Many people, especially men, believe that by doing several exercises for abdominal muscles, will finally manage to loose stomach fat. But they ignore that even if you manage to gain strong abdominal muscles, this does not mean that it reduces also visceral fat. There are no special or spot specific exercises to loose stomach fat . Abdominal exercises create tightened ab muscles that leads us to the illusion that we had lost stomach fat. Most people, however, that lose weight, they first lose fat from the abdomen, by following any form of exercise because by doing this they change their body energy balance. With regards to diet and nutrition, an improvement is needed also in this area to loose stomach fat. The solution is to intake fewer calories than those consumed. Therefore, we need to reduce excessive fatty foods and carbohydrates, and also consume less quantities of food. We should also reduce the amount of alcohol consumed, not only because alcohol drinking is fattening, but also because excessive consumption of alcohol is a key to increase waist line fat. The reason why this happens remains unknown at present. We should therefore be restricted to a maximum of 2 drinks per day. It is proven that the key to losing weight and stomach fat is to combine healthy eating and physical activity. 30 minutes of medium-intensity physical activity five times a week will enhance health considerably. To loose stomach fat and also get rid of those love handles, we need more cardio exercise especially at the beginning. Aerobic exercises (the type of exercise which accelerates the respiration and heart rate), such as cycling, running, football etc are better for burning fat.

Having ribbed abs is the target dream of many men but unfortunately abdomen region fat is much more persistent even in the most harsh diets and exercise.

When we lose weight we tend to lose it evenly throughout the body. However, because there are much more fat cells in the abdominal region compared with the rest of the body, belly fat tends to be more visible.

While we spend endless hours in the gym, eat healthy and low fat food etc, still the belly is there without any improvement. If this happens to you, perhaps you should consider the following:

Consider Eating Whole Grain Cereal:

A recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that a reduced-calorie diet based on whole grain cereal had the expected results in overweight people.

The secret in cereals is that they release glucose slower compared with processed carbohydrates, therefore giving our body the opportunity to use “fat reserves” for energy. This results in burning these “fat reserves” faster. To the contrary, processed carbohydrates release glucose more quickly, raising blood sugar levels and promoting fat accumulation.

Monounsaturated fats:

No diet is healthy and safe without fat but some fats appear to reduce waist and abdomen weight and help also to reduce fat accumulation. These are monounsaturated fats found in plant food such as olives, nuts and avocados.

A survey published in July 2007 in Diabetes Care, showed that diets based on monounsaturated fats have a better result in reducing the perimeter waist, compared with diets based on carbohydrates.

So we don’t need to avoid fats, but to choose the right ones with the right quantities.

Stress:

Experts know that high levels of cortisol, the hormone that is excreted in response to stress, promote belly fat accumulation. This is because abdomen fat has a dominating energy role in the body compared with other parts of the body. The secret to reducing stress is exercise, proper rest and other activities such as meditation.

Avoid Trans Fat:

Trans fat is mainly responsible for the increase in adipose tissue and belly fat. Diets rich in Trans Fat cause redistribution of fat deposition in the abdomen and increase the overall weight even when calories are controlled.

Foods that contain Trans fat and should be avoided at all costs are the following:
Margarines
Hamburgers and cheeseburgers
Chips, pop-corn
Fried meat
Sweets

Smoking

Although many people believe that smoking helps weight reduction, there are several studies that argue the opposite. While the reason is still unknown, there is a strong statistical association of smoking and the deposition of fat in belly region. Studies in Britain had proven that association despite the fact that on average smokers weigh less than non-smokers.

We all know that yogurt (the plain one, without sugar and additives) is a very healthy diet product rich in calcium. Surveys show that yogurt is also important for those who want to lose weight and maintain their body shape after weight loss.

Below I quote a relevant passage from Dr Perricone’s book “Look Younger, Live Longer”

«In a survey held in 2003 at the University of Tennessee, 34 obese people followed a diet low in calories. 16 of those were receiving 400-500mg calcium in the form of a daily nutritional supplement. The other 18 were receiving more calcium – 1100mg – by eating yoghurt. After 12 weeks, both groups lost fat. The group that received the nutrient supplement lost 270 grams of fat, but the team that had yoghurt lost about 450 grams of fat. Moreover, the people who consumed yogurt realized a reduction in their waist region by four centimeters average. Individuals that received the nutritional supplement lost only sixty three millimeters from their waist. Finally, an impressive 60% of the total weight lost by people who consumed yogurt was from the belly region, while the group that received the nutrient supplement lost only 26% from the belly region. »

This is particularly exciting news because the fat on the abdomen region is linked to high cholesterol, high insulin, high triglyceride levels, hypertension and other problems. Furthermore, visceral fat secretes more molecules associated with inflammatory diseases than other types of fat.

The survey also indicated that the group that consumed yogurt showed twice the efficiency in maintaining their muscle mass. The research coordinator, Michael Zemel said, «This is very important when you follow a diet. We want to lose fat, not muscle mass. Muscles help to burn calories but often the loss of muscle mass is accompanied by body weight loss ». I totally agree with him!
Try to always buy organic yogurt and avoid yoghurts containing stabilizers and gelling agents. Also, avoid yoghurt containing sugar or fruit as these disrupt the delicate chemical balance of the product. Also, sugars promote the development of adverse fungi “Candida”. Now after the holidays I think that our good yogurt will help us finally get rid of this extra weight.

Frequent exercise with a certain way is certainly boring and hence most of us lose interest after a period of time. Thus, it is better to change the way we exercise to get new incentives and challenges for a more multifunctional training and a healthier body.

The new fitness tool called Absolo (as shown in the picture above), promises to transform the boring and tedious abdominal exercises into a fun activity. What should the user do is to throw the ball and then rise up to get it back. Its a different feeling to just lie down on an exercise bed knocking your ass up and down, or to combine your abdominal exercises with… free shots! I do not know about you but to me it seems more interesting …