In days gone by when there was no such thing as a BMI (body mass index), men knew they were putting on weight because they had to move the notch on their belt and, today, it is still a very important factor in determining how healthy a man is.
Fat which collects on the bottom, thighs, arms and legs is just an energy store but, when it builds up around the midriff, it increases the risk of contracting conditions from dementia to diabetes.
Research shows that the risk of disease and premature death increases when the tape measure around a man’s waistline rises above 37ins (94cms) and, in so many cases, men have the ‘wrong type of belly’. Studies have shown that deeply seated abdominal fat (called visceral fat) bumps up your risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and some types of cancer.
Unlike the fat that resides just under the skin, visceral fat collects deep within your abdomen, filling the spaces between your organs and increasing the risk of inflammation throughout your body. It can also lead to insulin resistance, which forces your pancreas to boost insulin production in order to clear your bloodstream of glucose and is a precursor to diabetes.
If you can’t pinch or grab a fold, your belly is bulging with visceral fat. I remember so many of the guys at my local rugby club proudly displaying their ‘solid beer guts’ and only discovering some years later that encasing their internal organs in lard is the surest way to a heart attack.
The most important ways to burn off belly fat are to watch what you eat – simply multiply your target body weight by 11 to get your daily calorie allowance – and ensure that you’re burning about 2,000 calories a week through exercise – a Duke University study showed that this amount of activity reduced visceral fat stores by 7 percent.
To read more weight loss diet reviews.
You already know from my own blog how I feel about the BMI – it’s so flawed that it’s so easy to accept its judgement when it agrees with how we want to see things, yet make excuses for why it’s wrong when it doesn’t.
The “belt-test” is still as good a means of reminding us that we’re putting on weight, though I hope never to reach 37 inches again! It does astonish me how many men at the gym I go to pump weights and, no doubt, have incredibly well-developed biceps, triceps and pecs, and yet have stomachs that hang way over their (large) waistband.
What I did find interesting in your article, though, was the comment that we should “ensure that you’re burning about 2,000 calories a week through exercise”. I’ve not heard that one before … but I’m pleased to note that I now do match or exceed that!
Ro recently posted..Pure Chance
Ro, I take your point but I have to disagree slightly (or should I say refine slightly). Multiple studies have been done showing that weightlifting is just as good if not better for losing weight than cardio, when calorie intake is controlled for.
The problem is, that big guys who like to go lift weights aren’t ordering salads after the gym, so we assume that it is the exorcise that has failed, which is an inaccurate attribution of cause.
You may not have been implying that the choice of exercise was responsible, but I’m a bit of a pedant.
Weight loss is about Calories in vs. Calories out, nothing more than that =)
Rhacodactylus recently posted..Truth Knowledge Beliefs
Hi Ro, I think the burning of calories is crucial. And the link that I’ve put to the diets is also relevant because it shows you how to trick your body’s metabolism so that it doesn’t get settled into a routine when it comes to expecting food.
Ruf is a great fan of tabata training which also boosts your body’s aerobic capacity by doing slow and fast routines packed into a short burst of exertion. He’s writing one especially for me so that I can address some issues that have cropped up through not exercising every day due to my recent illness :)
Hey Rhac, One of the diets that I’ve linked to is by one of those big weightlifting guys. The majority of the best diets seem to focus on tricking the metabolism so that it doesn’t expect food or go into starvation mode where it stores all the calories as fat just in case.
As to the weightlifters with their bellies, it’s just like the front row rugby players. They work their upper body but don’t think about their core strength and then they drink a couple of pints after training to compound the problem :)