Many people find that they have problem areas where they just cannot get fat to budge.  Hand’s up if you’re one of the millions who find themselves with a stubborn layer of fat around their waist?

It’s frustrating that, although you may be making an effort with your diet and trying to exercise more, sometimes it feels impossible to reduce fat around your belly. With an active lifestyle there are several steps you can take to help you become or remain trim all over.

Breaking down the fat loss myth

I’m sorry to say that there is no such thing as spot reduction, we just don’t get to choose where our body stores fat and we can’t remove it from particular places when we decide we don’t want it.  It’s a disheartening fact but hundreds of sit-ups and stomach crunches on their own won’t immediately help you lose that spare tire. The good news is that with diet and exercise together, you can burn your excess fat and by following my  three belly fat busting tips that spare tire will soon deflate.

Three simple tips to help you reduce the appearance of belly fat

Here are my three go-to belly busters that help keep me stress free and in control of my figure.

Belly buster tip 1:  Make time to be active

Although you can’t spot reduce and only target a flabby tummy, you shouldn’t discount the benefits of general exercise.  If you can find time for a physical activity every day, then you’ll soon find yourself firming up all over.

I know you’ve heard it before but being active and becoming physically fit is also wonderful way to cut through the stress in your life.  Spending time exercising can give you a time out and help you reprioritize.   Even better, the time you spend exercising is time when you can’t be eating!

Belly buster tip 2:  Take a deep breath

Practice conscious breathing by inhaling through your nose and letting the air expand into your tummy, then breathe out through your mouth. Stopping work and taking 5-10 conscious breaths can calm your mind and give you a rejuvenating time out. Don’t let stress creep up and leave you feeling frazzled by the end of the day, that way may lead to comfort eating.  Try this breathing technique as often as  you remember (you may even want to stick up a post-it note to yourself).  Take the time to think about your body and how you want it to look.  This mindful technique may help you avoid a donut or re-prioritize a trip to the gym.

Belly buster tip 3:  Pull your shoulders back and your tummy in

Schedule a stretching break instead of a coffee break. You can do simple stretches and exercises from the comfort of your office chair or while you’re on the phone.  Try pulling in your tummy when your sitting or standing for 30 seconds at a time and you’ll be strengthening your core stomach muscles. And, if you have a minute, then take a moment to stand up straight, pull your shoulders back and walk tall. Improving your posture can help make you feel more alert and in better shape.

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Although there are no quick-fix solutions, you’ll instantly feel better if you begin to exercise, take control of your figure and make the time to think about you.  Whatever your problem area – be it a wobbly belly, thunder thighs or a double chin – with a consistent exercise routine and patience you can improve your physique.

Written by Samantha Clayton. Samantha is a paid consultant for Herbalife.

Smart shoppers usually look for value – whether they’re buying a car or a computer, they want to get the best bang for their buck. The same rule should apply to food, too. When the currency is calories, it’s smart to spend them as wisely as you can.

Clearly stated, the concept of nutrient density is pretty simple. It refers to getting the most “nutritional value” for your “calorie intake.” Foods high in protein are going to give you an abundance of nutrients in exchange for relatively few calories.

A healthy diet does more than just keep calories in check. If body weight were the only thing that mattered, you could keep your weight steady on French fries and chocolate cake, as long as you didn’t eat more calories than you burned off. But, of course, we need a complex array of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients from plants to keep ourselves in peak condition.

Whether you’ve heard the term or not, if you try to eat reasonably well, you’re probably already eating a pretty nutrient-dense diet. Most people know what foods make up a healthy eating plan: fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, low fat dairy products. and whole grains – and these are some of the foods with high nutritional value.

Part of the high nutrient-to-calorie ratio in these foods is their low fat content, which means they pack a lot of calories per bite. And, because water has no calories, watery foods like fruits and vegetables have the fewest calories per bite – but they’re loaded with nutrition, making them some of the best foods you can eat.

A single orange supplies a whole day’s vitamin C and a host of other nutrients, too – in just 70 calories. If you tried to meet your vitamin C needs from French fries, you’d need to eat about 800 calories’ worth. That’s because fats seriously dilute the ratio of nutrients to calories. Sugars do, too. Fats and added sugars are the flip side of nutrient density. They pack an abundance of calories but not much of anything else. This is why we call them “calorie-dense.”

Have three ounces of grilled fish for dinner, and you’ll get about 25 grams of protein, along with minerals like iron, zinc, and magnesium, all for about 120 calories – a true calorie bargain. Sure, you can get 25 grams of protein from a burger, but it will also cost you an extra 400 calories or so.

Everyone should aim for a nutrient-dense diet, but it’s particularly important for those whose calorie requirements aren’t that high to start with. A middle-aged woman who only needs 1400 calories to maintain her weight will be hard-pressed to pack all her nutrient needs in a small calorie package if she doesn’t choose carefully; she simply can’t afford a calorie-dense meal.

Don’t lose the forest for the trees, though. Of course it’s wise to eat as many nutrient-dense foods as you can, but there’s nothing wrong with a high-calorie treat once in a while. Focus on the quality of your diet as a whole. As long as your overall diet has a high nutritional value, that’s still smart spending.

Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD. Susan is a paid consultant for Herbalife.

Protein

The word protein originates from the idea that proteins are central to life and the first nutrient. Vitamins – vita meaning life and amin meaning protein – got their name from the misconception that amino acids, the building blocks of protein, were the essential components for maintaining life.

Proteins are found in animals and plants, but the mixture of amino acids – the building blocks of the protein found from different sources – varies. As a result, there are 21 common amino acids consisting of 12 nonessential and nine essential amino acids. Essential amino acids are those that cannot be synthesized from other amino acids, but must be consumed in the diet. The usual way that nonessential amino acids are formed is by metabolism of other amino acids. All amino acids have a basic structure of an alpha-amino nitrogen and carboxylic acid.

Maintaining the amounts of protein in muscles and organs is essential to life and is the main objective of the adaptation to starvation. In fact, loss of more than 50 percent of body protein is incompatible with life. The protein is stored in organs and there is no labile compartment.

The Importance of Protein
There is evidence that modestly increasing the proportion of protein in the diet, while controlling total calorie intake, may:

• Improve body composition.
• Facilitate fat loss.
• Improve body weight maintenance after weight loss.

Fat Retention
Mankind is very well adapted to malnutrition and starvation, and this adaptation is reflected both in the way the body stores energy and how it uses these stores of energy when food intake is reduced or eliminated altogether. In the average 70 kg (154 lbs) man:

• The largest store of calories is in the form of fat in adipose tissue with approximately 135,000 calories* stored in 13.5 kg (30 lbs) of adipose tissue.

*A dietary calorie is 1,000 calories or a kcal, but for simplicity will simply be noted as calories. You may also see dietary calories capitalized as “Calories.”

This storage compartment can be greatly expanded with long-term overnutrition in obese individuals.

There are approximately 54,000 calories stored as protein both in muscle and organs, such as the heart and liver. Only half of these calories can be mobilized for energy, since depletion below 50 percent of total protein stores is incompatible with life. In addition to being an energy source, protein plays a functional role in many organs, including the liver, and depletion is associated with impaired immunity to infection. In fact, the most common cause of death in an epidemic of starvation is typically simple bacterial pneumonia. Conservation of protein is an adaptation tightly linked to survival during acute starvation.