Battle of the Bloat: Using Yoga to Help You Reduce Bloating

The best way to get a flat belly is to reduce your weight and increase your fitness, but yoga can also play an important part too. Not only is yoga great for your emotional wellness and wellbeing, which can help make dieting easier, but some yoga can help to assist with a distended and uncomfortable belly, reducing bloating.

 

There are various poses that can help to aid digestion and reduce bloating, one of them being the bow pose. This pose strengthens and lengthens your torso, engaging all of the muscles in your belly. To get into it, start in Downward Facing Dog, and then bring your knees to the mat and lie down on your tummy. Bend your knees and grasp the outside edge of one ankle and then the other. Once you have a tight grip on your ankles, keep your toes together, choosing to point or flex your feet as you wish. Pull your feet up as high as you can manage, and shift your weight forwards so that you are resting on your tummy and not on your pelvis. Hold for the count of five and then release.

 

A wide-legged forward bend can also help to reduce bloating because folding yourself in half like this squeezes the belly and helps things to get moving along. If you are suffering from tummy pain that is related to stress, this pose can also help to reduce the tension.

 

To do the wide-legged forward bend, start by standing with your feet three or four feet apart, turning out your heels so that they are slightly wider than your toes. Put your arms behind your back and clasp your fingers together, pressing the heels of your palms together to form a fist. Bend forward, folding at the hips and drawing the crown of your head and the hands towards the floor. Stay there for five breaths and then engage your quads and stand up.

Categories: Belly, bend, bloating, Feet, reduce, reduce bloating, tummy, wide legged, yoga

The Fantastic Workout That Could Flatten Your Belly

If you’re constantly hiding your abs under a floaty top, it’s time to get rid of it for good. We’ve got a workout that will boost your fitness, reduce your weight and also improve your wellness and wellbeing along the way.

 

This combines fat-burning cardio and moves that target the full core of your body rather than individual ab muscles, meaning that you burn fat and tone up at the same time.

 

You should aim to do this workout three days a week, making sure that the days are non consecutive. Start by doing the most basic version of the moves and then gradually advance to the harder moves when you feel that you are ready. The best way to do things is to perform the exercises listed here as a circuit. Do one set of each move and then rest for 30 seconds before moving on to the next exercise, and rest for a minute between circuits.

 

This workout will fire up your metabolism and burn off fat, and intervals are the best way of intensifying your workout. You should also be sure to include a warmup and cooldown period.

 

Start with a basic plank, which is when you go to the top of a pushup position but with your arms slightly closer together. Your body should be raised up and in a straight line. Hold it for 60 seconds (or as long as you can manage at first).

 

Next, move on to a side plank. Lie on your right side and keep your legs straight. Prop yourself up on your right forearm so that your body becomes a diagonal line. Rest your left hand on your hip and then hold your abs tight for around 60 seconds or as long as you can manage.

Categories: Belly, flatten, moves, nbsp, Rest, seconds, Workout

How to Ditch that Beer Belly Without Ditching the Beer

Everyone likes a drink now and then, so ditching drinking in favour of your weight loss wellness can make you jack in your diet altogether. According to personal chef Diane Henderiks, RD, founder of Dish with Diane, your liver processes alcohol before other it does any other carbs and protein, meaning that the sheer presence of alcohol in your body slows down your fat-burning ability. Your wellbeing won’t be ruined if you have stick to one drink a day (that’s five ounces of wine, 12 ounces beer, or one ounce of a spirit) but if you want to drink AND lose weight, you might need to develop a few of the following healthy habits as well:

 

1. Chill Out: Cortisol is the hormone that encourages your body to store fat—particularly in your abdominal region – and anxiety causes cortisol to be produced in spades. It has been shown that deep-breathing exercises help to lower your stress levels, so pause for some deep-breathing time every hour. Set an hourly alarm on your phone and, when it goes off, take five to 10 deep-belly breaths, inhaling for five counts and exhaling for 10 counts.

 

2. Eat Enough: This is good advice for anyone wanting to lose weight, regardless of whether you ditch the drinks or not. When you don’t eat enough food to satisfy your body, it goes into starvations mode, Henderiks warns. This means that, out of fear of not being fed, your body will store extra fat for energy, rather than burning it off and keeping your belly taut.

