Article Directory :: Health & Fitness Articles

Why Is It So Difficult To Lose Love Handles and Stomach Fat?

By Gustaf Eriksson

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 15Oct2009 Word count: 629 Viewed: 481 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

When you are trying to lose weight and stomach fat, and of course get rid of love handles, you might start by thinking "I'll eat fewer calories"! There are lots of low-calorie plans on the market, so it should be easy to pick a good one. You think. But before you do that, please read on and discover why a low calorie plan by itself will not work!

It does seem logical that if you eat less and exercise more, your body will burn the excess fat and then you'll be slimmer .... surely it will work??

Well, yes, sort of ... but, there are some extra considerations that complicate things just a wee bit though ... if you start to eat less without thinking about WHAT you eat, you will end up being malnourished and skinny!

Here are two basic reasons why low calorie diets don't work:

The first reason is that all calories are not created equal. The calories that are in fat, sugar and artificial food additives are much worse than the calories in - for example - apples and vegetables. You should not avoid calories per se, you should avoid "bad" calories. Calories that are in natural, unprocessed food are much better for you than calories in "junk food" and processed foodstuff.

Because you don't just want to lose weight, lose that stomach fat and get rid of your love handles, you want to became slimmer and fitter. Even if you cut down on calories drastically you would not achieve that.

A dramatic example would be to ONLY drink "Zero Coke" - there's absolutely no calories in that drink. Would you lose weight? Certainly. Will you be healthy? Absolutely not! You'll be malnourished and feeling pretty bad quite soon .....

Your body NEEDS calories to survive. If you eat foods rich in "good" calories your body will burn more energy digesting these than what the calories give to you.

A large apple contains about 100 calories and so do three strips of bacon. Now imagine eating 10 apples a day or 30 strips of bacon ... will you get fat from the apples or from the bacon?

The second reason has to do with the fact that muscle burns more calories than fat. In fact, fat is sort of "dead tissue", that is, it doesn't do anything for your metabolism while muscle tissue actually consumes energy just to maintain itself. That is the reason why people with a high ratio of lean muscle to fat can eat more, and still stay slim - whilst fat people stay fat even though they might just pick at their food.

Now there are obviously other things to consider when you want to lose love handles and stomach fat, or simply lose weight. For example, fat obeys the same rule as the unions - last in first out. What that means is that the fat you put on first - which usually is on your thighs and around your middle - is the last to disappear!

In other words, to get rid of love handles it is necessary to build some muscle and be patient. Your extra fat did not appear overnight, you most probably put it on over several years. The good news it will melt away far quicker than you put it on, but it will still take time.

If you go on a low calorie diet you will not build muscle, instead your body loses muscle. Since you don't have enough lean muscle tissue your metabolism is low, and so your body can't burn the fat.

Most of the low calorie diets around will "work" in a fashion - in the short term you will lose water and muscle so you are fooled into thinking you're getting slimmer. But long term they don't work!

EasyPublish™ this article - publishers click here

More articles by Gustaf Eriksson

Free Report!
Ten Essential Secrets Of Article Marketing ... Grab Your Free
Copy Now:

Need Content?
Regular Top Quality Content for your Blog, Ezine or Website ...
Delivered Direct,
For Free!
Click For Details