As we age and reach the middle stages of our life, many of us begin to see that extra development of fat in our midsections, sometimes called the Middle Age Spread. While some people view it as simply a part of getting older, the truth is that you need to learn how to lose tummy fat like this since it’s potentially very harmful.
There are direct links between abdominal fat and Type 2 Diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, some forms of cancer and a variety of organ problems.
There are two types of tummy fat: Subcutaneous, which is the fat that you can grab with your hands and is just under the skin; and visceral, the fat surrounding the intestines and abdominal organs. The latter variety is decidedly more harmful. So there are more reasons than just appearances sake that we should learn how to lose tummy fat. Fortunately, both types of tummy fat can be lost easily through dieting and exercise. By altering what we eat and how much we eat, our bodies will begin to burn up the excess adipose deposits.
A nutritional plan, combined with exercise that builds muscle and increases metabolism, is the best approach to lose tummy fat.
Dieting to Lose Tummy Fat
Sometimes people eat far too little with their nutritional program, and end up seeing worse results than they would have otherwise. Our metabolism doesn’t burn calories when it’s being starved, instead it stores them to try to keep you alive.
That’s why more moderate reduction in caloric intake is preferred to lose tummy fat, at about 10-20% of your healthy daily total.
It is important to also maintain a diet log, keeping track of everything we eat so we have an accurate measure of caloric intake. Make one up for a week or so prior to beginning the fat loss diet, then cut calories accordingly.
You want to eliminate bad foods from your diet, and this includes things like trans and saturated fats, and simple, processed carbs. These simply add empty calories to your intake and don’t provide nutrition. Easy switches like wheat pastas and breads instead of white will go a long way.
You should also avoid prepared foods, which are loaded with chemical preservatives in addition to sodium, as well as typically fats and high-fructose corn syrup.
Your diet should mainly consist of fresh fruits and vegetables, unprocessed meats, poultry and fish. Alcohol consumption (empty calories converted to sugar by our metabolism) should also be minimized.
Cut down your total carbohydrate intake to about 50 grams per day as you first begin your diet, just to get the process started, then you can include a bit more of the healthy variety each day.
After your weight nears your target, you may begin to slowly elevate your carb intake until you stop losing tummy fat. This will probably be your maintenance point.
As you begin your exercise program, your protein intake should rise to about 25% of your caloric intake. Good protein-rich foods are: Eggs, organ meats, unprocessed beef, pork and chicken, fish, beans and other legumes.
At the same time, you should avoid eating too much soy protein, which is not a perfect match for the human body. It does not provide all of the amino acids, the building blocks of proteins and muscles, that our body really needs.
Adding in Exercise
Strength and resistance training will build your muscles and increase the calorie consumption of your system. Muscles require more energy than fat – three times as much in fact.
Join a local health and fitness club or the YWCA and have a trainer set up a program of weight training. Minimize the cardiovascular exercises because they don’t really burn fat, but instead diminish muscle tissue.
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