release of other cytokines and can cause chronic inflammation. If you are a man and your waistline is over a 102 cm or if you are a woman and your waistline measures over 88 cm, it is time you sat up and paid attention to shedding those extra pounds.
Some typical exercises that will help you shed your extra pounds around your tummy:
You will really enjoy this Olympic event-like exercise. Place a barbell on the floor. Choose a weight that is slightly challenging to lift up. Lift the weight slowly using both your hands and bring it to above your head, say 7 feet above the ground (assuming you are six feet tall when standing and you lift it a foot above your head!). Repeat as many times as you can. Now, your body starts getting warm, you break into a sweat, and you are huffing and puffing. It is a good fat-loss workout and calories are effectively used up.
Lie down on a mat spread on the floor. Lift your legs from the floor and move them as though you are vigorously cycling. Cycle for as long as you can and repeat the process as many times as you want it. This also firms up your stomach muscles. Alternately, you can just choose to lift your legs vertically up and keep them there for as long as possible.
If you do exercises that really get you panting, it is easy to lose belly fat. Jogging, walking, running, sprinting, swimming, high-intensity aerobics, etc., are exercises that work well in this regard. You can do them thrice a week for seeing good results. These exercises also increase the good cholesterol in the body.
Some facts would have become extra clear by now:
- It is easy to gain weight and difficult to lose the extra pounds, more so as you grow older.
- Regular exercise is one sure-fire way to keep the bulge off your tummy.
- Support it with a good nutrient rich diet; avoid fast food, sugars, and flour.
- Less fat in your abdominal area keeps degenerative diseases at bay.
Consistency and motivation are required to find time out of your busy schedule to exercise regularly. Regular exercise can thus work wonders for all the belly fat in the body.
