My Belly Fat Won't Budge

This is a common problem. I find this post on Healthnet.com and it explains what's going on.

Whether you’re bothered by a little too much padding on your hips, thighs, belly or any other place else on your body, you probably know that spot-reducing isn’t possible. “When you gain weight it’s circular, meaning that you store fat all over your body,” says Obi Obadike, fitness expert and celebrity trainer whose washboard abs have graced many a fitness magazine cover.

“But certain parts of your body are prone to store more fat than others.” For some it’s the hips or butt. For others, it’s right smack in the middle of the body.

What’s the secret to losing the tubby tummy? Obadike says there are three things you must do:

1. Eat a Clean/Lean Healthy Diet: “Abs are not made in the gym, they are made in the kitchen.” Obadike says this is something he and many fitness experts tell their clients. “Flat abs are not indicative of 1,000 sit ups a day, they’re indicative of how low your body fat is. And reducing your body fat comes from a clean, healthy diet.” 

That includes at least two protein servings a day, at least two servings of veggies/fruits, good fats and at least two servings of good carbs. “Diet is 80% of your success in losing belly fat,” says Obadike. “But by combining that with a rigorous cardio and weight-training plan, you increase your chances of losing belly fat by 15% to 20%.” That gives you a 95% to 100% chance of success. Not bad odds! 

Clean/Lean foods to add to your diet include oatmeal, brown rice, sweet potatoes, baked or broiled chicken breast, baked or broiled turkey breast, fish and, of course, fruits and veggies. “I teach my clients the 90/10 rule,” says Obadike. “That is eat clean 90% of the time and cheat 10% of the time.” Of course, a cheat isn’t a plate of chicken parm followed by a slice of tiramisu. Examples of a “cheat” would be one slice of pizza, a small hamburger or small slice of chocolate cake. The serving size should fit roughly in the palm of your hand. 

How many calories should you limit yourself to each day to shed pounds? “A weight loss caloric diet that I use is 10 to 12 calories per pound,” says Obadike. For example, if you weigh 180 pounds, your daily caloric intake would be between 1,800 to 2,160 calories (180 x 10 = 1,800; 180 x 12 = 2,160). “I’ve had great success with my clients using this formula,” he says. “They never feel hungry even though it is a low-calorie diet.

2. Follow a Weekly Cardio Program: “To see results you’ll need to do 30 to 45 minutes of cardio at least four times a week,” Obadike says. His favorite fat-blasting equipment? The elliptical, stairmaster and treadmill. “They help you burn calories fairly fast,” he says. But walking on the treadmill while reading a magazine won’t cut it. “I always tell my clients, if you aren’t sweating then you aren’t working.

3. Work Those Abs: “Abs exercises are important for strengthening your stomach muscles,” says Obadike. But they must go along with the fat-melting cardio. Otherwise, he says, the abs are “hibernating” under the belly fat.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Reverse Middle-Age Weight Gain

Middle age, those years between 30 and 50, are the years we all seem to add body fat. So what's going on, why does this seem to happen to everyone? The answer is that we slow-down and as the slow-down occurs we burn less calories but it seems we never stop eating, we don't even slow-down your food intake, actually as you gain weight you seem to consume more calories a day and that puts on even more weight. It's so gradual though you don't realize what's happening. 

The weight gain on average is only about 1 to 3 pounds a year. They even have a name for it now because it's so common. It's called "creeping obesity", that 1 to 3 pounds you seem to gain every year and don't even notice. In most cases people don't wake-up to the weight gain until they have to buy new clothes. It might not sound like a lot of weight but over a 20 year period it can amount to 60 pounds. The following post from WebMD.com addresses this problem and give you some solutions.

You have a couple of things working against you. You're probably not burning calories as efficiently as you did when you were younger. That's because your metabolic rate (the number of calories you burn in a day) dips about 1% per year beginning around age 30, says Carolyn Brown, RD, nutritionist at Food trainers in New York.

You can outsmart that. Shift a few habits so you can rev your body back up.

Start with these five strategies.

1. Eat More Protein

Protein is the building block of muscle, and since muscle mass diminishes as you age, you need even more protein.

“Starting at middle age, you need 10% more protein than you did during your younger years,” says Christine Gerbstadt, MD, RD, author of Doctor’s Detox Diet: The Ultimate Weight Loss Prescription.

A bonus: Foods that are high in protein pack a greater metabolic boost than fat or carbohydrates. Biting, chewing, swallowing, and digesting protein-rich foods can burn up to 30% of the calories on your plate, compared to 5% for fat and carbs.