 

3. Keep Up Your Strength: The more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism is and the more calories you burn all day long. This is because muscle is more metabolically active than fat, and exercise physiologist Tom Holland, author of Beat the Gym: Personal Trainer Secrets Without the Personal Trainer Price Tag, asserts that you need to do two to three total-body strength sessions a week in order to build that quality lean muscle.

 

4. Eat Wholegrains: In a study from PennsylvaniaStateUniversity, it was found that eating wholegrains instead of refined grains helps you lose more fat around your midsection. Moreover, researchers at Tufts University have reported that including three servings of whole grains and less than one serving of refined carbs in their diets every day helped participants lose 10% more visceral fat than those who didn’t follow this diet.

 

5. Work Your Abs from All Angles…: Celebrity trainer Gunnar Peterson, who works with Sofia Vergara, Kim Kardashian, and Vanessa Lachey, points out that there are three planes of motion you need to target when working on your abs. To challenge and define your ab muscles, you need to hit your sagitall plane (front to back and up and down) with crunches and reverse crunches; your frontal movement (side-to-side) with standing side bends; and transverse action (rotational) with chops or twists.

 

6….But Don’t Overdo the Ab Work: While you need to do ab-specific moves to tone your tummy, Holland asserts that these are the “finishing moves” once you’ve removed excess fat via diet and exercise. The majority of your workout should be focused on the rest of your body, and only 10% of your time should be dedicated to abs work. For the other 90% of your workout, focus on strength training and/or cardio.

 

7. Drink More…Green Tea: There is a whole heap of studies show to show that green tea deals with belly fat. This is due to an antioxidant called EGCG which helps boost metabolism and may specifically target abdominal fat.

Categories: abdominal fat, Alcohol, Belly, body, Deep Breathing, drink, green tea, Lose, Lose weight, nbsp, Personal Trainer, Weight Loss

Build the Body of Your Dreams: How to Tone Your Abs

Whilst plenty of people hit the gym in an effort to improve their fitness and their general wellness and wellbeing, many are there for one reason only: toned abs. Having a flat stomach is a major motivator for millions of men and women, and the good news is that achieving the abs of your dreams may be easier than you think.

 

The Pilates Hundred is a tough 10 day challenge which claims to guarantee you a flat stomach and toned abs at the end of it. It’s not just for seasoned Pilates experts either – it’s for newbies as well as experts. The Hundred exercise is essentially a Pilates warm up and is designed to get your blood moving, but don’t let the idea that this is a warm up fool you into thinking that it will be a few gentle stretches. This both tests and builds your core strength like no crunch ever could and also forces you to coordinate your breathing and move your arms at the same time, providing an amazing workout.

 

To start the Hundred, lie flat on your back on the mat with your legs squeezed tightly together and your arms long by your sides.

 

Next, lift both your legs a few inches off the mat and squeeze your buttocks together, scooping your abs. Engage your powerhouse muscles, including your low-back, abdominals and pelvic floors, as well as your glutes. Take care that when you lift your legs off the mat, you can feel it coming from your powerhouse muscles rather than your hips.

 

Now for the action – raise your arms up and reach them over the top of your thighs, pumping your arms up and down while breathing in and out. Take a long inhaled breath for five pumps and a long exhaled breath for five. Ten pumps is one set – ten sets is 100 pumps. Do this for ten days.

Categories: Abs, arms, Belly, flat, Flat Stomach, legs, long, nbsp, powerhouse muscles, toned, toned abs

Build the Body of Your Dreams: How to Tone Your Abs

Whilst plenty of people hit the gym in an effort to improve their fitness and their general wellness and wellbeing, many are there for one reason only: toned abs. Having a flat stomach is a major motivator for millions of men and women, and the good news is that achieving the abs of your dreams may be easier than you think.

 

The Pilates Hundred is a tough 10 day challenge which claims to guarantee you a flat stomach and toned abs at the end of it. It’s not just for seasoned Pilates experts either – it’s for newbies as well as experts. The Hundred exercise is essentially a Pilates warm up and is designed to get your blood moving, but don’t let the idea that this is a warm up fool you into thinking that it will be a few gentle stretches. This both tests and builds your core strength like no crunch ever could and also forces you to coordinate your breathing and move your arms at the same time, providing an amazing workout.

