/5which Of The Two Is More Difficult To Lose
Considering the amount of effort and hard work that goes into reducing belly and thigh fat, it is needless to say that both of these fats are the toughest to reduce. However, according to studies, belly fat may be more difficult to lose than thigh fat. That is because, belly fat has a higher amount of fat cells that dont respond as easily to the fat-breakdown process, which is known as lipolysis.
Our body is divided into two fat cells alpha and beta cells. While alpha cells are more responsive to the fat-breakdown process and are quicker, beta cells are the complete opposite. As against areas such as legs, face and arms, our stomach and abdominal regions possess beta cells that makes it difficult to reduce the fats easily and lose weight in these areas. However, as per research, belly fat is the most difficult to lose as the fat there is so much harder to break down.
Drink Plenty Of Water
Hydration is key to weight loss. Did you know that the brain struggles to recognise the difference between being hungry and thirsty? As it turns out, thirst is often mistaken for a sugar craving so rather than heading to the cupboard and grabbing that secret chocolate bar you’ve got hidden at the back, try drinking a glass of water instead.
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Exercise For A Huge Booty
Losing fat and building muscle requires a two-part exercise plan that includes cardio and resistance training. Cardio will help you burn calories and fat, while strength training will help you build your booty. It will also increase your metabolism to help you burn even more fat.
Long-duration cardio exercise isn’t the best bet when you want to build muscle. According to Jacob Wilson, PhD, CSCS, professor and director of the skeletal muscle and sports nutrition laboratory at the Applied Science and Performance Institute in Tampa, Florida, doing too much cardio can blunt your muscle gains.
First of all, long, frequent cardio workouts add volume to your program, which can make it more difficult to recover from your strength-training sessions. Recovery is key for building muscle.
Second, certain physiological adaptations after cardio exercise may cancel out the gains you make lifting weights. In addition, Dr. Wilson reports that his research has shown that moderate-intensity, long-duration cardio promotes the least amount of long-term fat loss.
Dr. Wilson recommends sessions of 20 minutes or less. That is the duration associated with the smallest loss in muscle mass. However, for these short workouts, you have to up the intensity. In his research, Dr. Wilson said he found sprints not only didn’t break down muscle, but they actually increased muscle mass.
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What Causes Thigh Fat
Women naturally have a higher body fat percentage than men for childbearing purposes and from hormones. According to the American Council on Exercise, the average American man has between 18 to 24% body fat. While women have an average of 25 to 31% body fat .
Slightly higher estrogen levels and genes will promote the storage of thigh fat in women . Some women have a pear-shaped body type and are more prone to storing fat in their thighs and hips . Hormonal changes from peri-menopause and menopause can make this fat move to the belly .
Men tend to have a body type that carries more belly fat . You can use these strategies to lose belly fat naturally if youre looking to lose that spare tire.
Researchers have found fat cells are genetically pre-destined for the location based on the persons genes . The researchers found that storage was not the result of diet or environment, but because of a persons genetic makeup.
Studies have also found leg fat helps women reduce their risk of heart disease and diabetes . This is why some women with more belly fat than leg fat tend to have more heart attacks.
Although there are some newer studies conflicting with these findings. Researchers are now advocating the reduction in thigh fat to reduce heart disease risk .
Carrying more leg fat was useful for increasing the chances of survival for your caveman ancestors. Storing fat in womens thighs and hips helped to store energy reserves in case of future famine or drought.
The Best Diet To Help You Lose Thigh Fat
In short, focus on eating a sensible diet full of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins. You also want to balance maintaining a reasonable calorie deficit to promote weight loss without starving yourself.
To do this, dietitians recommend cutting out about 500 calories per day from your daily intake through diet and exercise. Doing so sets you up to lose about 1 pound per week, which is a highly sustainable rate of weight loss.Ready to learn our best tips for weight loss in your thighs? Take a look at the 10 Diet Tips we compiled for losing weight and getting rid of thigh fat.
Remember:
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Make Sure To Switch Up Your Workouts
To banish stubborn belly fat, you have to ramp up your workouts. A study published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise found that people who completed a high-intensity workout regimen lost more belly fat than those who followed a low-intensity plan. Subsequent studies have substantiated the benefits of brief bouts of hard training. “You need to exercise at full intensity because the end goal is to burn more calories, and high intensity exercise does just that,” Natalie Jill, a San Diego-based certified personal trainer, tells Health. High intensity workouts mean you’re going all out for as long as you can. If this sounds intimidating, think of it this way: you’ll burn more calories in less time.