2. Tame Your Stress

The stress hormone cortisol is tied to an accumulation of fat around your midriff. And midlife can be a stressful time, says Florence Comite, MD, an endocrinologist in New York.

Chronic stress can also affect how well your body responds to insulin, which controls your blood sugar, Comite says.

Eliminating as much stress as possible from your daily routine will help cut the amount of cortisol your body makes. 

Do this: Meditate. Just 10 minutes of mindful meditation can make a difference, Comite says.

3. Don’t Skimp on Sleep

When you're short on sleep, your appetite kicks into higher gear. In one study of some 68,000 women, those who slept for 5 or fewer hours each night gained 2.5 pounds more than those sleeping 7 hours a night.

Do this: Set a soothing bedtime routine that includes turning off all screens at least one hour before bed.

4. Get Stronger

The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, even when you’re at rest. But you start losing muscle mass around age 40, Gerbstadt says.

Resistance training helps. Keeping your muscles strong makes it easier to maintain your weight.

Do this: Use weights that are heavy enough to exhaust your muscles with 12 repetitions, yet light enough to complete at least eight repetitions. Do lunges, squats, dead lifts, and pushups (12-15 repetitions per set). Or, if you're not into weightlifting, do yoga or other exercises that use your own body weight for resistance.

5. Clean Up Your Diet

It's true: You can't eat the way you used to, without some consequences.

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who ate the most refined foods (like sugar, white bread, cookies, and cakes) developed significantly more belly fat than those who consumed the same number of calories from less processed foods.

Do this: Always have healthy snacks on hand. Keep almonds in your pocketbook, trail mix in your desk drawer, and hard-boiled eggs in the fridge.

WebMD Feature

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Is Sitting The New Smoking?

It depends on who you talk to. I personally believe that when you sit for long periods of time you stop burning calories or at least slow down the process.
Now studies show that 8 hours of sitting, which applies mainly to office workers, is just as bad as smoking, and to go a step farther, if you're not exercising that also is just as bad for your health as smoking is.

When you see someone smoking, you might question “Why would you do that to yourself when you know it could kill you?” Do you react the same way when you know someone doesn’t exercise? You should. Not exercising is a problem that affects everyone in America because we have lost the need to walk. Walking is the exercise that will help all that ails you. It gets your blood pumping and good circulation is key to good health.

You wouldn’t dream of smoking (and if you do smoke, you’re likely trying to quit), so why poison yourself with inactivity? But many of us do. Nearly 80% of us don’t get the recommended amount of exercise. Many experts agree the inactivity epidemic is more concerning than the obesity epidemic. Far more people are inactive than obese, but because inactivity doesn't cause cancer then it isn't as important. 

The benefits of exercise are numerous and irrefutable. It helps prevent heart disease, diabetes, breast and colon cancer, dementia, depression, and more. If you exercise, chances are you’ll live a longer, healthier life. Period.

What’s so powerful about exercise? Take heart disease, for example. Heart disease is associated with inflammation in the body. Exercise is a natural inflammation fighter. When you move, your muscles send out anti-inflammatory chemicals.

Also, every time you get up and move, your blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglycerides improve. When you sit down, they get worse. It’s just about moving more. Most of us remember our grandparents and maybe they lived into their 90's, but in their generation, they walked a lot more and did more physical work, and probably had a lot less stress. More physical activity and less stress, maybe that's the secret to a long, happy life.

If you’re not active now, I’m sure it sounds overwhelming to start an exercise program. The good news is you can see health benefits with even a small amount of activity. Even taking a daily 5 -minute walk around the office will improve your health. Slowly build up from there.

Ultimately, you want your goal to be 30 minutes at least 5 days a week of moderate exercise. We’re talking about a brisk walk– hard enough that you can talk comfortably but not able to sing. But take your time getting there. Throw in resistance exercises a couple of days a week, and you’re on track.

If you’ve tried exercise before and didn’t lose weight, don’t be discouraged. You are still getting health benefits even if you’re not shedding weight. If you’re overweight but active and fit, you can expect to live as long and healthy as someone who is normal weight and fit. Even if you’re obese, being active helps you live a longer, healthier life than a normal-weight person who isn’t active. Losing weight is more about diet, so even if you're active and fit, you're not going to lose weight until you change your diet. Increasing your physical activity will make you a healthier person and losing weight will even make you healthier. I'm 70 years old and I don't take medications. My Doctor said I'm very healthy for my age, keep it up.

Think you’re too old for it to matter? Hardly. Regardless of your age, getting active has enormous benefits even in your 80s and beyond. We’re not just talking about living longer, but living better with a higher quality of life.

