Belly fat hasn’t always been your problem — you’ve worried more about hips and thighs. Now your midsection’s making up for lost time. What’s up?

Whether it’s because of heredity, hormonal changes or aging-related weight gain, many women notice an increase in belly fat as they grow older — and especially after menopause. Gaining fat in your abdomen is particularly unhealthy when compared to other locations in your body.

Excess belly fat increases your risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and certain types of cancers. The good news is that a few lifestyle changes and some targeted abdominal exercises can help you battle your belly bulge.

When fat gathers in your abdomen
As you age and your metabolism slows down, the amount of fat in your body slowly increases. Women experience an even greater fat percentage increase than men do. Then after menopause, your body fat distribution tends to shift — less in your arms, legs and hips, and more in your abdomen.

You may think belly fat is limited to the stuff out front that you can grab with your hand — but it’s the fat you can’t see that’s really a cause for concern. Visceral fat lies deeper inside the abdomen, surrounding the abdominal organs. Gaining this type of fat has been linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other health problems. Subcutaneous fat, located between the skin and the abdominal wall, is more visible but also less likely to be a health risk.

While a slowing metabolism and decreased physical activity contribute to overall weight gain as you age, those factors don’t influence visceral fat accumulation directly. Heredity may be the culprit — you may simply have inherited a tendency to gain weight in your midsection. Hormones also play a role. Hormonal changes after menopause may change the way that your body breaks down and stores fat, leading to more fat accumulating in your belly.

Some women even experience a widening waist without gaining any weight. Although you may not be gaining extra fat, your “abdominal fat” is increasing as limb and hip fat decreases. Even in women of a normal weight, too much fat concentrated in the midsection is unhealthy.

The midsection matters
Gaining weight in your abdomen does more harm than simply making your waistband too tight. While putting on weight in general can have negative effects on your health, abdominal weight gain is particularly unhealthy. Too much belly fat increases your risk of:

Heart disease
Breast cancer
Diabetes
Metabolic syndrome
Gallbladder problems
High blood pressure
Colorectal cancer
Researchers also have found that abdominal fat cells aren’t just dormant energy waiting to be burned up. The cells are active, producing hormones and other substances that can affect your health. For example, some fat-cell-produced hormones can promote insulin resistance, a precursor to type II diabetes; others can produce estrogen after menopause, which may increase your breast cancer risk. Researchers are still sorting out how the excess hormones affect overall health, but they do know that too much visceral fat can disrupt the body’s normal hormonal balance.

Measuring your middle

You know you’ve gained some inches around your torso, but how can you know whether it’s an unhealthy amount? You can calculate your body-mass index (BMI) or waist-hip ratio, but researchers have found that simply measuring your waist can tell you whether you have an unhealthy amount of “belly fat”. In fact, BMI may not be an accurate measure of body fat percentage or fat distribution, particularly after menopause.

To measure your waist, run a tape measure around your midsection at about the level of your navel. Breathe normally, don’t hold your tummy in, and don’t pull the tape so tight that it presses your skin down. In a woman of healthy weight, a waist measurement of 35 inches or more indicates an unhealthy concentration of abdominal fat. Some research has shown that a measurement of 33 inches or more, no matter what your weight, increases your health risks.

Fight back the bulge
Since visceral fat is buried deep in your abdomen, it may seem like a difficult target for spot reduction. As it turns out, visceral fat responds well to a regular exercise routine and a healthy diet. Targeted tummy exercises can help to firm the abdominal muscles and flatten the belly.

Exercise. Daily, moderate-intensity exercise is the best way to “lose belly fat” — when you lose weight and tone your muscles, your belly fat begins shrinking, too. In fact, you may notice that your tummy bulge is the first area to shrink when you start exercising. The amount and type of exercise you should get varies depending on your current activity level and your health goals. Talk to your doctor about the right exercise program to promote good health and specifically combat “abdominal fat.”

Strength training. Some research has shown that exercising with weights is effective in trimming tummy fat. Talk to your doctor about how to incorporate strength training in your exercise routine.

Healthy diet. Changing unhealthy eating habits can help fight “belly fat.” Read nutrition labels, and replace saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats. Increase portions of complex carbohydrates like fruits and vegetables, and reduce simple carbohydrates like white bread and refined pasta. If you need to lose weight, reduce your portion sizes and daily calorie intake.

