Best Fitness Blog

...By Karli Taylor

You have heard it before -- if you want to know the state of your health, turn your attention to your waistline. Waist circumference is getting a lot of attention as the new risk factor for future health problems, even becoming more popular than the old standard of BMI. Why? It’s because belly fat is thought to be more dangerous than fat that pads other parts of your body. Even people who look to be “skinny” should be concerned if they hold any extra baggage around the middle.

Your body needs some fat, but where the fat is on your body makes a big difference. Fat can behave differently in different places, and the stuff that lies along your midsection has been proven to be the most unhealthy. There are two types of fat that can live around your waistline, the first is subcutaneous fat, or the fat just under your skin. This is the fat that you can pinch with your fingers. Though it is what most of us concern ourselves with, it’s actually the lesser of the two evils. It’s the visceral fat, the belly fat that hides deep inside, around your inner organs, that may pose a silent health threat if there's too much of it.

There are four keys to losing visceral fat: exercise, diet, sleep, and stress management.

Though there are no specific moves or activities that lessen visceral fat, by including both cardiovascular and resistance exercise into your daily routing you will be able to burn off fat while you are exercising and add lean mass that will continue to burn fat while you are at rest.

It has been proven that 30 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity, done four times per week, reduced subcutaneous and visceral abdominal fat. Resistance training alone reduced only subcutaneous fat. However a stronger, leaner body burns more calories at rest so it is always best to do cardio as well as strength training to accomplish your weight loss goals.

Contact Best Fitness in your area for assistance in creating a weight loss plan that incorporates the loss of belly fat.

Visit one of our Best Fitness Clubs to learn even more about this topic. We have locations in Albany,NY, Tonawanda, NY, Schenectady, NY, Erie, PA, Nashua, NH, Chelmsford, MA, and Drum Hill, MA.

...By Karli Tayor

Losing weight can be overwhelming. Even losing that last 5 pounds can seem like a daunting task that requires hard work and sacrifice. I’m not about to tell you that there is a quick fix to drop pounds, but I will tell you a few little things that you can do that will really add up to some big drops on the scale.

• Drink Water. Not only will drinking more water make you feel fuller for longer, but water is essential to keeping your body running efficiently. If you don’t drink enough water, your kidney function slows down. As a result, your kidneys pass off the unfinished work to your liver. What does that have to do with weight loss? Well, one of your liver's functions is to help your body burn stored fat for energy- it can't perform that job fully if it has to do the kidney's job also. By not drinking water you put your liver on double duty, decreasing its fat burning potential and causing you to store more fat.
• Do NOT drink soda, even diet soda. Since regular soda is basically liquid sugar loaded with useless calories. Did you know that if you replaced 2 bottles of soda with 2 bottles of water, you could lose up to 2 pounds a week? Some studies now link consumption of diet soda with weight gain because even though diet sodas have 0 calories, the artificial sweeteners increase your cravings for sugars and other foods that make you gain weight.
• Don't sit down for more than 4 hours. Studies show that sitting down or being virtually inactive for longer than 4 hours slows down your metabolism making it easier for you to store fat. To prevent this from happening, try standing up for at least 10 minutes within every 4 hours that you are awake. Easy enough right?
• CHEW your food longer and lose weight faster. Your grandmother wasn’t completely nuts for telling you to chew everything 20 times. You should chew everything you eat at least 8-12 times. Eat slowly. Your body doesn't realize that you've had enough to eat until several minutes after you've had it. If you chew your food more than usual, not only will you eat more slowly, but also you'll trick your body into thinking it's had more to eat

Try adding these simple habits to your day and watch the number on the scale get closer to that goal.