Keeping our waist down to measure 34 inches or less cuts your risk of heart disease 72%, and your risk of cancer, diabetes, depression and dementia, the new research shows! I mean lets face it, we don’t
really like fat anywhere on our bodies! Fat on the hips, thighs, arms, etc takes up space. 3lbs of fat is about the size of a grapefruit.3 lbs of muscle is about the size of a tangerine. So fat does take up space. (I hound my clients to measure inches lost, not just lbs lost) But when we talk about belly fat, it’s a different story. Belly fat kick starts a steady stream of disease triggering inflammation.
Working with clients on weight loss and emotional eating, is one of my passions. Of course, I love and believe almost everyone should be on the fabulous products of Isagenix to do a nutritional cleanse to get rid of belly fat because it has to be about removing toxins from our bodies that love to hide in body fat. However, that’s not what Im going to talk about here. Until your ready to do that and make those lifestyle changes, there are things we can do to help rid belly fat. Just making a few changes and taking baby steps towards a healthier body is always something you should reward yourself about!
1. Try removing refined, processed foods little by little from you kitchen. Decide to go 2 to 3 days a week with no simple carbs.No breads, pasta, potatoes, rice, chips, etc Stick to healthy fats, nuts, lean protein, veggies and low glycemic fruits and drink nothing but water. Introduce your body to change.
2. Implement lifting weights 2x a week for 30 minutes. Thats only 1 hr a week! Studies show that we burn calories and fat for hours after weight training. More so than cardio. Muscle speeds our metabolism. The more muscle fiber we have, the faster our metabolism is.
As one of my colleagues and mentors put it and I couldn’t have said it better:
“Change is never easy or comfortable, as change inevitably comes with a certain level of stress. Perhaps the reason change can be uncomfortable and stressful is that it propels you out of a routine that you are used to. If your future was foreseeable and predictable, it would be frightful. To accept change and its value in your life you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable. Lets look at this from a different perspective! You are overweight and out of shape. You don’t feel good, your joints hurt and it is awfully tough to touch your toes and what’s worse is you catch every cold and flu that comes along. You know you have to make a profound change in your life, like exercising and changing your diet. You are resistant to this change because you know that this change is going to take commitment,
effort and hard work. You also know that if you go to the gym and exercise, you are going to feel the soreness the very next day. That’s what exercise and its benefits are all about. That’s also what change is all about. That’s how change works. With change there is discomfort. If you are not willing to make changes in your life, you won’t realize its benefits. Let go of your past experiences, your stress and the regrets of yesterday seizing the opportunity to make changes in your life. Make the changes that will transform how you think and do things. Your old ways haven’t worked for you, so dare to be different and bold. Every change you make now will present you with many wonderful opportunities that will certainly impact your life and redirect your future.” TONY ESCOBAR