Five More Tips for Eliminating Belly Fat
With the holiday season approaching, it is easy to think about belly fat as something that is festive and fun. Constantly seeing Santa Claus with his big belly and the Pillsbury Doughboy may make you think that the belly is in.
But belly fat never brings good tidings. Research has consistently implicated belly fat as a cause for increased increased risk of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer. So this holiday season, while it may be tempting to mimic Santa’s belly, you will be better off thinking about the health implications that belly fat brings.
Last month, we have shared with you 5 Tips to Help You Remove Your Belly Fat. Here are five more tips to help you eliminate belly fat:
Keep track of your waist-to-hip ratio
1. Keep track of your waist-to-hip ratio.
Always take note of your waist-to-hip ratio as well as your body mass index (BMI). Log your measurements on a notebook or a calendar every other month or so. If you find that your waist is wider than your hips, take immediate action to lose your belly fat right away.
For women, watch out if your waist expands beyond 35 inches. For men, the upper limit should be 40 inches. Remember that if your waist size falls into the danger zone and your BMI is 25 or more, you are at risk of heart disease.
2. Choose to consume the good fat.
If 20% to 35% of your daily calories should come from fat, ensure that you get most of it from the good kind of fat. Choose between mono- or polyunsaturated fats and always avoid foods high in saturated fats and carbohydrates.
When cooking with fat, opt to cook with vegetable oils, like canola, olive, or sunflower oil. Some examples of delicious foods with healthy fats include salmon, avocados, olives, and walnuts.
3. Burn off existing fat.
There is a saying which goes, “move it to lose it.” If you want to lose belly fat, then you have to engage in an active lifestyle. Routine, moderate exercise helps to fend off the fat, and the more strenuous activity burns off existing fat.
Keep the bigger picture in mind when you’re working out. Keep in ming that spot weight loss is difficult. Just doing a bunch of crunches won’t do it. You are better off going for a fat-burning cardiovascular exercise and combining that with execises that firm up and strengthen the abdominal area.
The good news about visceral fat is that it’s the first fat to go once you start shedding pounds!
Yoga can help calm your mind
4. Relax.
Research has shown that a person’s level of body stress may be related to belly fat. Always find ways to unwind and relax. Exercise can help you de-stress and yoga, with its meditative component can help calm your mind.
5. Consult your doctor.
Always check with your doctor anytime you are worried about your risks. Doctors can track visceral fat by the tape measure or with an MRI or CAT scan (a series of X-ray images of the body that are compiled by a computer to produce a 3-dimensional image).
A blood test can also be given to measure the presence of a protein called retinol binding protein 4 (RBP 4) in the blood, which is an indicator of potential health problems like heart disease and diabetes.
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