Tone your tummy. While you can’t “spot-burn” belly fat, you can firm up your abdominal muscles and get a flatter belly. Traditional sit-ups aren’t the most effective way to firm your tummy, however. Instead, use these exercises to target both deeper and lower abdominal muscles:

Deeper abdominal muscles. Target deeper abdominal muscles by doing “abdominal hollowing” or “drawing in the belly button.” First, get down on all fours. Let your tummy hang down as you take a deep breath. Let your breath out, and at the end of your exhalation, gently draw your belly button inward and upward toward your spine. You should feel a slight tightening around your waist — think of it as trying to squeeze through a partially closed door. Hold for 10 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds. Work up to 10 repetitions. During each effort, your spine position shouldn’t change and you should breathe freely. Eventually, you’ll be able to do this “exercise” standing up. It’s so subtle, no one should be able to tell you’re doing it.
Lower abdominal muscles. Tone your “lower abdomen” by doing pelvic tilts and pelvic lifts. To do a pelvic tilt, lie on your back on the floor with your knees bent. Flatten your back against the floor by tightening your abdominal muscles and bending your pelvis up slightly. Hold for 5 to 10 seconds. Repeat five times and work up to 10 to 20 repetitions.

For pelvic lifts, lie on your back with your knees bent up toward your chest and your arms relaxed by your sides. Tighten your lower abdomen and lift your buttocks up off the floor, with your knees aimed toward the ceiling. Hold for 5 to 10 seconds. Repeat five times and work up to 10 to 20 repetitions.

Hormone therapy. Although there are good reasons for some women to try hormone replacement therapy (HRT) after menopause, fending off belly fat isn’t one of them. It’s true that some studies have demonstrated that postmenopausal women who take HRT are less likely to accumulate abdominal fat than are postmenopausal women who forgo HRT.

Other studies, however, found no difference. Meanwhile, questions about the risks and benefits of HRT persist. Talk to your doctor in detail about the risks and potential benefits of hormone therapy before trying it.

Say Good By To Your Belly Fat Click Here

By David Morrow

Summer time is upon us - but it’s not too late to take some quick steps to make sure you look and feel great!

Here are four quick steps you can take to get yourself heading in the right direction. It is never too late to get yourself on your way to better shape with plenty of energy!

1) Assess your situation. Time for a quick reality check. Before you do anything, take a good look at yourself to get some direction. The mirror usually is a good place to start, and a few measurements may give you some motivation as well. Even one measurement, like your waistline, (take at the belly button level) can help you gauge your progress.

This is also the time to take a quick mental check too. Maybe you have not succeeded in the past with weight loss or fitness goals. Why?

2) Set some goals. Assessing your situation helps you decide upon your goals. Lose weight, fit into your summer clothes (the ones that somehow shrunk over winter), start exercising or re-strategize your current exercise plan. Perhaps it is time to clean up your diet a little bit, start eating a little healthier.

Get set with a positive state of mind. Great successes get set first in the mind.

Health, fitness and weight loss goal achievement requires three key items:

Proper state of mind. - You will meet your goals.

Balanced and realistic nutrition program. (That is you eating healthier, making better choices)

A set minimum amount of cardiovascular exercise and some amount of resistance training.

If you want maximal results in a minimal amount of time, these three items must be an integral part of your program. Decide how you are going to meet your goals. Devise the plan to your success.

3) Time to take action. Once you have your goals and your game plan, all you have left to do is to simply put yourself into action. Time to hit the ‘play’ button. Don’t wait one more day to start your program. Don’t let yourself get sucked into a perpetual procrastination of “I’ll start tomorrow”.

Make your mind up that your journey of weight loss and fitness success begins today. Take action physically with your exercise, eat a healthier diet, and mentally keep a positive charge going to stay on track.

4) Plan to stick to the plan. This inevitably will require some planning. All great end results come about from a plan. Stay on track with your diet and exercise. Keep yourself in a positive state of mind with a strong and affirmative mental lock on your goals.

All you have to do is get started. Every day on the way to your goals will build on the day before. Before you know it you will have achieved success. This can be your summer to feel and look great!

To help you look and feel your best this summer, Fat Into The Fire offers a wealth of information about health, fitness, and getting in fantastic shape.

By Gary Grewal

The common reason why people reduce weight is not only to look good but also to avoid the dangers of excessive body fat and being obese. Weight loss helps to be fit and healthy and also increases resistance power. Obesity is a health disorder and may cause heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Obese people’s cholesterol level tends to shoot up. It occurs when the accumulation of body fat exceeds a limit of 25% in men and over 32% in women. One out of three Americans possess extra body fat and study shows that almost 20% of them suffer from obesity.