As British-American anthropologist Ashley Montagu once said, “The idea is to die young as late as possible.”

Look for my podcast by searching “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight” on the podcast app that you use. You’ll see a piece of my book cover.

If you really want to lose your body fat look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $3.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans, or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, bn.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com and other online bookstores. Just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

 

What My Website is all about

I write about losing weight, how to lose weight, what foods to eat when you're trying to lose weight and exercise that will help you lose weight. Today I want to talk about food. 

We all know by this time that when you cut calories in your diet, you have to pack all the nutrition you can in everything you eat. You can’t waste calories on food that isn’t giving you something in return. So, in order to give me energy, I try and eat all I can of the super-foods. 

One of the new ones is Quinoa.

What is quinoa?

Well, some consider it a grain and some don't.  Either way, it's definitely in the grain/rice/cereal family, and that's a family I enjoy eating.

Even better news is that quinoa (pronounced Keen-Wah) is actually a pretty good source of protein when compared to most grains, packing in 8 grams per cup.

Even better news is that quinoa is the only grain that contains complete protein, each gram containing all 26 amino acids.

Even BETTER news is that quinoa is extremely low glycemic coming in at an extraordinarily low 35 on the scale while offering a generous 5 grams of fiber per cup.

Do you now how AMAZING quinoa is?

It's the grain of all grains.  You can mix it with beans, you can eat it by itself, you can mix it in "salads", serve it alongside steak, chicken, or fish...you can pretty much do whatever you want with it anytime you need a quality, low glycemic, high fiber, protein-packed carb source.

In case, you're not familiar with the “super foods” just do a search on the internet and there’s plenty of websites like “Health.com” that will give you a full list. Just to name a few: Blueberries, tomatoes, oats, avocados, salmon, broccoli, green tea, eggs, and almonds. There’s actually about two dozen more which gives you a big variety of choices. Try to eat some every day. 

Quinoa is a good alternative to rice or potatoes. A 4 oz. piece of meat with a cup of quinoa, vegetable and beans and you have about 40 gm of protein and every few calories.

When you're trying to lose weight and lose fat, it's important to maximize your protein. Try and eat protein at every meal, yes even breakfast. As you lose weight you want to avoid losing muscle mass and that's not easy. But eating lots of protein will help you to maintain your muscles. The challenge is to avoid red meat. Red meat has protein but also has animal fat and too much animal fat will cause you to gain fat, not lose it. Fish and poultry has protein but most of your protein should come from plant protein. If you can get about 80 gms. a day of protein, you won't get hungry. Protein at every meal will keep you feeling full.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

The Dangers Of Stomach Fat

When you read the following you should understand more about the dangers of stomach fat. As I did my research I found that stomach fat was different than other body fat and the reason it's very dangerous is that your vital organ will feed off that fat and that overloads the Liver with fat that will pass through the Liver and into the arteries. Your Liver should be processing fat from the food your eating not the stored fat in your belly area. Your Liver will only process a few grams of fat per day and the rest is stored.

Can belly fat be a problem even for people who aren't overweight? New research says yes, excess weight around the middle boosts the risk of premature death even for people considered normal weight.

What's more, normal weight people with excess stomach fat had an even higher risk of dying early than overweight or obese people did, according to new research published online Nov. 10 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

"Belly fat is bad fat," said Dr. Paul Poirier, from the Institute of Cardiology at Laval University in Quebec, Canada, and the author of an accompanying editorial in the same issue of the journal.

Stomach fat has been linked to high cholesterol, inflammation, heart disease, stroke and diabetes, he explained.

"When you have fat around the belly, it's a lot worse than having the same amount of fat around the hip," Poirier said. "If your weight is normal, but you have weight around the middle, it's bad. If you've got a belly above 40 inches for men and 34 inches for women, this is obesity [even if your weight measurements seem normal]," Poirier said.

These people may not be obese from a weight perspective, but they are obese from a waist perspective, he said. 

For the study, a team led by Dr. Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., used data from a national survey to compare the risk of premature death among more than 15,000 adults. The mean follow-up time was 14 years.

The researchers looked at body mass index (BMI), a rough estimate of body fat based on weight and height measurements. They also looked at waist-to-hip ratios. 

The investigators found that normal weight adults with extra stomach fat had the worst long-term survival, regardless of BMI. And, normal weight men with bigger bellies seemed to fare even worse than slender women with more tummy fat.

A normal weight male with more fat around the waist had an 87 percent increased risk of death during the study period compared to a man who was normal weight without extra belly fat. Compared to overweight or obese men (as measured solely by BMI, without specific waist size information), a normal weight man with extra belly fat had more than twice the risk of dying early, the study revealed.

