excess belly fat!!!!!!!!!

Excess Belly Fat

By Antony rown

A common problem suffered by many of my clients, general gym goers and fitness enthusiast is excess belly fat. Everyone wants to have the flat stomach six pack abs with low or NO body fat stored around the mid section. Many clients have previously used the Atkins diet or a closely modified variation incorporating a low amount of carbohydrates to aid their training. In this article I will try and give you a little insight into how to lower your abdominal fat storage and get that beach body you always wanted.

The first Factor to look at is to determine what carbohydrates you are consuming and how many. By incorporating refined High GI carbohydrates such as white pasta, white rice and white bread, you will cause Insulin levels to remain very high increasing the individual’s levels of fat storage. High GI foods provide the body with energy very quickly, too much for the individual to use at once unless they are a marathon runner or iron man contestant. This in turn causes the body to insulin spike, which returns blood glucose levels back to a normal thus storing the excess energy/calories as adipose tissue (Fat). By changing the form of carbohydrates to unrefined Low GI wholemeal options such as brown rice, brown pasta and green vegetables, this will provide your body with a sustained energy source. This will supply your body with a small constant source of energy maintaining low blood sugar levels thus not causing your body to insulin spike and store excess energy/calories as adipose tissue.

A second factor to take into consideration is the amount of calories you are in taking per day. In my opinion if your levels of calories coming in are exceeding the amount being used, then no matter what type of calories you are consuming you will gain fat. In Simple you have to attain a calories deficit, so you must burn MORE calories throughout the day than you consume. By doing this you will attain the calorie deficit you need to aid your body in burning body fat.

Protein consumption is vital when trying to lower levels of body fat and promote a more toned mid section and abs. By incorporating a good source of protein your body is aided in preserving muscle tissue and burning primarily fat as its main energy source during exercise and daily activities.

There is evidence to support that hormonal levels can have a significant effect on fat storage and the area that the body fat is stored. Recent research by Poliquin et al has stated certain foods have an effect on the levels of certain hormones which in turn have an effect on where your body stores body fat. The hormone related to excess belly fat is called cortisol which is a stressor hormone. It has been stated that cortisol levels can be increased in several ways such as 1) excess aerobic exercise; this stresses the body and promotes the body to turn catabolic and break down vital muscle tissue for energy rather than body fat, which is imperative in giving a muscular mid section. 2) All forms of grain consumption are proven to increase the levels of cortisol and in turn increase stress to the abdominal area thus encouraging mid section fat storage. 3) Mental stress through work or home life is another key factor and proven to increase levels of cortisol.

Exercise is vital in the burning of body fat and stripping the mid section to give you that lean toned set of abs you have always desired. As previously stated prolonged aerobic exercise can have a negative effect on the burning of body fat and can promote the body to break down muscle tissue to use as energy. However we do need to burn calories and the best way to use them is in an interval based activity. By incorporating interval training, it enables the athlete to improve the workload by interspersing heavy bouts of fast running with recovery periods of slower jogging. The athlete runs hard over any distance up to 1k and then has a period of easy jogging. During the run, lactic acid is produced and a state of oxygen debt is reached. During the interval (recovery), the heart and lungs are still stimulated as they try to pay back the debt by supplying oxygen to help break down the lactates. This in turn burns more calories than any other form of training and has a significant effect on reducing levels of body fat around the mid section. By incorporating this type of training in a circuit based activity using some resistance training, it can further more reduce body fat by fatiguing various muscle proving a constant burn of calories for the next several upcoming hours.

I hope you find the information I have provided useful in your quest to achieve the perfect mid section. As you can see diet and exercise are equally important. Neglect one of the two areas and you will struggle to achieve results. What I have provided is a small insight to what I go into with all my personal training clients.

Any further information you would like to obtain regarding this area please feel free to contact me through my website or keep an eye on my blog.