So your on the diet and your going to gym 5 times a week but you still can’t seem to lose your tummy fat. What is going on? Here are 5 reasons that may shed some light onto this frustrating dilemma.
1 – You only do cardio training
Cardio is for burning fat and weights are for building muscle. That’s the simple and flawed premise upon which countless men and women have built their exercise regimes. The fact is that weight training is an important element of any fat-loss plan.
Firstly just weight training on its own can burn over 400 calories per hour plus it elevates your resting metabolic rate (RMR) for hours long after you have finished training. (To explain quickly your RMR is basically the number of calories that your body burns when you’re sat on your sofa watching TV.)
On top of that, any weight-loss eating plan means you will lose muscle as well as fat. If you’re lifting weights to gain muscle, a greater proportion of your weight loss will come from fat. Weight training will also make you stronger and this will, in turn, improve your cardio performance. So if you are a runner, strengthening your legs by doing squats and lunges in the gym will help you run faster – and therefore burn more calories.
2 – Somebody told you that low-intensity training burns more fat
The theory behind this is that working at a lower intensity you are burning more fat as energy and as you increase the intensity you start to use carbohydrates as your energy source. The truth is that low-intensity exercise does burn a greater proportion of fat, but high-intensity exercise burns more calories overall and raises your RMR for longer. This makes it a more effective way of shedding weight.
Therefore introduce some high-intensity cardio workouts into your regime and try interval training, where you mix short bursts of maximum effort (up to 90 per cent of MHR) with lower-intensity recovery periods.
3 – You’re always on a diet
To lose weight you have to be on a diet . right? Up to a point that is true however most diets are extremely restrictive and therefore are very hard to maintain. Regardless of what diet you follow the ultimate objective of these weight loss plans is too limit how much you eat either by removing food groups, cutting calories or having you drink a shake every meal.
Of course initially the weight drops off quickly and you think ‘Great, I’ve lost weight now so I can eat normally again.’ However before you know it the weight has piled back on to where you started and in some cases you have actually gained weight. This is known as ‘yo yo dieting’.
The real secret to losing weight is not to go for the quick fix, its about making changes to your diet that you can manage and sustain for a long time. The weight will take longer to come off but if done right will stay off for good.
4 – You rely on ‘low-fat’ meals
A few years ago, as people started to take more interest in their health the supermarkets jumped on this bandwagon and began introducing ‘low-fat’ versions of their ready meals in an attempt to make us all think we were being really healthy.
However just because it says on the packet, ‘low fat’ is doesn’t mean it is ‘low calorie’. To keep the taste of these products intact the manufacturers use extra salt, sugar and additives so eating a low-fat ready meal doesn’t mean you’re not taking in empty calories that are sabotaging your fat loss efforts.
The best way to avoid this situation and give yourself a better chance of losing weight and being healthier is if you make the effort to cook your own meals using only fresh ingredients. This means you know exactly what is going into your body without any hidden surprises, just remember to control the portions.
5 – You don’t eat any fat
Now I must hold my hand up here and say I used to make this mistake. For years I thought that fat was the enemy when it came to losing weight and would go to great lengths to avoid it.
There’s no doubt that fat is the most calorific of the nutrients we eat. Fat contains 9 calories per gram, whereas carbohydrates and protein contain 4 and even alcohol contains 7. And the saturated fats present in processed foods such as biscuits, cakes and sweets, as well as the fast food is definitely going to find its way to our bellies, bums and thighs.
But not all fat is bad. The monosaturated type found in oily fish, nuts and pulses is great for your heart and cholesterol levels. Research also indicates that these so called healthy fats, such as Essential fatty acids (EFA’s) and CLA can actually help burn fat, because they assist in transporting oxygen to the body’s tissues.
So don’t be afraid to include plenty of these fats in your every day diet. A balanced diet should include at least 20 and 30 per cent of your total intake from healthy fats. It won’t affect your long-term weight loss, but it will affect your health for the better.
There you have it 5 good reasons why you are struggling to lose tummy fat. Remember to keep focused and motivated and the body of your dreams will be yours.
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