If you have obese disorder you will notice breathing becomes a difficulty. The heart finds the process of pumping blood strenuous. Blood pressure increases and also the heart become larger. When the cholesterol levels shoots up, it causes depositing of plaque narrowing the arteries and increases the blood pressure even more. This is a risking factor that can lead to heart attacks. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, body fat reduction is more effective than any drug therapy as cardiac structure modulator.

Nearly 25% of problems related to the heart and the related vessels are caused due to obesity. Clinically it is proven that cancer and body fat are inter-related. Fat are considered as the storage areas of carcinogens which are the cancer causing chemicals. This may occur in women as well as men. Obesity disturbs the hormonal balance and messes up production of insulin and absorption of blood sugar. The excess amount of sugar present in the blood is transformed into fat globules. All this leads to and diseases related to the gall bladder, intestines, osteoarthritis, and stroke. On an average, people tend to gain one pound each year after 25 years of age. By the age of 50 you would have gained 25 pounds. This slows down metabolic rate and causes fatigue. At the same time, if you don’t exercise you will gain more weight which is risky. These are the major ill effects caused by obesity, apart from fatigue and low stamina and incompetence in physical activities.

A sedentary lifestyle contributes too in a negative way. Thus in order to avoid all this it is better to lead a healthy lifestyle. Less use of oil and dairy products, low fat meals and intake of water keeps the metabolism in a good condition. A good and an effective exercise regime and periodic review of the health condition helps you to assess the body condition better and adjust your eating and exercising patterns accordingly. This can be easily achieved with the help of a fitness trainer or through experienced guidance. So follow a weight reduction program and go on a diet to avoid fattening food, this itself will contribute in a major way to a reduce obesity. Believe in natural weight reduction and don’t force your body to achieve it. Eventually things will fall in place and you will feel fresh and healthy.

To learn more about dangers of being overweight visit 101 Weight Loss; A site featuring hundreds of article on losing weight and keeping it off.
Recommended  Fat Loss 4 Idiots

Try asking people how to gain weight and you’ll likely see some bewildered faces staring back at you. For the majority of people, hearing that question is aking the questions, “How do I stub my toe?” or “How do I run out of gas?”

Those confused faces not withstanding, the question is a legitimate one and one that frustrates those who find themselves on the light end of the scale. While those on the heavy end can’t get through a commercial break or flip through more than five pages of a magazine without someone offering up a solution to their weight problems, it can be a lonely struggle for those who want to put on weight.

If you are lucky enough to get a reasoned response to your question, it will probably involve the words “eat more.” That, despite being obvious, is great advice. Quite simply, to gain weight you will need to up your calorie consumption to the point where you consume more calories than you expend. Couple an increased caloric intake with a little weight training and you have the recipe for healthy weight gain.

You may think you eat a lot, even enough to keep pace with your more weight-furnished friends, but you are probably over-estimating your intake. After a trip to the doctor’s office to rule out medical causes for your inability to bulk up (thyroid disease and other medical problems can hamper weight gain), a first step to designing an effective weight gain program is to journal your eating habits. Counting calories for a week will give you an accurate view of your diet.

From there, increase your daily caloric intake by about 300-500 calories until you start putting on the pounds. Keep in mind though, while your caloric intake will directly influence your bodyweight, it will be other factors like the types of food you eat and your weight training regimen that decide the type of weight you are putting on. So if you are after an aesthetically pleasing weight gain, that of lean muscle weight as opposed to just some extra body fat to lug around, it will be important to pay attention to these factors.

To get the most muscle out of your weight gain, avoid the junk food and focus on eating whole foods. A good weight gain diet should be composed of 30-50% protein, 20-50% carbohydrates and 20-40% fat (the majority of which should be essential fatty acids). Different ratios within these ranges will work differently for different people. Keep up your food journal and experiment to find the ratios that work best for you. For more information visit http://www.Fat-loss-foridiots.com

Providing your body with the materials it needs to build muscle is only one piece of the puzzle. A weight training program designed to give the body a reason to add some muscle will be very important to achieving your goals. Your workout routines should concentrate on compound weight lifting exercises (those that involve multiple muscle groups like the squat or bench press) with weights that allow you to do 6 to 12 reps per set. Higher rep ranges will tone your muscles but may not sufficiently signal the body into muscle growth. Try to either increase the amount of weight lifted or the reps completed with each workout.

Don’t go overboard with your workouts. Two or three one-hour workouts per week done with intensity should do the trick. Too often those that have trouble gaining weight (hardgainers) spend too much time in the gym. This can be counterproductive in two ways. First, it means you are burning off a lot of the calories that could otherwise be used to build muscle and, second, you can over-train your muscles by working them too hard, basically making them unresponsive.

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