Showing posts with label belly fat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label belly fat. Show all posts

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Achieving Flat Abs

When losing weight, one of the most stubborn areas to achieve results in is the midsection. Losing it takes some directed exercises and adjustments in your diet with the focus of toning your abs and losing weight.
A few suggestions for some exercises that target your abs that are simple, yet effective:
The plank. Position yourself as if you were preparing to do pushups, except have your forearms resting on the ground. Keep your body straight and hold this position for as long as you can. You should feel your abs tense up and have increasing difficulty maintaining this position as time goes on.
Crunches work your abs directly. If you use an exercise ball, it will further engage your muscles and be more effective. Lie on the ball, positioning it on your lower back and cross your arms over your chest or hold them behind your head. Lift your torso off of the ball, pulling the bottom of your ribcage to your hips while keeping the ball steady and return.
Bicycle exercises target many areas of your midsection, being great for a well-rounded exercise for your abs. Lie on the floor and interlock your fingers behind your head, supporting it. Pull your knees towards your chest, lifting your shoulders off of the ground while pulling your neck in. Straighten a leg out while turning your torso to the opposite side, pulling your elbow to make contact with the knee of your still-curled leg. Continue this motion, switching between sides.

Have variety in your ab exercises. Working your abs from different angles and spreading the focus of your exercises throughout your entire midsection will even out the shape and yield better results for a flat and well-defined stomach. Also, ab exercises serve to strengthen muscles and don't burn so much of your midsection alone. It's important to keep up with your cardio exercises to ensure overall weight loss, which helps tremendously with losing belly fat.

The way you eat naturally plays a huge role in your body's weight and appearance. To cut off that tummy flab, you should cut off the foods that work against this goal. Avoid foods full of carbs such as white bread, pasta, white rice, and potatoes. It would be better to opt for more fibrous alternatives such as brown rice, wheat bread and veggies. Drink skim milk and limit your dairy intake in general. To give your metabolism a boost and aid your digestive system, drink plenty of water throughout the day (6-8 glasses) and eat small, frequent meals.

Keep up the effort and dedication and you'll be able to reach your fitness goals.




Want to know more? Read more!

http://exercise.about.com/od/abs/ss/abexercises.htm

http://regimes.hotexercise.com/aerobics/how-to-get-a-flat-tummy/

http://www.wellbeing-information.com/tummy-exercises.html

http://www.flat-stomach-exercises.com/flat-stomach-tips.html

Monday, June 28, 2010

The Facts of Fast Food.

We talk about healthy eating on this blog alot, but very rarely discuss the foods that aren't good for you.

We hear it all the time -- "Fast Food is bad for you". But how bad is it exactly? We know about the trans fat, high calorie, and high sodium counts. We know about the grade D meat, the processed vegetables, and are told the nutritional information on charts behind the registers with type too small to read. They even are honest about their practice of using preservatives in their food.


But what kind of preservatives and how much exactly? Many of you remember a few years back when activist Morgan Spurlock debueted with his epic documentary "Supersize Me"-- a film following a 30-day time period in which he eats only McDonald's food for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner -- exposing the drastic affect on Spurlock's psychological and physical health, while exploring the fast food industry's influence and its encouragement of poor nutrition for profit.

If that wasn't enough to shake the Big Mac out of our hands, Author and Obesity Activist Julia Havey set out to find the truth about fast food as well. In an attempt to prove exactly how processed and full of additives a McDonalds hamburger really has, she has been aging a McDonalds cheeseburger for 4 years -- and it does better than a human being.

Wanna find out what happens to this 4 year old burger? Check out the video below courtesy of DietHealth.com!





*Do you have an idea for an article, have questions or need advice? Please write us at elementfitnessny@gmail.com! Subject: Blog

Monday, June 14, 2010

How to go From Belly Fat, to Belly Flat

Does this summer have you in a mad dash to lose those few extra pounds you stored up over the winter? Look no further, for here are some helpful tips on how to reduce belly fat and lead a more healthy lifestyle.

Steer clear Of “Miracle Weight Loss Solutions”
There are no shortcuts to a leaner you. The internet and late night informercials alike are filled with snake oil, contraptions, and pills all claiming to help you lose weight. These are all to be avoided. Nothing other than good ol’ fashioned hard work will do a darn thing.

Forget about Sit-ups

Doctors agree that sit-ups, crunches, and other similar spot exercises are an effective means of developing abdominal muscles, but will not help in your quest to reduce belly fat. Focusing on just your abdominals will not help you lose weight, instead you must take a holistic approach to your exercise regimen. Make sure your workout includes exercises for each individual part of the body.

Don’t Forget About Cardio

There are many different kinds of cardiovascular exercise, but not all are created equal. Oftentimes, someone will jog for an hour at the same speed in the hopes of burning fat, but this method is relatively ineffective. Interval training is any physical workout which involves alternating periods of high and low intensity. During the high intensity periods, muscles are depleted of their oxygen supply which creates lactic acid (what you would associate with that burning sensation). During the low intensity periods, oxygen is restored to the muscles and the lactic acid dissipates. This allows the body to increase cardiovascular fitness and raises the bodies potential to burn fat. One effective way to go about interval training is to set your treadmill to 60 seconds of jogging followed by 30 seconds of sprinting.

Eat Right
Eating healthy is an integral part to losing weight and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Belly fat is closely associated with many health problems including heart disease, diabetes, some types of cancer, and high cholesterol.

A healthy diet emphasizes:

• Vegetables
• Fruits
• Whole Grains
• Reduced fat milk products
• Poultry
• Fish
• Beans
• Brown Rice
• Eggs
• Nuts

And Reduces intake of:

• Saturated Fats
• Trans Fats
• Cholesterol
• Salt (sodium)
• Added sugars
• Processed and red meats

Prepare Your Own Meals
The most effective way to insure that your body is ingesting healthy foods is to do your own cooking. If your eating from a bag or a box, it will most likely not aid in weight loss. The American Cancer Society has created a very helpful way to ensure healthy portion sizes by relating everyday objects to correct portions of foods:
■ 1 oz. meat: size of a matchbox
■ 3 oz. meat: size of a deck of cards or bar of soap—the recommended portion for a meal
■ 8 oz. meat: size of a thin paperback book
■ 3 oz. fish: size of a checkbook
■ 1 oz. cheese: size of 4 dice
■ Medium potato: size of a computer mouse
■ 2 Tbs. peanut butter: size of a ping pong ball
■ 1/2 cup pasta: size of a tennis ball
■ Average bagel: size of a hockey puck.
■ Medium apple or orange: the size of a tennis ball
■ 1 cup chopped raw vegetables or fruit: baseball size

Preparing healthy meals does not necessarily have to be labor intensive. Simply adding strawberries to your cereal in the morning, lettuce and tomatoes to your sandwich along with an apple at lunch, and preparing a salad with dinner can account for your daily recommended servings of vegetables and fruit for the day.



*Do you have an idea for an article, have questions or need advice? Please write us at elementfitnessny@gmail.com! Subject: Blog





http://www.mypyramid.gov/guidelines/index.html

Living Smart: The American Cacer Society’s Guide To Eating Healthy and Being Active

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/belly-fat/MC00054/NSECTIONGROUP=2

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/weik51.htm

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=10048

http://www.marc-kent.com/beach-ready-body.html