Also, an extra warning on this one. Imma give you some tough love.
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More regular conversations, in which I wish people would listen to me:
Them: "What kind of exercises can I do to get rid of this?" (points to jiggly tummy)
Me: Cardio.
Really?
Yes, cardio.
What about crunches?
Are you trying to develop a thin layer of muscle under all of that? Because you're not going to see it until that is gone.
What about Pilates?
Good for all over toning and conditioning, not good for burning off lots of pounds.
Well, my daughter/friend/sister-in-law/cousin/hair stylist is doing this ab workout and she says it's great!
I'm sure it is. But it's not going to get rid of belly fat. Sorry. Cardio.
What kind of cardio? Does walking count?
Maybe, but you need to be aware of how many calories you're actually burning, because it's going to be less than you think.
Well, my daughter does yoga. Maybe I'll just do that.
Oh. Okay. Let me know how that works out for you.
***
I will never understand why some people want to argue with me about this. Do you think you're going to convince me that you can lose 10 pounds of stored belly fat in yoga? By breathing and stretching? And Yes, there are some great stomach exercises I can give you, once you lose that layer of jiggle that is still going to hide all of your efforts.
Wait, let me say that again because that seems to be the part that people don't hear: That layer of jiggle is still going to hide all of your efforts.
Look, friends. We all want tight toned Victoria's Secret model abs. I teach fitness classes and train for marathons and my abs are still not clearly defined unless I suck in my breath, okay?
But if you're dead serious about losing the weight around the middle, you are going to have to accept the fact that "abs" are 60% efforts in the kitchen, 30% efforts in the gym, 10% genetics and willpower and you know, those few extra days we bloat up sometimes.
Because the belly area is where we start to store, under the general layer, visceral fat. This is the stuff that attches itself to organs and tissues. Tell me that you honestly believe that crunches are going to get rid of that stuff. And that general layer on the belly likes to stay there because your body, through the magic of creation/evolution/whatever you believe, likes to keep it there like a warm fuzzy protective blanket around all of your most important vital organs. The cells in our body have not yet evolved to realize that Taco Bell is open late and SuperWalmart is open 24/7. Therefore, it still likes to store up whenever it can to protect the most important organs. And that warehouse stubbornly sits around our torso area.(Or, if you are a hippy running chick, your warehouse is just a little further south, but you get my point!)
So no, sorry, crunches will NOT get rid of it. Man, if crunches did half of what they were supposed to do I'd be so freaking ripped right now.
So, you want a thinner waistline and a toned sexy core.
Let's start with that 60% in the kitchen statistic I gave you. If I were to ask you "How do you eat during the day?" Guess what you would tell me? "Oh, I eat healthy." But as we pick apart your daily diet, most of you do NOT get the 5-6 servings of fruits and vegetables. You eat snacks you THINK are healthy but are sugary and overprocessed. It's okay to be there right now, I am not judging you, I am telling you that we can just make some adjustments and do better.
Typical American diet:
Breakfast-- big coffee drink "(I don't have time to eat", "I am not hungry in the morning")
Mid-morning snack (because now you are hungry)-- something from the vending machines or a storebought snack like minimuffins or 100-calorie snack pack with a sugary drink like another coffee or lemonade or soda. Or maybe you do buy yogurt and granola bars. Check the sugar content on those. Yuck.
Lunch- sandwich of some sort. Subway. Or cheeseburger. Or homemade. 2 servings of bread. And some chips. And another soda. You think the lettuce and tomato on the sandwich counts towards your veggies but it doesn't. You need 2 cups of lettuce to be a serving of veggies.
Mid Afternoon snack (because you need a little pick me up)-- sugary drink like soda or juice or coffee, and something sweet like candy or cookies. Here's an interesting tid-bit. This is the point of your day when stress starts really piling up AND you're hitting an energy slump so your BRAIN sends you signals that it needs extra glucose and makes you crave something sweet! But then you don't actually burn off that glucose and worse, the cortisol that is trying to help you deal with the stress doesn't work because rather than go through fight-or-flight, which demands a physical response, you just continue to sit at your desk. So guess what? Your body just sabatoged you into eating poorly AND storing it as extra fat. Booooo....
Dinner: Either fast food, or something frozen, or boxed. Maybe you do cook a full meal, in which case it probably looks like: Meat. Rice/pasta/potato. Vegetable. Bread.
10pm-- ice cream. Or candy from you're kids' holiday stash. Or cookies. "just a little"
So, by the numbers, you've had probably 2-3 servings of protein as processed meat. About 1 1/2 servings of fruit and vegetables. And about 6 servings of grains (and probably processed and not whole grain). About 3-4 sugary drinks. And in all honesty, we don't see anything wrong with this. This is pretty typical for everyone!
Well, with a few tweaks, we can reduce the calories, get in much more healthier fuel, STOP your body from sabatoging itself, and get some physical results.
Breakfast: EAT BREAKFAST!!! How about 1 scrambled egg and 2 slices of tomatoes on an english muffin. Wow! Yummy! Still don't have time to cook? How about just 1 slice of toast with peanut butter and grab a banana on the go.
Midmorning snack: Fruit. Pack your own snack packs of grapes and strawberries and pineapple. So sweet! Or apples with a spoonful of peanut butter or sunflower butter. Or raw almonds with some dried cranberries and a few chocolate chips.
 |
| make your own! |
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| eat lots and lots and lots |
Mid afternoon snack: Apple slices and nuts and a few pretzels and some peanut butter and some WATER.
Dinner: Salad. And roasted veggies. And some lean protein. And, if you're still hungry, maybe a little less potatoes/rice/pasta
10pm-- water!
None of that is really unreasonable. And really, even if you just changed up lunch and mid-afternoon snack you'd be saving almost 600 calories.
The bottom line:
Tip the scales in your favor. Know the numbers. How much are you storing up and how much are you burning off? Replace some of those bad ideas with new favorites!
Happy Eating and Running! ~Jen
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