How To Lose Fat From Back Of Arms
The only way to lose fat from the back of your arms is to lose weight all over. But the good news is, women tend to lose weight from their upper bodies first. So if youre losing weight, it shouldnt take long before you notice a difference in your arms.
In my own experience, the best things to do lose fat from the back of my arms is
High intensity cardio is important here because it burns SO many calories and will help you achieve a calorie deficit easier. When I say high intensity cardio, I mean things like running and cycling, and generally steady state for at least 20-30 minutes.
You dont necessarily need to do any type of resistance training to slim down your arms. They will slim down with diet and cardio. But if you want to tone them up, boxing will help tone really quickly and wont bulk you up. I also love swimming as it tones up my arms really quickly and doubles as cardio!
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How To Lose Stubborn Love Handles
I received an email titled, “LOVE-HANDLES!! Help me lose them.”
I have been working on a routine that incorporates exercises that will help you work your love handles over time and effort. Personally, I like to work my “obliques” on days I work my legs, so I created the Legs and Love Handles workout seen below.
As with any abdominal fat-loss goal, you need to concentrate on three areas to help firm your midsection:
1. Healthy Diet
2. Cardiovascular and resistance training
3. Targeted abdominal exercises
*Note: You cannot target fat loss. Fat will be used as energy for your workouts and will be reduced after time performing cardio, resistance training and eating healthy.
As with any fitness and health goal, nutrition and exercise are always the main ingredients to success. Neither can be missing, or you will not have the energy to exercise or you will be part of the yo-yo diet crowd, buying a new diet book every year. Here is how I would break it down to get rid of those “love handles”:
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1. Healthy diet
The most important factor in acquiring washboard abs is eating a healthy diet. Here is a list of recommended healthy ways to help you lose a few inches:
- Drink at least three liters of water per day
- Eat five servings of vegetables and fruits per day
- Limit fried foods and cheese
- Limit processed sugar
- Eliminate fatty red meat only lean red meats
For a food plan that was developed by a nutritionist, see “Lean Down Meal Options” .
Measuring Your Thigh Fat
Measuring your thighs will give you a better picture of your progress than stepping on a scale. Thats because as your build your leg muscles youll replace the burned fat with some muscle. This can throw off the scale and itll deceive you into thinking youre not getting results.
To properly gauge your progress in losing your thigh fat make sure you use a Body Measuring Tape. To do this just wrap the measuring tape around the middle part of your thigh to get a reading. I like to measure in centimeters as it gives you a better overall picture of your progress than inches.
Make sure youre standing still with your feet hip-width apart throughout the measuring. Also, make sure you dont flex your leg while measuring. Be sure to write down your measurements so you can track your progress towards reducing the size of your thighs.
How do I tone my inner thighs?
If youre looking to tone your inner thigh area then youre going to have to do exercises that specifically target them. The inner thigh can be even more stubborn for some women than the entire thigh area. The inner thigh doesnt get as much exercise as the rest of the thigh area. This makes it more likely to hold flabby fat in your inner thigh area.
Can running get rid of thigh fat?
The Last Word
To get rid of your thigh fat for good start using the exercises and workout above. Make sure youre also adding in a proper diet otherwise itll be nearly impossible to lose the stubborn fat on your thighs.
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The Fast Way To Lose Thigh And Belly Fat
Getting rid of fat in the thighs and belly is a concern for many woman as fat commonly accumulates in those areas. While crash diets and extreme exercise programs can make you lose weight quickly, they are not healthy and can lead to weight gain once you resume your normal routine. Trim the thighs and belly safely and effectively with a comprehensive weight loss plan, then target them for toning.
How To Lose Thigh Fat
This article was co-authored by . Julian Arana is a Personal Trainer and the Founder of B-Fit Training Studios, a personal training and wellness set of studios based in Miami, Florida. Julian has over 12 years of personal training and coaching experience. He is a certified personal trainer by the National Council on Strength and Fitness . He has a BS in Exercise Physiology from Florida International University and an MS in Exercise Physiology specializing in strength and conditioning from the University of Miami.There are 16 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. This article has 43 testimonials from our readers, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 6,882,197 times.
Losing thigh fat can only be done successfully with a combination of diet and exercise. Getting in shape and eating right also means that you’ll see fat loss in other parts of your body. If you’re serious about dropping a few pounds in your thighs and elsewhere, read on.
