How Belly Fat is a Serious Health Risk Especially for Women?

Did you know belly fat has a lot more to do with your health than the shape of your body? If you are a woman, and you have a substantial amount of fat on your abdomen, then you must know that you are harboring serious health concerns.

Belly fat has always been loathsome. Who wants a flab of fat on the middle section of the body? Literally no one. But if you have it, and you are doing nothing about it, then my friend you are unfortunately jeopardizing your health.

For all our lives, we have been told that how a protruding belly makes our body appear ugly and amorphous. Many of us start hating our bodies because we have been seeing influencers and models on our social media handles with perfectly flat abs. We lament our bodies for not being fit because hardly, we knew that the problem can have far deep-rooted consequences for our health.

Belly Fat- A Predicament

Let’s start the discussion with you taking your measurement first. Stand straight, take a deep breath (don' tuck your tummy inside), take a measurement tape, and record the inches from your abdomen region. Ladies! consider it a red flag if your waist comes on inches' tape at 35 or more. I want you to forget about all those body positivity debates, for a moment at least, because the implications of having an unnecessary amount of fats on your tummy are grave.

Here is the fact that subcutaneous fat such as love handles and padding on your thighs or arms can be cosmetically challenging, but is otherwise harmless. Whereas the visceral fat, such as that of the belly, is actually metabolically active, and can potentially be responsible for a host of diseases, including cardiovascular disease, dementia, and cancer.

Source: The Dangers of Belly Fat

It is a common misconception that belly fat is associated with obesity, which means you must be overweight to have that excess fat in the midsection of the body. Contrary to that, even people with an overall balanced weight can develop a harmful amount of fats around their abdomen. Furthermore, shedding weight from this part will make you sweat buckets. Only a few sets of sit-ups won't do any good for you in this case. But this does not mean it is a nut case. A balanced diet along with a workout such as strength training or cardio is a foolproof way to lean that section. Cardio on aerobic stepper, squats with dumbbells, planks with variations of gliding discs are some of the ways you can include strength and cardio mix-up in your workout routine. But if you a complete beginner, start with low-intensity cardio to get accustomed to the intensity.

One thing is quite clear that whether men or women, unwanted visceral fat around internal organs contributes to health issues for both. Although women are more prone to the adversities of central adiposity. So if you feel that you can’t button up your jeans because of the protruding belly, it’s time to take action and set some strategies for yourself that can help you slim down your waistline.

If you are considering to start practicing the ever-so-famous resistance training, find the right equipment such as dumbbells, ankle weights, resistance bands from the top-quality manufacturer Xn8 Sports.

How to Lose Abdominal Fat

Abdominal obesity hits hard and stays for long if the right measurements are taken. Only doing crunches or abdomen-targeted exercises is not enough. Because just by doing that, you sure can tone the abdominal muscles, but trimming the fat won’t be accomplished unless you couple it up with the strategies that are required to reduce your overall body fats.

To conquer this battle with obnoxious abdominal fat, you must follow these steps.

 Limit Your Sugar Intake: Sugar is your sweet enemy and is on silent war against your body. Sugar contains a large amount of fructose that can lead to the accumulation of fat around the abdomen and liver. When you eat a good amount of sugar, your liver gets loaded with fructose and is forced to transform it into fat. Your foremost effort should be eliminating sugar or at least reducing its consumption significantly. Liquid sugar is the worst among all forms of confectionary you are indulging yourself in. Our brain simply does not register liquid calories, so when we drink sweetened beverages, our total count of calories mounts up. That’s why quitting sugar from your diet is a huge favor to your body.

Eat Balanced Portions of diet: Please don’t fall for the fad diets. Not any of these diets will guarantee sustainable weight loss and are not a healthy way to lose weight. Our body needs complex compounds to function properly. If you'll only feed it on protein, or a high-fat or carb diet, you'll depreciate it from other essential elements, which will eventually lead to a host of problems. If you think quitting on carbs is your way to getting lean, most essentially from your midsection, then you are on the wrong. Carbs give our body the energy to perform day-to-day activities. Consume carbs but in portions. Only as much as your body requires. Make sure that your meal consists of proteins, fats, carbs, and other minerals. Take everything only in the desired quantity, and you'll find that much-hated bloating is gone.

Exercise is a must: A balanced diet coupled with physical activity is a surefire to get to your goal – a lean body and a flat belly. You can't just eliminate exercise from your plan because your muscles need some hustle. Our deskbound lifestyle is making us vulnerable to all kinds of diseases because we make little to no movement all day long. Weight gain is a common complaint among people with an inactive lifestyle, that's why including exercise in your weight loss plan is a must. Pick your favorite type of workout, but at least indulge yourself in 20-30 minutes of daily physical activity. Order now your favorite piece of equipment and start doing it right away. Dumbbells, ankle weights, yoga mats, yoga blocks, resistance bands, there are so many options for you to choose.

Walking is another ideal option for you. After your working hours, head towards a public park and do a brisk walk to make up for the inactivity of the whole day.

Reduce alcohol consumption and quit smoking: If you are someone trying to lose abdominal fat, you must look into these two things. Do you consume alcohol a lot? Do you light a cigarette every time you feel stressed? If this is the case, you are into the wrong habits. Alcoholic beverages often contain added sugar, which causes weight gain, whereas, studies proved a positive correlation between smoking and pot belly. Quitting on these two things will not only help you reduce your weight, but it will definitely land you in a better health condition.

Summary

Belly fat is not as innocent and harmless as we may see it; in fact, it's a venom most people are concealing within their bodies. It poses far greater health risks apart from making us a bit conscious about our bodies. By making some lifestyle and diet changes, one can clearly see the difference in their appearance and overall in their health. Women are especially susceptible to the problems caused by the abdominal and visceral fats than men. For this, it makes it more important for our female readers to pay attention to their widening waist because it may be signaling dire consequences for you.