For years and years I weighed the same as I did in high school. I wasn't skinny, but I wasn't obese, either. I was at a stable weight, and I was happy with that. I was able to eat a lot of food because I burned a lot of calories at my job, running around a kitchen all day. Within the last year or so I have not been working in kitchens. I have been behind a desk in a sitting or sedentary position. As a result, I have gained about 10 pounds of stomach fat, which you may think isn't very much, but it is. I didn't spend much or any time wondering how this could have happened. It was pretty obvious.
Let me break down your body for you. If you eat as many calories as you burn, your body weight will remain the same. If you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. If you eat less calories than you burn, you will lose weight. That seems pretty simple. So why are there all these other “options” for weight loss, especially when the answer is so obvious and completely within your control? The healthiest and most effective way to lose and control weight is with diet and exercise. Period.
Steps to Getting Rid of Stomach Fat
The word diet doesn't just refer to a reduction in eating. It also means adjusting your diet to include more of the things you need and less of the things you don't. A balanced diet is going to be key in order to get rid of fat. Your body stores energy in two ways: glycogen and fat. Glycogen is stored in your muscles and liver. As you exercise, the glycogen is used for energy. If your diet is too rich in carbohydrates and sugar, your body will just keep making glycogen instead of converting or burning the fat. Your proper diet depends on your weight, age, height, and activity level. The USDA has the best tool for understanding our own diets. It is called MyPyramid. Check it out.
If you want to lose weight, you are gonna have to give up some drinking. The company line on drinking is “in moderation.” We have all heard the report that a glass of wine a day is good for the heart. Then they switched it to any alcoholic beverage. Now I understand that smokers who also drink are at a higher risk for cancer. But regardless of these benefits and risks, alcohol is extra calories that you have to burn off with exercise. Remember that alcohol is not part of a balanced diet. It is an extra thing, like candy, that needs to moderated.
Consuming too much sugar and solid fat is a huge obstacle to losing weight. The thing about sugary/fatty food is that we all know not to eat too much of them. But we do anyway saying out loud, “I am gonna pay for this later.” Well, if you go do some extra exercise on top of your standard regiment, then you are indeed paying for it. But I have a feeling that for most of us, what we really do is much different what we intend to do. So, when faced with extra fatty/sugary food options, think twice. If you are really serious about losing weight, skip it complete.
What exactly is healthy exercise? From what I understand healthy exercise is just about anything that doesn't damage your body. Exercise can be vigorous and exhausting, but it should not hurt. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends adults get 2 ½ to 5 hours of moderate-intensity exercise per week or 1 to 2 ½ hours of vigorous-intensity exercise per week. The periods of exercise should be no shorter than 10 minutes and should be spread throughout the week. Because oxygen is so important to your body, make sure to drink plenty of water. Eight 8-ounce glasses per day or more. Probably the most important thing to remember when exercising is to stretch beforehand. Stretching helps prevent injury.
Abdominal exercise does not burn stomach fat any faster than full body exercise because your body burns the fat from all over your body, not from specific locations. That is why areas of higher fat concentration take so long to get rid of. Abdominal exercises do tighten and strengthen the abdominal muscles, which is always good. However, excessive muscle building is counterproductive to losing weight because you gain muscle weight. But muscle weight is more attractive than fat weight, and muscle-building exercises help keep your body healthy. Just don't overdo it if you want to lose weight.The Balanced Diet
According to the USDA, for a man of my weight, height, age and physical activity, a balanced diet consists of 9 ounces of grains, 3 ½ cups of vegetables, 2 cups fruit, 3 cups milk, and 6 ½ ounces of meat and beans. They also recommend that half of my grain intake come from whole grains. Grains have three parts: bran, germ, and endosperm. Whole grains contain all three parts of the grain kernel. Milled or ground grains lack the bran and germ, which contain 25% of the nutritional value as well as key vitamins and nutrients. There are also 5 categories of vegetables: dark green, orange, dry beans and peas, starchy, and other. The USDA recommends varying our intake of these vegetables every week because each category of vegetable has different nutrients and therefore has its own nutritional value. The milk category is essentially a source of calcium. They recommend I stick to low-fat or fat-free dairy products. Meat and beans are a source of protein. Most of my proteins should come from fish, beans, peas, nuts, and seeds. Unfortunately, red meat is not on the list, which kinda sucks. You don't have to become a vegetarian to lose weight. You just have to decrease your consumption of meat and replace it with beans and stuff. Maybe you should take some Beano, too. The last little tiny sliver of MyPyramid is oil. My limit per day of oil is 8 teaspoon. Geez, this is gonna be hard. I guess that's why so many people turn to unhealthy ways in order to lose weight.
