Lose My Tummy Fat!

Archive for October, 2009

Dancing is one of the most beneficial forms of exercise that you can do. Not only is it great cardiovascular workout but also helps tone all your muscles. A dance class such as ballet really focuses on the core and therefore can help tone your flabby stomach.
Belly dancing (even if you are conscious about your belly) this is a great to help lose your belly fat and according to all reports shaking it in a belly dancing class can help boost your self confidence too.
Salsa dancing is another great tip for helping to tone your belly. The hip action in the Salsa can often make you feel as if you have a stitch but it is simple your stomach muscles working out!!!
However as all the exercises stipulated in this blog, fat can only be reduced with a lot of hard work and a combination of exercise and diet.

Personal Trainers can be a great benefit when trying to lose weight. You can get ones who come out to your house (if the gym is not for you) or hire a trainer who is affiliated to your gym and have a training session there. They will work you really hard, push you further than you think you can go and would normally go on your own and they also have great ideas about the best types of exercises.
They can also help you target your training. So if you specifically feel that you want to hammer your flabby belly then a personal trainer may be the key.
I think they can be quite expensive though!! Especially if you also pay for the gym membership too!!

The gym is an essential part of trying to lose your tummy fat. Lots of different exercises are needed otherwise to keep your body guessing, if you only ever do the same thing every time you go to the gym your body will simply get used to the exercises and it will have no effect. However if you change it often it will have more benefits. Here is the theory; the movement of the Power Plate creates instability in the body with vibrations. This forces the body’s muscles react many times a second helping increase muscle strength. The claim is that if you use the Power Plate as part of your exercise regime then you are likely to lose a higher percentage of fat. The Power Plate is a great machine to use in the gym. I suggest you ask the advice of a gym instructor about the best exercises though.

One supposed quick fix for getting a toned stomach are products such as the items that Slendertone sell.
These products claim that by simple using the product over a period of time you will increase the muscle in your stomach. It works by sending electrical pulses through your muscles, making them contract and twitch – just as they would normally but at a much greater rate. The same sort of theory is used in rehabilitation.
Most products are small belts which can be discreetly worn underneath your clothes with a small power pack to adjust the settings.
It is quite an expensive item though at about £100, and if you are just experimenting it might not be worth your while! I am slightly dubious at this so called ‘quick fix’.

Yoga can be a really good form of exercise for helping to reduce belly fat.
There are certain poses that can be extra beneficial, but it is an excellent all round toning exercise. Often women can experience an increased fat growth around the belly due to stress and the fact that abdominal muscles are more often than not static; therefore trying to reduce your belly fat requires combinations; combinations of diet and exercise and a combination of different exercises. This is why yoga is can be a great help, not only is it a great way to tone majority of the big muscle groups but it also helps relieve stress.
But remember that yoga is not a quick fix; on its own it will not get rid of your belly fat but is a definite must on your exercise list.

Often diets can feel like a bit of a hard slog, especially if you have a sweet tooth. So here is a recipe for a fat free chocolate treat. (Word of warning though, this recipe contains a lot sugar which can be detrimental to your diet so please eat with caution!!!)

FAT FREE CHOCO SQUARES

Ingredients
•    1 cup of plain floor
•    1/3 cup of cocoa powder
•    2 Large pinches of salt
•    1 teaspoon of baking powder
•    Large pinch of baking soda
•    Large pinch of cinnamon
•    ½ cup of sugar
•    ¼ cup of brown sugar
•    ¼ cup of dry milk powder (fat free)
•    1 egg white
•    ½ cup of applesauce
•    1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
Instructions
1.    Sift the flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon into a large bowl
2.    In a small bowl beat the egg white
3.    In another bowl beat together with a spoon the sugar, brown sugar, milk powder, the beaten egg white, applesauce and a vanilla.
4.    Stir together the dry mixture from point 1 and the wet mixture from point 2.
5.     Grease a cake tin (approx. 8×8x2 inches) and spread the mixture into it evenly.
6.    Pre-heat the oven to about 180 ̊C and bake for about 20-20 minutes, making sure you check that it is cooked completely.
This should make about 16 squares.
1 square = 82 calories, 2g protein, 19g carbohydrates, 0g fat, 0mg cholesterol, 1g fibre, 121mg sodium.