 

To start the Hundred, lie flat on your back on the mat with your legs squeezed tightly together and your arms long by your sides.

 

Next, lift both your legs a few inches off the mat and squeeze your buttocks together, scooping your abs. Engage your powerhouse muscles, including your low-back, abdominals and pelvic floors, as well as your glutes. Take care that when you lift your legs off the mat, you can feel it coming from your powerhouse muscles rather than your hips.

 

Now for the action – raise your arms up and reach them over the top of your thighs, pumping your arms up and down while breathing in and out. Take a long inhaled breath for five pumps and a long exhaled breath for five. Ten pumps is one set – ten sets is 100 pumps. Do this for ten days.

Categories: Abs, arms, Belly, flat, Flat Stomach, legs, long, nbsp, powerhouse muscles, toned, toned abs

Could You Burn Away Your Belly Fat in 15 Minutes a Day?

People who carry excess weight are often particularly self-conscious about their tummies. As well as using fitness regimes to boost your general wellness and wellbeing, you can also target this hated belly fat and create the trim waist that you’ve been longing for. A two-pronged attack is needed for this; you need to tackle your belly fat by exercising the muscles and also by getting your heart beating fast.

 

A cardio and abs workout is a great way to get into shape, and the best news is that it doesn’t need to take much time. Doing this sort of routine for only 15 minutes per day can dramatically change the shape of your midriff, as well as burning away your general body fat.

 

Burpees are the most loved and hated exercise of all, but they were wonderfully effective when it comes to burning belly fat. To do a burpee, start with your feet together and your hands up above your head. Bend forwards and place your hands on the floor, jumping your feet backwards until you are in a plank position. Then, hold this position for a beat, and then jump your feet forwards, towards your hands, and then stand up straight again. If you do this 30 times, the resulting ache to your core will show you what a fantastic workout your muscles are getting, and you will find yourself out of breath and with a racing heart, too, meaning that your body is busily burning fat.

 

When your heart rate has been raised by the burpees, you can do some core strength work. Get into a plank position and then hold it for five seconds. When you reach the count of five, lower yourself down onto your elbows, keeping the rest of your body tight and using only your arms to do so. Hold your body in the elbow plank for about five seconds and then push yourself back up into the regular plank. Do this for around a minute in total, moving up and down between the two planks.

Categories: Belly, body, burning, Fat, nbsp, Plank, plank position, tummy

How to Tone Up Your Body’s Most Difficult Trouble Zones

When it comes to losing weight and improving fitness, everyone has their own particular trouble zones. Your wellness and wellbeing should be your primary concern, but of course you want to improve the areas of your physique that you dislike the most.

 

Complaining and feeling miserable about your flabby stomach, wobbly arms or big bum will not change anything, but diet and exercise certainly will.

 

It is impossible to lose weight just on certain areas of your body, because when you lose fat it occurs all over the body, but it is possible to build up your muscles in certain areas of the body in order to make sure that the structure underneath the skin is toned. When the fat melts away then you will be left with a lovely toned muscle structure underneath.

 

The three most common areas that people want to tone up is the tummy, the saddlebags and the underarms (also known as bingo wings in some circles!) With a little bit of a planning and a lot of hard work, you can blast these trouble zones for good.

 

Belly flab is probably the biggest insecurity, and belly fat is also the worst for your health. Belly fat is a classic sign that your diet is really poor, so the best way to get rid of it is to clean up your diet and get rid of any sugars, processed foods and saturated fats. Add healthy food and then add in a bit of toning in the forms of plank work and cardio.

 

Saddlebags are the area on the outside of your hips, usually accompanied by some lovely cellulite. To get rid of these unsightly bulges, squat your legs and do some work whilst in a squat position. Do some glut work as well, such as deadlifts.

 

Finally, you can firm up your bingo wings with all kinds of arm exercises, kickbacks, extensions and pushups.

Categories: areas, Belly, bingo wings, body, nbsp, tone, trouble, work, zone

How to Banish Your Excess Belly Fat Once and For All

When people want to lose weight and increase their fitness, you can guarantee that there is one or more problem area that they specifically dislike and want to banish. More often than not, that problem area is the tummy. Getting rid of belly fat is a top priority to help improve your wellness and wellbeing, as the waist circumference is known to be linked to a number of serious health conditions.

