| Summary: Belly fat is
the worst type of fat and it bothers not just overweight
and obese people but even men and women within their
ideal weight range can have a tummy. This is not
the ideal situation and you can read below why it
happens and what you can do get rid of the fat in the
abdomen region. |
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I
have always been
fairly slim and have remained within the
normal BMI range for my height. During last
few years, though, as a result of
eating healthier and
increasing the amount of exercise I do, I
have been
gradually losing weight. At this point I am
just pounds away from falling into the
underweight category.
While I in
excellent health and
signs of low weight are showing up on my
face and body in general, what amazes me is that
I still have a
tummy. Obviously
for someone who is 5'8" tall, 125 lbs weight is
very low, but I do not have a
totally flat tummy despite continuing to do
a host of exercises to
make this
fat go away. Doctors say that this weight
almost never goes away and an option is to have
a
tummy tuck or
liposuction or one of those treatments like
UltraSculpt,
Celution,
mesotherapy,
Tummy By Thermage,
MesoMassage, or
UltraShape. Obviously, I do not see
the need because I am hoping that this will fix
itself on its own as I continue my exercise
regimen but this got me thinking about the cause
of this unusual behavior in the body. |
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After
researching the answer that I found is that fat has more
volume than muscle tissue (oil floats on water, you
see). So if you stop exercising (which builds muscles)
you may have the same weight but you might
look and feel fat because now you have
more fat cells in the body. This is more common for
people as they get older.
There
is no argument that
fat in the abdomen is harmful to health. One way to
find out if your
tummy fat
is problematic is to calculate the
waist-to-hip ratio. For a guy it should be less than
0.9 and for a woman it should be less than 0.83. To look
at it from another measurement, a man should not have a
waist larger than 40 inches while it should be less than
35 for a lady.Another
simple test that many doctors recommend and is a
favorite of mine because it requires no measurement is
to bend and try to touch your toenails. If you can
do that even with some effort (make sure that you are
not wearing anything around the waist that can make it
harder to bend; I like to do it just before entering the
shower), you are good. If not, you have a problem.
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What to do if the waist is too big?
Since
many of us think that walking, jogging or running are
good exercises (and they are), we fail to appreciate the
role of
weight training. This is what
builds
muscle and contrary to what one would expect we need to
lift weights more often
as we age because the body
produces less testosterone and without this hormone,
muscle tissues start to decline. I strongly recommend that
you
work with a personal trainer to develop a set of
strength training
exercises that can tone the
abdominals and
reduce the fat
in that area. |
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| Related:
Weight loss success stories of real people
How often should I workout if I am fit |