The most crucial part of your exercise regime to help lose tummy fat is your cardio vascular workout. You should be doing at least 15-20 minutes cardio vascular exercise 5 times a week. This exercise should be combining more than one muscle group, so for example, 20 minutes of swimming or an aerobics class is better for you than just cycling.
Your main cardiovascular exercise should be completed after a 15 minute warm-up and you should be working your heart rate at a level 8 (imagine level 1 being the easiest and 10 being the hardest).
Other good cardiovascular exercises that are good for helping lose tummy fat are; stair machine, jogging, cross trainer, and ski machines, dance classes, Pilates.

Exercise is an important part of your healthy living and a vital part of losing weight and toning up. In order to lose your tummy hard work is required. In terms of what kind of exercise to do it is down to the individual and what works best for them. However gyms can be fairly intimidating places for some people. This is why I think a Wii Fit is a great invention. You can stand in your living room in front of you TV hula hooping, skiing, playing tennis, doing aerobics, yoga and more. There are lots of sports and exercises you can do as well as checking your fitness level and weight. The Wii will also keep track of your progress on your personal profile.
It is not cheap though. Your need your Wii box, the controllers, the small box to go on top of your TV and the Wii fit board, wait till Christmas and I reckon there will be some good discounts. Shop around and you’ll be able to find a bargain.

Here are 5 great abdominal exercises, you can vary the difficulty, start out at level and then once you feel confident (or it stops hurting the day after!) you can increase the level. Once you have mastered the advanced level it is time to change the exercise. Once your body becomes used to an exercise it will serve no benefit.
1.    Abs Crunch
Simple lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor, hip width apart, knees should be bent at 90 ̊. With your hands either crossed over your chest or touching your ears slowly bring your upper body up (crunching your abs), slowly lower yourself back down again.
2.    Bench Crunch
This is the same as the Abs Crunch but with your legs raised on a box or aerobics stack. These crunches will help the upper abdomen. Make sure your arms are outstretched; almost like you are rubbing your knees with you move up and down.
3.    Weighted Crunch
This is the same as the Abs Crunch but with a weight. I usually use a 5kg medicine ball or a 5kg weight and lay it on my chest with my arms crossed over it.
4.    Advanced Weighted Crunch
This is the same as a weighted crunch but instead of having the weight rested on your chest; stretch your arms out in front of you. Again this helps with the upper part of your abs.
5.    Weighted Side Bends

Holding onto a 5kg dumbbell, stand with your feet hip width apart. Slowly bend from the waist on the side that is holding the dumbbell, once you have gone to the point where you hand is level with your knee return to your starting position. Repeat until you have completed the reps inline with your level. REMEMBER that you must remain in a straight line, try not to bend forwards or backwards.
Levels: -

Beginner = 3 exercises, 2 sets, 15-18 reps, 90 second rest
Intermediate = 4 exercises, 3 sets, 12-18 reps, 90 second rest
Advanced = 5 exercise3 sets, 10-12 reps, 60 second rest

REMEMBER: Never pull or strain your neck, do not use your arms to pull you up make sure you use your stomach muscles, breathe out on the way up and in on the way down.

Losing your tummy can be one of the toughest things to achieve but some simple actions can help you reduce the size of your belly before you even begin the hard slog of dieting and working out.
Often a bloated stomach can be mistaken for flabby stomach. There are easy ways of reducing the bloat in your stomach.
•    Eat lots of fibre. Starting your day with a fibre rich cereal like All Bran. Without getting all scientific on how and why it works, it will make you more regular, thus reducing the size of your belly
•    Eating foods that are high in potassium like bananas will help your body rid its self of all excess water by counteracting the effect that salt has on the body
•    Eating foods rich in probiotics can help the balance of your stomach, an imbalance can cause the digestive system to slow down making you feel sluggish
•    Drink lots of water, again helps keep your digestion regular
•    Keep away from food and drinks that will dehydrate you; salty foods, alcohol, stay away from adding excess air into your stomach; chewing gum, fizzy drinks,
•    Cook your vegetables, the body finds the volume and high fibre in raw food hard to break down and will make you feel very full
•    Low calorie or sugar free things contain sweeteners, the body does not cope well with these complex sugars and will break them down very slowly, eventually they will end up becoming fermented in the stomach and produce gas – thus bloating your belly.