Losing Abdominal Fat
The History of Fat
Your body loves you. It would actually do anything to keep you safe, to keep you alive. And that is exactly why human body is not very much concerned with aesthetics. It cares only about functionality and survival.
And by survival, I don't mean that you become quick enough to escape in front of a hungry lion the way some of our less fortunate ancestors had to, we developed brains to deal with that. I'm talking about long, extended periods of hunger, that we have mostly forgot about in western society. Our minds forgot, but our genetic structure didn't.
And that's why we get fat. Sure we help the process by eating junk food and tons of sugar, but that's not the real problem. The real cause is that our bodies love fat. When things get rough, it gives protection, warmth and supplies nutrition when food is scarce. And this is a fear that sits deep inside our core.
So if you want to hit those abs to show by the next summer, you better get ready for some serious warfare against centuries of fat collecting.
The Trouble
Dieting alone, won't help. Whatsoever, it may become counterproductive if you starve your body too much. The protection system will kick in and whatever your eat from that point on will actually turn to fat.
And you know what your body will “eat” then? Your muscles. Muscles take a lot of energy, so if your body figures out that some muscles are using too much energy for no reason at all, it will get rid of them, before it ever touches the fat.
And the sad truth is, as long as your fat percentage is above single digits, those 6 packs won't show.
So how the hell do you get rid of it?
The Solution
You must combine careful exercise and proper nutrition.
Proper nutrition is not dieting. It is a way of eating that will help your body understand that storing too much fat is not necessary anymore.
And by exercise I don't mean 500 crunches every morning (although, that sure is impressive), I'm talking about a system that boosts the furnace of your body.
Starting with the obvious, cut down on all forms of simple sugars.
Particularly if you have them in the morning after your 8 hour fast (you don't eat while you sleep - I hope), you bomb your body with such high sugar intake, that the amount of insulin needed to counter that makes it impossible to burn any fat for the next few hours.
OK, now we got this out of the way, let's see what can you eat and how you should train.
The Training
If you can, do cardio as soon as you're up. If you have no time to go running or riding a bike, take 15 min and do some jump jacks before taking a shower. If you break sweat in this period, you are starting a furnace that will go on for the rest of the day.
Whenever you git the gym, work on big muscle groups. Squats, combined bicep - shoulder - triceps exercises with light weight and many reps will force your body to use massive amounts of energy and burn fat in the process.
And here is one cardio run that helped me take off 60kg, that's about 130 pounds, in a few months after I suffered a stroke at the age of 29. Perhaps the best cardio training ever.
The example is for a treadmill, but you can apply it anywhere.
You start with a total of 12 minutes and you build it up to a total of 20 minutes. Never do more than this. Speeds are for illustration purpose only, adjust this according to your fitness ability. I rounded the numbers to make it easier to understand.
2 min - Warm up 7.5 km per hour (kph)
8 min - Intervals
1st minute
10 kph for 20 seconds
7.5 kph for 10 seconds
2nd minute
10 kph for 20 seconds
7.5 kph for 10 seconds
Repeat until you reach the end of interval period.
2 min - Cool-down 7.5 kph slowing in the last 30 seconds to 5 kph.
Warm up and cool-down periods will always remain the same, but as you progress you will increase the duration of Intervals, until you hit 16 minutes of intervals giving you a total of 20 minutes of cardio. Trust me this works better that 1 hour on a bike.
Naturally in addition to cardio and big muscles groups work out, you should hit the sit up and crunches. Here's a little advice: Do your sit ups slowly, using only the tension of stomach muscles to raise your body.
Instead of increasing the number of sit ups, try adding extra weight by holding a 5kg dumbel on your chest. Raise slowly, stay like that for about a second, and very slowly go back. 5 sets of 25 rep each will do a miracle for you in a months time.
Don't train your stomach more than twice a week, and make sure there's at least 2 days of rest in between.
The Nutrition
Drink ½ liters of water before you drink anything else in the morning. You need re-hydrate your system. Adding a bit of lime juice will help alkalize your body and it will help your liver deal with fat processing.
Pure black coffee will help too, but only after you drink enough water. Remember, it's a diuretic.
Stay away from starch and simple carbohydrates. Eat full grain bread that's full of fiber for example. Keep clear of white rice, white bread etc...
Eat lots of green vegetables. This is essential, as it will give your body everything it needs, by passing the alarm system that wants to store the fat.
And no more KFC, MacDonald or whatever your favorite fast food is. In general, don't eat anything that deep fried.
Stick to chicken breast prepared in wok or Teflon pan with no oil. Cook you potatoes, don't fry them. Bake things in the oven, and let it juice up in it's own grease.
If you're eating out, cut the parts with visible grease. In general, if the grease solidifies in room temperature, it's bad for you.
Eat white fish, baked in oven with some vegetables or cooked into a nice fish soup. Do not fry it.
Stick to this, and you'll be losing abdominal fat (and in all those other places) in no time!
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