Losing body fat around the stomach area and having a thin waist is arguably one of if not the most common fitness related goal for the majority of the public, and people spend hours upon hours discussing about what the best way to do this is.
Sadly, a large number of people don’t actually know the ins and outs of what is involved in getting that trim waist. And that’s what your friendly neighbourhood PT is hear to settle things once and for all.
Sit Ups for Days
Firstly, there’s one thing I want to make very, very clear as it’s a topic I get asked about on a very regular basis – you cannot do specific exercises that will make fat disappear from one particular area of your body.
Sorry, hate to break it to you, but all those sit ups, leg raises and ab crunch machines you’ve been doing aren’t really going to budge that pesky spare tyre. What abdominal and core exercises to is strengthen and, to an extent, build up the muscles within our stomach area to make them appear more visible and defined once our body fat levels are low enough for us to see them.
So those 50 crunches a day you’ve been doing might have done some benefit in strengthening your six packs muscles, but they won’t do much to shrink your waistline.
Cut it Out
So if doing ab exercises isn’t the answer then what the hell is?!
Well my lambs, the answer lies in what I have said time and time again when any question about fat/weight loss comes up – You must be in a calorie deficit. It really is that simple.
Eat less calories than your body is using and your body fat will come down. Now, it might take some time and it may end up that you lose inches off other parts of your body before your waist, but that sadly is nothing we can do about. This is mainly due to hormones which dictate where on our bodies the most body fat is stored and for a lot of people, the stomach is one of the slowest/last places for it to come off.
How to be in a Calorie Deficit
The concept of losing weight and being in a calorie deficit is pretty simple in theory - eat less energy than you use. But putting that into practise isn't quite as easy and straight forward.
There's lots of things in our way such as work, family, social life, cravings etc and these all get in the way of the pursuit of eating healthily. Here's a few tips to being in a calorie deficit consistently:
- Keep a food diary - apps like MyFitnessPal are super easy and useful for keeping track of your intake and actually knowing how much you're eating (Which is normally a lot more than you realise!)
- Get enough sleep - our busy modern lives have a big impact on our sleep patterns which has a knock on effect when it comes to trying to lose weight. Aiming to get 7-9 hours per night will help your energy levels, alertness levels and reduce cravings.
- Keep your training interesting - mix up your workouts between weights, cardio, bodyweight exercises etc will give you a good variations and make sure you don't get bored.
How I can help you
Is losing body fat around your stomach a big goal of yours? Is it something you've been struggling to do for sometime?
Then Personal Training and/or Online Coaching is right up your street.
Get one on one time to learn how to train properly or talk about your training.
Get a custom workout programme sent to you every week with instructional videos of every exercise.
Get full nutrition support and talk about your food every week with over 100 recipes ideas to choose from too.
Stay motivated and have someone give you a kick up the a*se when you need it.
Email adam@adamcmorris.com for more information today!
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