 

Slimming down your waist is not easy though, and you need to know exactly how to go about it. Many people do hours and hours of crunches every week to try to get rid of their belly fat, not realising that, on their own, crunches and situps are useless. They need to be combined with endurance and cardio if you want to see results.

 

Endurance training is when you do lots of reps of an exercise with a low weight. You usually do around 20 or 25 repetitions of each exercise, but you use only about 50 to 70 percent of the maximum weight you could truly manage. Your muscles will be exhausted, but in a different way to they are when you do power training.

 

When you add repetitions to your exercise, what you actually do is draw on your liver to let go of the energy that it stores for such occasions. When this happens, your body urgently needs to replace the sugar that has been removed from the liver, and it breaks down fatty adipose tissue around the body to replace the glycogen that has been taken from your liver and used up by your body. For this reason, it is also really important not to eat immediately after a workout, or your body will simply use the fresh energy in the food that you consume.

Categories: Belly, body, exercise, Fat, Liver, nbsp, problem area, tummy, weight

Is There a Way of Ridding Your Body of Belly Fat?

It seems too good to be true, but it seems that a new diet has been released that promises it’s possible to lose four to nine pounds of belly fat every week without cutting back on calories and without doing any exercise. Jorge Cruise claims that you’ll be able to eat everything you love, including pizza, cheeseburgers and chips, as long as you lower your intake of sugar and processed carbs – this, he claims, will help you to control your insulin levels, which lead to weight gain around the middle. This is in contrast to the trainer’s first book, The 3-hour Diet: How Low-carb Diets Make You Fat and Timing Makes You Thin, which claimed that the secret to weight loss was portion control and a calorie-in versus calories-out approach. If you want to lose weight, and maintain it more importantly, your calorie intake needs to be controlled and you need to keep a regular body of exercise going each week to keep the heart healthy, according to a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.

 

The Belly Fat Cure consists of eating fats, vegetables and proteins with a small amount of sugar and complex carbohydrates. You need to avoid processed foods entirely though. You’re fine to eat dark chocolate, champagne, wine and beer, but cocktails and sweets are off the list. Alot of the book highlights the ‘belly bad’ meals which fall into the restaurant and fast food categories. There are various meal plans designed for different eating styles, such as meat eaters and carb lovers, so that you can find a plan that suits you. There is also a no excuses plan, which encompasses all the basics. This consists of three eggs and two slices of buttered toast for breakfast, a handful of walnuts for a snack, tuna salad and one pitta bread for lunch, one cup of cottage cheese with honey for an afternoon snack, and grilled chicken or steak with vegetables and brown rice for dinner. Dieters are also advised to drink eight to ten glasses of water a day, as fruit juices and milk are considered to be bad foods for the belly. The only fruits that are ok to eat on this diet are blackberries and blueberries, because they have a lower sugar content that most fruit. It’s met some harsh criticism, with many people claiming that it is simply a gimmick rather than a real cure.

On each day of the diet, dieters consume no more than 15 grams of sugar from six servings of ‘smart’ and fibre-rich carbs – you can calculate the sugar to carb value by comparing the grams of sugar to the number of servings of carbs you’re eating. The food labels will be able to provide this information for you. The theory behind this carb swap is that you get your insulin levels correctly balanced, to limit the risk of sugars turning to fat in the cells which leads to weight gain, wrinkles, lower energy levels and cellular inflammation. As with many fad diets, there is controversy over whether it is just a money-making scheme or whether it actually works for people. For many people, the concept of being able to eat foods which are normally off the menu seems too good to be true. As with any diet or lifestyle change, you should speak to your GP before embarking on a new diet plan to ensure that it is safe for you.

