Body Slimming Tips

How hard can it be to get rid of belly fat? Sitting at a desk for 8 hours each day all too often results in some belly fat. What you eat is another critical component of the size of our stomachs. The good news is - you can enjoy eating healthy foods, exercise and lose weight fast!

A certain amount of body fat is necessary for everyone. Experts say that percent body fat for women should be about 20 percent, 15 percent for men. Women with more than 30 percent fat and men with more than 25 percent fat are considered obese.

How much of your weight is fat can be assessed by a variety of methods including underwater (hydrostatic) weighing, skinfold thickness measurements and circumference measurements. Each requires a specially trained person to administer the test and perform the correct calculations. From the numbers obtained, a body fat percentage is determined. Assessing body composition has an advantage over the standard height-weight tables because it can help distinguish between "overweight" and "overfat."

An easy self-test you can do is to pinch the thickness of the fat folds at your waist and abdomen. If you can pinch an inch or more of fat (make sure no muscle is included) chances are you have too much body fat.

If you exercise frequently you will increase lean body mass and chip away at your overall fat level. Depending on the amount of fat loss, this can result in a loss of inches without a loss of weight, since muscle weighs more than fat. The proper combination of diet and exercise will help you shed both body fat and overall weight. Try these simple body slimming tips to help you get started!

If you eat more calories than your body needs to perform your day's activities, the extra calories are stored as fat. If you do not take in enough calories to meet your body's energy needs, your body will go to the stored fat to make up the difference. (Exercise helps ensure that stored fat, rather than muscle tissue, is used to meet your energy needs.) If you eat just about the same amount of calories to meet your body's energy needs, your weight will stay the same.

So if your desk job has your tummy growing a little - get up and get some exercise. Work out on your Elliptical Trainer before heading out for work. Many fitness enthusiasts love their early morning exercise time. It tends to leave you feeling more energized for the rest of the day!

You don't have to spend a fortune joining the local health club. Get some simple and inexpensive home fitness equipment and exercise at home whenever you feel like it!