WEIGHT LOSS- ABDOMINAL/belly fat.

Globally, weight is becoming the greatest risk factor associated with a number of non-communicable diseases. In our previous article, we looked at different causes of weight gain. It’s important to review it before you read this one, here. Weight loss will ensure a healthy lifestyle.

Fat deposition occurs at the abdomen, hips and arms in most cases. Today we focus of abdominal/belly fat.

Belly fat is determined by calories consumed, calories burnt and age among other factors like sex.

Why age?

As we age we tend to reduce muscle fibers and replace them with fat, which can result to belly fat.

Why belly fat?

Unlike fats deposited in the arms, belly fat doesn’t only occur on the layer below the skin but also the internal organs (visceral fat). Visceral fat is associated with heart diseases (visceral fat pumps out cytokines i.e. tumor necrosis factor and interleukin 6, which are associated with cardiovascular diseases), breathing difficult, abnormal cholesterol, type 2 diabetes among others.

Weight loss- belly fat?

BMI alone isn’t enough to determine if you have excess belly fat. It’s good to measure your waist circumference. While standing upright, place a tape measure around your waist line, use the navel as reference point/the point is your abdomen that gives maximum measurement. Exhale (breath out) during taking measurement, do not suck your abdomen inwards. In women the measurement should be less than 89 cm and less than 102 cm in men.

How do you manage abdominal fat?

Exercise alone isn’t enough in the management of abdominal fat neither is diet alone. The combination of both gives excellent results as demonstrated in many research already done.

Exercise: so much has been documented in the management of abdominal fat, however most information is misleading, doing vigorous activities for 75 minutes accumulated in a week or 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercises isn’t enough. Targeted exercise to the abdominal muscles is the key in achieving expected results. For example abdominal crunches are more likely to give to better results than doing squats.

It’s good to understand that, during the first days of exercise you may experience abdominal pain/discomfort. This is usually due to delayed muscle soreness, and should resolve within a few days usually 2-4 days.

The following exercises are likely to give better results in abdominal fat management. Illustrations will be follow soon on our YouTube channel soon to be launched. Leg lifts, bicycle crunch, leg raises with bent knees, use of stability ball, sit-ups, Swiss ball crunches, abdominal planks, side bends and oblique crunches among others.

Avoiding trans-fats, eating plenty of soluble fibers, reducing sugary foods, & cutting carbs is associated with proper abdominal fat management.

Note: There is a great difference between abdominal/belly fat and “baby tummy” commonly occurring after delivery. We will talk more about it in our subsequent articles.