Fit Tip- Can you spot reduce?

[Nick Clark]

So, you want to lose that extra belly fat. Crunches will take care of it, right? Wrong! Remember, you can't spot reduce. All right, I guess there are some surgeons out there making a nice living doing just that, however, if you are looking for a long term fix without surgery, you will need to focus on 3 things.

1. DIET, DIET, DIET!

This doesn't mean go on a low-carb, high-fat, liquid, bark, rice cake, or noodle diet. Focus on changing your diet for good. You can't expect to lose inches if you are eating sugary and high fat foods. Also, eating two or three meals a day isn't going to cut it. You want 4-6 small meals (including snacks) throughout the day. Try planning breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack in between each of those meals.

2. Resistance Training.

Resistance training exercises re-shape your body. You need to build lean muscle tissue in order to burn fat. Remember, muscle is fat-burning machinery! And the more you have the more fat you can burn. Don't worry ladies, you won't get 'bulky.' Women lack the testosterone in order to build large muscle mass. Your resistance training should focus on full-body exercises (multi-joint).
This will enhance caloric expenditure and maximize your time. Try to get 2-4 days of resistance training. Your workout should take no longer than 45 minutes and most quality resistance training programs can be accomplished in 30 minutes.

3. Cardiovascular Training.

Run, bike, swim, hike, boot camp, elliptical trainer or whatever you like to do. The idea is to get MOVING! Cardio exercise will burn unwanted calories while improving our overall heart health. The more efficient our heart and cardiovascular system is, the easier your cardio will get. Start with 20 to 30 minutes, 4 to 5 days per week. Once this gets easy, work your way up to 45 to 60 minutes.


Nobody said it was going to be easy! But you can make it fun and make it a lifestyle! Train hard!

More tips and articles can be found at www.ftlakewoodranch.com

[Nick Clark]

Hey Charmaine-
Great job on being committed to your health and fitness! It sounds like you are well on your way to success.
As you know, your diet is the key. Protein requirements will depend on your goal and weight. A good guideline would be to get about .7 grams of protein per pound of lean mass. How do you know how much lean mass you have? You need to know your body fat percentage. You can get this done at your gym or some scales can give you your bf%. So for example, if you have 95 pounds of lean mass, your protein requirements will be roughly 67 grams.
I hope this helps and please let me know if you have any other questions.

Nick

[Charmaine Tincher]

Hi Nick, Thanks for the great tips especially since that extra belly fat is my hardest challenge. Cortisol I believe comes from stress and stress can relieved by some sort of daily exercise. I try to get to the gym at least 3 times a week although today will be my fourth and I am really starting to love it as when you start to see results, Its so inspiring and keeps you going. Any tips you can share about how much protein to have each day and what? Thanks in advance for your response, Charmaine