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Your Stomach Fat Is Just Harder To Shift Factually
Explaining that “we all carry two fat cells in our body: alpha and beta,” Dr James described how these cells react differently to lipolysis. “Alpha cells respond better and accelerate the process, whereas beta cells dont respond as favourably and make it harder for to lose the fat,” the expert explains.
Because different areas of the body have different amounts of each of these cells – with some parts having a higher amount of alpha cells than beta, and vice versa – the areas with more beta fat cells will inevitably be more difficult to shed excess fat.
“When youre actively trying to lose fat, you may see changes on your legs, face and arms first because these areas have more alpha cells,” said Dr Luke. Conversely, he pointed to areas like the hips, thighs and belly as having more beta cells, therefore making them harder to lose weight from.
“To put it simply: its more difficult to shift belly fat because it has a higher amount of fat cells that dont respond as easily to the fat-breakdown process .”
There’s No Such Thing As A Perfect Physique
Firstly, I would like to stress that there is absolutely no such thing as a “perfect” shape. All bodies are perfect, and I urge you to try and shift your mindset away from idolizing a particular body type.
However, I realize this is easier said than done.
As a society, we place particular body shapes on a pedestal for brief periods of time before discarding it for something new.
Sure, largely thanks to the likes of Kim Kardashian, a tiny waist, large bottom, and big hips is the look of the moment. But not that long ago everyone wanted to look like Kate Moss and strived for the straight up and down skinny physique.
Trying to change your body to suit society’s standards is largely fruitless, and I’ve been there.
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The fact of the matter is that our body shape is largely down to genetics.
I, for example, have resigned myself to the fact that I am never going to have an hourglass figure or Kardashian-esque curves. Instead of beating myself up and hating my body, I’ve learned to embrace my more athletic physique.
Changing how you think about your body doesn’t happen overnight, but if you start being kinder to yourself and focusing on what your body can do rather than how it looks, chances are you’ll start to love its appearance more as a result.
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Get Rid Of Refined Grains
What foods are considered refined grains? Refined grains are foods like white bread, white crackers and white rice. These foods have less fiber and nutrients that their whole grain counterparts.
Choosing fiber-rich foods is a great way to fill yourself up and stay full for several hours. When we consume foods rich in fiber, it takes quite a while for our body to break down the food.
Plus, when you eat whole grains, your blood sugar doesnt spike the way it does when you eat refined products. Not only are the constant blood sugar surges that happen after eating refined carbohydrates bad for your thighs, they are linked to increased weight gain, metabolic syndrome, and a host of other health problems .
Fiber-rich meals can deter you from snacking in between meals. Snacking can lead to a higher calorie intake .
How do you know if youre getting whole grains? Read the nutrition facts label and ingredients label. A whole grain food will have whole grain flour or whole wheat flour as the first ingredient on the ingredients list. Other examples of whole grains include brown rice and whole grain tortillas.
As often as you can, choose brown rice over white rice, whole grain bread over white bread, and other fiber-rich grains like quinoa and whole oats.
Adding more fiber is also a major reason why you need to stay hydrated. Otherwise, you may end up feeling bloated and not well.
Your Hormones Are To Blame
Everyone has hormones, but if yours are out of balance, they could lead to excess stomach fat. As women age, they find it much harder to lose belly fat than men, mainly due to a decrease in the hormone oestrogen, explains Claire. “A drop in oestrogen has been shown to impact fat distribution, making it more focussed around the belly area than the hips and thighs. Also, as we age, we begin to lose muscle mass, and our metabolic rate decreases further, so were more likely to hold onto fat in general, which includes the hard to shift belly fat,” she adds.
“Poorly functioning or overworked adrenal glands can produce higher levels of cortisol, which can lead to a ‘swallowed a beach ball’ look,” explains Lisa. Or, she adds, a rapid drop in oestrogen, as occurs at menopause, can precipitate a ‘muffin top’ on the abdomen.
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Losing Thigh Fat With Cardio
Its no surprise that cardio is a crucial component to thinning your thighs and especially weight loss. Cardio exercise is the key to losing extra fat that could be settling around your thighs.
The American Heart Association recommends that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each week. However, for weight loss, consider the AHA recommendation of 300 minutes per week.You can engage in all sorts of cardio exercises, however, choose carefully. Some cardio exercises can actually bulk your thighs up, and if you dont want bulky legs, youll be in a conundrum. A stair stepper machine is one of those cardio exercises that can bulk up your thighs.
Here are some great cardio exercises that will help you lose your thigh fat, get your heart pumping, and have weight loss: