How to Get Firm Abs & Weightloss Stats

It appears that we place a good deal of interest on taut, flat stomachs. Every day, advertisements promise to help us “Get a firm belly”, or “Get sculpted abs”. What they don’t advise us is that belly fat isn’t just unattractive, it’s risky to your health.

A lot of studies have discovered a link between belly flab and high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. Measure your waist to see if you have a dangerous level of abdominal fat. For optimal health, men should have a waist circumference below 40 inches. Women should have a waist circumference below 35 inches.

Here are a selection of interesting facts about weight loss:

1. The whole world needs to lose weight. According to the World Health Organization, 1 billion of the world’s inhabitants are overweight. (That’s almost on a par with the number of people who are malnourished in the world.)

Globally, over 22 million children under the age of 5 are considered overweight. This epidemic is mostly due to increased intake of processed foods high in calories and saturated fat, and a decline in physical activity.

2. Virtually two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese.

This is according to the World Health Organization. To add to this, the National Center for Health Statistics recently observed that 34% of Americans are clinically obese.

3. 50% of American women and 25% of American men are presently on a diet.

With numbers like the ones above, it’s no wonder most Americans feel the need to calculate calorie intake.

4. America’s top three killers are linked to obesity.

National Geographic published some eye-opening facts about mortality in the USA.

They found that the top three most statistically likely causes of death were heart disease (with a 1 in 5 chance), cancer (with a 1 in 7 chance), and stroke (with a 1 in 24 chance). All of these have been linked to excessive weight.

Move More, Eat Correctly

Cardio exercise will kick your fat-burning metabolism into overdrive. All it requires is perseverance; if you can find a leisure activity you like, and stick to it, the pounds will fall away. It’s also important to adjust your routine for maximum calorie burning, and to ward off boredom.

Throughout cardio exercise, your body works hard to burn fat. You can get it to burn fat even while resting if you add some strength-training sessions to your workout routine.

When you train, don’t focus on a single muscle group while you neglect others. It’s tempting to do exercises involving our stronger muscle groups, but the weaker ones are the ones that benefit the most from exercise.

Find or create a routine that strengthens your upper body, arms, back, abs, core, glutes, and legs. Combine weight-lifting with calisthenics for an ultimate strengthening workout. Remember: the more muscle you have, the stronger you will be.

When we train, we develop tiny tears in our muscle tissue. Our muscles mend themselves when we relax, allowing our body to become stronger than previously.

Don’t train every day, particularly at first. Do an upper body workout, and then take a day off, doing only stretches and cardio. Then do your lower body workout, and take a further day off. Give yourself at least one day a week to do nothing but rest and recover.

Attempt to get 8 to 10 hours of sleep on the nights when you’ve worked out. Between the sleep and the nutrition, your body will have everything it needs to rebuild itself into a stronger, more muscular build.

There are foods that can help you get a firm belly, too. Sugary carbs contribute to belly fat build-up, but foods high in protein and fiber are slenderizing. Search for a diet plan comprised mostly of complex carbs, lean protein sources, and unsaturated fats.

Good substitutions include low-fat dairy products instead of whole milk products; lean cuts of meat instead of fattier cuts; air-popped popcorn or rice cakes instead of chips; trans-fat-free margarine instead of butter; and whole fruit instead of fruit juice.

Vegetarians can also fulfil their protein needs by consuming milk, whey, eggs, cheese, nuts, and soy products.

Learn to Relax

Yoga puts you in touch with your body. When you practice yoga, you learn to empty your mind of the distractions that prevent you from really listening to your body. By getting back in touch with your needs, you can learn to differentiate between hunger and cravings.

The more you learn about your body and its amazing abilities, the more you will want to take care of it by avoiding junk food and radical diets.

Yoga is a real stress-buster. By practicing mindful breathing and quiet meditation, you can take your mind and body to a peaceful state. This decreases anxiety and can even cut your body’s production of the stress hormone cortisol.

Power yoga improves muscle and flexibility. Power yoga is a westernized version of vinyasa yoga that combines sun salutations with stretching, strength training, and intense bursts of cardio.

Now that you’ve learned how to lose calories without depriving yourself, it’s time to put these pointers into practice. Strive to make one minor change per week until you’ve grown accustomed to your new lifestyle.

Should you require additional information on this subject try Take Care of Your Abs, or would like to read other reviews by the same author, make sure you take a look at Jon Kews’ website ‘healthtrainingandfitness.com’.

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