Women especially are always asking how to lose belly fat. We are hoping that doing one or two ab exercises, will get rid of the flab. Wishful thinking, that would be too easy. We have been taught that starving ourselves is the way to lose weight. Wrong! When we put our body into starvation mode, it will grab everything possible to store as fat. Then once we start eating normally again the weight comes back & many times more weight is put on. Then we’re in a worse situation than what we started with. Is skinny what women really want? Or do we really want to be lean with muscle definition?

If you are having a hard time releasing (notice I didn’t use the word lose because we don’t want to find it again) fat, you are probably eating too much carbs/sugar. Yet you do not want to eliminate them! Many are claiming that they avoid carbs (candy, cake, pie etc.) but say they are loading up on fruit. Fruit is mostly sugar! Don’t forget that bread, rice, pasta, potatoes & some veggies are also sugary. The brown bread, rice & pastas are still carbs with the same sugar content but they have more fiber so will be digested more slowly. So even foods that we may think of as healthy is only healthy in small, infrequent quantities, so we need to be careful. Over eating carbs will lead to gaining fat. Keeping track of your carb intake may be helpful to you. Do your research!

Don’t forget to eat enough protein! A huge steak at the end of the day isn’t the way you should get your protein intake for the day. You could divide it up so you are getting smaller portions throughout the day though. A bit of variety is preferable. Eating smaller portions of protein through the day is the way to eat. Vegetarians & Vegans need to pay more attention to make sure they are getting enough each day. One doesn’t need to eat meat to get enough protein. Eating the right amount of protein should help you feel satisfied after eating, curbing your desire for more food. And again… too much of a good thing is no longer good for you.

You may need guidance from a Dietician or Nutritionist if you feel you have tried everything & are still not able to rid yourself of unwanted fat. Talk to your doctor to see if there may be an underlying medical condition that you may not be aware of. Everyone is different, our needs & goals are different so we all need a specific plan that works for us as individuals.

Providing specific advice on nutrition is beyond my scope of practice as a fitness instructor, so please don’t ask me for it! I am willing to do a free challenge if there’s enough people interested. It will help us be accountable & it will provide support for one another. Let me know if you are interested either by commenting below or emailing me.

Move more to feel better.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way & I can find a way that works well for you :)

kandice@persona.ca