The stomach is a problem area for many women. Naturally, you want to get rid of your tummy flab, for both health and aesthetic reasons, but it’s more difficult to do than it seems. While you can quickly eliminate some of your tummy fat, you’ll have to keep at it to maintain a flat stomach.
Significance
Stomach fat isn’t just unsightly–it’s unhealthy. As women age, the percentage of fat in their stomach increases. Those who are rounder in the stomach area–“apples” instead of “pears”–are more likely to have health-related conditions. Additionally, the fat in your stomach isn’t limited to the fat that you can see. It goes much deeper, getting into some of your organs. By reducing your stomach fat, you can improve your health.
Quick Fixes
When you want to get rid of your tummy flab fast due to an upcoming event, you have to pay strict attention to your diet. Essentially, you want to reduce water weight and bloating. The way to do this is to “eat clean.” You should eat primarily fruits and vegetables, along with lean protein and small portions of whole grains. You must completely eliminate refined sugars. Increase your water intake to help reduce your water weight.
Misconceptions
Some believe that you can decrease only the fat in your stomach area, a process referred to as “spot reduction.” This is simply untrue. You cannot remove fat from just one area of your body. Instead, you must exercise and watch your diet to lose weight from all over. Doing only abdominal exercises will build-up the muscles beneath, but you will still have a layer of fat covering them unless you do cardio exercises and eat fewer calories.
Types of Exercises
Any cardiovascular exercise can help you to lose fat from your stomach area, but to get the most bang for your buck, you want to choose exercises that burn the most calories, such as running, jump roping or high-impact aerobics. You also want to do exercises that improve your stomach. Do separate exercises that target your upper, lower and side abdominal muscles.
Considerations
If you’ve had a C-section, you may have a more difficult time exercising your stomach muscles and losing the flabby belly. When you had a C-section, the doctor cut open your stomach muscles and sewed them back up, which caused scarring. The procedure could have caused abdominis rectus separation, or a separation of the muscles. This may require physical therapy to rectify. Talk to your doctor if you are concerned.
Photo Credit
- stomach image by Alison Bowden from Fotolia.com
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