Normal weight women with extra belly fat had nearly a 50 percent increased risk of death during the study period versus a normal weight woman whose weight was more equally distributed throughout her body. Compared to obese women (measured by BMI only), the normal weight women with belly fat had a 32 percent higher risk of early death, the researchers found.

Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center, in New Haven, Conn., and president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, said the study findings raise the question: who would have more belly fat and still be at a normal weight according to their BMI?

Some people are more prone to depositing excess fat around the middle, he said. This can lead to fat accumulation in vital organs, especially the liver, he explained. 

Another group may be those who have excess body fat and illness, perhaps in early stages, causing loss of lean body mass, Katz said. Although it's not clear from this study how many people might fall into this category, he added. 

Regardless of why someone has gained weight around the middle, Katz said, "We have long known that all varieties of overweight are not created equal with regard to health risk, and that central obesity is the most concerning variety." 

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Gain Weight On Your Vacation?

I hesitated to write this post because I broke one of my rules, I gained weight on vacation. I went from 155 to 160. Okay, I know that some of you are laughing, thinking to yourself that "is that all". Want bothers me is that isn't fat that I put on around my waist. That the worst place to add fat and I know it.

It came from eating in restaurants for two weeks straight. Eating street food, eating in airports between flights, and snacking because I didn't have time to eat a proper meal. So, I fell into the "fat trap" I often write about. I hate myself for being so stupid. But on the bright side I did learn some new Yoga poses and I will start running again so that fat will come off.

I know most of you that have a weight problem are wishing your problem was as small as mine, and I do realize that your problems are a lot more serious. But there are the lucky few that only need a small fix like mine to make a big change in their body. The people who have gained their excess weight recently will find it easier to lose it. Those who have suffered with their weight problem for years will need extra time to lose their fat. The mistake most of us make is under estimating what we need to do to reach our goal.

Your diet is the important thing. I learned that on vacation. I was walking endless miles a day, plus doing 30 minutes of exercise in the morning but a poor diet will add fat to your body no matter how active you are. Don't fool yourself into thinking you can work off the fat. It's not going to happen. If you eat to lose fat your body will burn that stored fat. If you eat a poor diet your body will simply use the fat from the food you consume to fuel the body's need. Most people have trained their body to burn the fat their eating instead of body fat. The problem with that is the body can't burn all the fat you eat so it stores the excess in fat cells and forgets about it.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Use It Or Lose It

It's an old proverb that most of us never paid much attention to. But it's  just as true today as ever before. Your body works in real time and if you're not building muscle you're losing muscle. Your body is continually changing. You build the muscles you use and you lose muscle that you're not using.

Most of us think that when we lose weight we lose fat. Not so, you're actually losing a small percentage of fat. You're mostly losing flabby muscle and only about 30% fat. This is the main reason that weight counselors want you to workout to lose weight. By working out you can increase the amount of fat lose and reduce the amount of muscle mass that's lost.
Your body has hundreds of thousands of muscles and we only use a few dozen muscle which means that thousands of your muscles are shrinking and turning to flab and if you don't work-out those muscles you aren't using will shrink and as they get smaller you are gaining flab.

Did you ever wonder why most people have lower back problems? I had lower back pain for years. Then I start to exercise to build strength in my core. I did sit-ups, and yoga and now no more back aches. I lost my belly and love-handles and no more pain. Even know I'm a senior, I can play ball with my grandsons, ride my bike and even jog. Exercising will give you your life back. I do some exercise every day. I can't start my day without some exercise. I'll exercise about an hour 3 times a week with lite days in-between. You have to give your muscles 48 hours or so to recover from a hard workout. The other day I do more yoga to stay limber, maybe 20 minutes in the morning while I watch the morning show.

I learned most of this on the internet. There's so much free information I can change my routine every week. As long as you workout with the same intensity, it doesn't matter what you do. Some days I swim, some days I ride a bike, some days I lift weights and some days I do yoga. If you change your routine you actually get better results.

Don't forget to eat better foods and never eat a lot at one time. I nibble all day long, and never eat a regular meal, and I'm never hungry. If I eat a regular meal I get sluggish and tired. I stopped doing that and now I'm more active. I'm back in size 34 pants after about 40 years, I weigh the same as I did in High School and I feel like I'm 35 again.

I'm never going back to that overweight guy who didn't know how to eat real food, snacked every night after dinner, stayed up too late and never wanted to get out of bed.  After I lost that body fat I was a different people and I like this guy.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog posts.

gettingtoahealthyweight.blog
idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com

blogonweight.blogspot.com

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.
My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the Smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.