Categories: Belly, Belly Fat, carb, diet, insulin levels, Sugar, weight, weight gain, Weight Loss

Losing belly fat naturally is something that everyone desires. Stomach fat is the most difficult body fat to lose. It is not impossible to lose it permanently and get six pack abs. The great news is that you don’t have to starve yourself. You need to take countless supplements, and undergo dangerous surgery or do millions of sit-ups. Here are some natural but surefire ways to lose that belly fat once and for all. Weight Training: Weight lifting will help boost fat loss, build muscle and prevent muscle loss. Performing resistance training exercises that focus on large muscle groups will burn the most calories. Eat More Calories: Lack of calories will slow down your body’s metabolism and you will retain more fat than if you were to eat the right quantity of calories. Calories are energy and not eating enough will reduce your energy stores, which means having a hard time, getting through the day or getting a good workout in. Do Cardio and Stop Doing Crunches: Performing 15 to 45 minutes of physical activity or intense cardio workouts thrice a week or alternative day will help you decrease overall body fat and burn more calories. Sadly, you can’t reduce the amount of fat in one particular area of your body. To reduce your waistline through cardio, you have to lose fat overall through your whole body. Eat Healthy: Working out hard will strengthen your abs, but if you don’t eat right, you will always have a layer of belly fat on top of those muscles. Eliminate processed foods from your diet plan and start eating whole foods such as protein, veggies, fruits, healthy fats and carbs. Make sure you eat breakfast each morning and eat small meals every three hours to keep your metabolism going. It’s helpful to eat carbs right after your workouts and drink two cups of water with every meal. Eat More Protein Your body burns off more energy processing proteins than it does processing carbs or fat. If you wish to burn fat, you must take in protein. Self-Motivation Developing a clear-cut plan and tracking your weight loss progress is about the best way to stay motivated. It is difficult, when you don’t see drastic results right away but success doesn’t happen overnight. You must stay dedicated and work hard each day to achieve great results. You can start off by jogging or walking with a partner and making small changes to your diet. Make sure you track your body measurements and check the scales to see if your plan is effective. Boxing provides a great workout. Find a cardio activity you love to do and have fun, while doing it to stay motivated. It may take some time to get the results you desire, but the outcome will be permanent, if you continue to work at it and stay committed. Do you want to lose the belly fat permanently?

Losing belly fat naturally is something that everyone desires.  Stomach fat is the most difficult body fat to lose.  It is not impossible to lose it permanently and get six pack abs. The great news is that you don’t have to starve yourself.  You need to take countless supplements, and undergo dangerous surgery or do millions of sit-ups.

Here are some natural but surefire ways to lose that belly fat once and for all.

Weight Training:

Weight lifting will help boost fat loss, build muscle and prevent muscle loss. Performing resistance training exercises that focus on large muscle groups will burn the most calories.

 

Eat More Calories:

Lack of calories will slow down your body’s metabolism and you will retain more fat than if you were to eat the right quantity of calories. Calories are energy and not eating enough will reduce your energy stores, which means having a hard time, getting through the day or getting a good workout in.

 

Do Cardio and Stop Doing Crunches:

Performing 15 to 45 minutes of physical activity or intense cardio workouts thrice a week or alternative day will help you decrease overall body fat and burn more calories. Sadly, you can’t reduce the amount of fat in one particular area of your body. To reduce your waistline through cardio, you have to lose fat overall through your whole body.

 

Eat Healthy:

Working out hard will strengthen your abs, but if you don’t eat right, you will always have a layer of belly fat on top of those muscles. Eliminate processed foods from your diet plan and start eating whole foods such as protein, veggies, fruits, healthy fats and carbs. Make sure you eat breakfast each morning and eat small meals every three hours to keep your metabolism going. It’s helpful to eat carbs right after your workouts and drink two cups of water with every meal.

 

Eat More Protein

Your body burns off more energy processing proteins than it does processing carbs or fat. If you wish to burn fat, you must take in protein.

 

Self-Motivation

Developing a clear-cut plan and tracking your weight loss progress is about the best way to stay motivated. It is difficult, when you don’t see drastic results right away but success doesn’t happen overnight. You must stay dedicated and work hard each day to achieve great results. You can start off by jogging or walking with a partner and making small changes to your diet. Make sure you track your body measurements and check the scales to see if your plan is effective. Boxing provides a great workout.  Find a cardio activity you love to do and have fun, while doing it to stay motivated. It may take some time to get the results you desire, but the outcome will be permanent, if you continue to work at it and stay committed.

Do you want to lose the belly fat permanently?

Categories: Belly, Fat, weight