tummy fat

Question
Dear Laura
I am 29 and I have been slim all my life, actually underweight, 170 m tall and 52Kg. Recently, I have gained 7Kg but most of the fat went on my tummy and hips, and I have some cellulite too.Although I'm very active and exercise 3 times a week nothing works. I am sure I need to change my diet as I eat many carbohydrates. I've heard clay wraps could help too. Could you give me some tips please?

Answer
I have never been inclined to follow weight/height guidelines and BMI except as a guideline. Having said that, I will tell you, as I do everyone, to begin watching fat percentage. Fat percentage, as given by biometric impedance scales like Tanita, give you a better picture as to what your body is doing in terms of lean muscle and fat. A person could be thin and even underweight with a high (over 25%) of fat. Obesity is defined better when it is related to 32% fat. The reason that I say this is that it is at that % that health can decline. Of course, there are exceptions such as Sumu wrestlers who have high fat %. However, they have surface fat and have a diet and exercise program that keeps them healthy. Most people do not.

As far as your fat on your tummy and hips are concerned, you are in the majority. The good news is that according to the ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine), tummy fat is easier to reduce on women. Hip fat...not so much. Moderate activity exercise, such as walking briskly, is what is needed to reduce that fat. Moderate activity is more aerobic and geared toward fat burning with a slim focus on muscle increase. Conversely, strength training is more geared toward muscle increase and not so geared toward fat loss. You can increase your metabolism with circuit training, though. You can also increase your metabolism by doing strength training and then doing moderate intensity right afterward. This way, you start your moderate intensity with an increased metabolism.

Another interesting thing is that as we get older, we accumulate fat in the tummy area as the liver gets more and more overwhelmed. In a nutshell, the liver is responsible for over 400 processes in the body including fat metabolism. It is not surprising that we need to care for it. You can easily do that with liver cleanses. And I don't mean the crazy fasts and detoxes that make your head spin. I use dandelion tea and milk thistle on a regular basis (which I don't buy at the corner health food store by the way. Save a buck, know what you're getting, and get it from an herb retailer like MountainRose.com). I also use the Fat Flush program Phase One. As with any program, you will see things that you agree with and things that you don't. Take what you can from it, cleanse your liver, and leave the rest.

As far as too many carbs, I am not sure what you mean by too many carbs or even if you classify only breads and starches as carbs. What I will say is that everyone has their own metabolic blend for eating and health. You can go to my site (myCoachLaura.com), click on the Tymplates link, do the metabolic profile test for free, and see if you are inclined to need more carbs. If when you say carbs you mean that you are eating tons of veggies, keep it up. If not, you might want to consider learning more about the proteins, carbs, and fats that make us healthy rather than unhealthy. That is important in long-standing health. As a 40 year old woman who has had four children and is embarking on pre-menopause (did I say that out loud), I can tell you that you are moving in the right direction if you are focusing on all of this now. It is difficult to start at 40. I know this because a great many of my female clients are that age.

A little bit of insight into losing stubborn crazy fat that tags on and never leaves, HCG Diets are on the loose in the mainstream of media nutrition gurus. Some love it, some hate it. Some drops are useless (most of them) and some really are effective. Of course, I had to try it on myself with my own clinical spin. I lost 6 pounds of weight which correlated with the 6.3 pounds of fat based on my body composition tests. I also lost 12 inches of fat in the areas that I measured: waist, hips, abdomen (circumference), thighs, back, chest. I tried a couple of different HCG formulations (only one worked) and I tried modifications of different Simeon based programs. I will continue to use this program now intermittently to reduce my fat from my 40 year old percentage of 26% to get to my pre-quit-smoking-six-years-ago percentage of 18% (I also am very athletic and active enough to support this low percentage). If you want more info, e-mail me from my website.

Lastly, wraps are there to make you feel good and make you look good long enough to give you motivation to keep working with the programs that really work. If you need them for that purpose use them. If you are using them for permanence, you will be disheartened. Of course, the people who sell them will disagree. The people who use them all the time will disagree. (key words "use them all the time"). But no they are not permanent and the fat loss results are nominal.

I gave you tons of information! Sorry to throw it out like that, but this is my passion. Have fun, be healthy, and keep learning. PS: I am currently testing out all of the stuff in The Four-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss! I will keep everyone posted.

Laura

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