belly fat

Kitty lost 35 pounds

August 13, 2017 by Ajima Jackson 2 Comments

Transformation of the Day: Kitty lost 35 pounds. This mother of four wanted to be a healthy example for her daughters. Going low carb and working out regularly worked for her. Check out what she shared with us.

What was your motivation?
My motivation is my 4 daughters. They are young adults and I want to be a positive example for them. When I wanted to give up, I remembered why I started.

How did you change your eating habits?
I did not use a specific program. However, a low carb, high protein diet works best for me.

What did your workout routine look like?
I work out at least 5 days a week. I do 90 minutes of cardio daily and 30 to 45 minutes of lifting weights.

Starting weight/Current weight
My starting weight (when I did weigh myself) was 177 pounds. My current weight is 142 pounds. I am 5’6″ tall.

When did you start your journey?
I started in March 2016 and it took one year to reach my goal.

What advice would you share with women who want to lose weight?
My advice to other people is losing weight is personal. Do not compare yourself to anyone else. Take your time. Find out what works for you and your body. It takes time, but don’t give up. Don’t let the scale determine your progress. Take lots of pictures. For motivation, I compare my photos when I feel like my progress has halted.

Instagram: @kitty.harristhurmond

How to Eliminate Belly Fat

March 18, 2016 by Ajima Jackson 5 Comments

One of the topics we get the most questions about is belly fat. It’s one of the most popular topics when it comes to weight loss in general because it can be very hard to lose. So, we decided to ask Coach Myya Mixon, someone who’s kept off 100 pounds for more than 10 years, to share her advice for eliminating belly fat. Everyone’s journey is different and there is no one size fits all plan, but it’s always great to hear from those who have walked where we are going, right? (Check out her story to find out more about how she lost the weight.)

Myya shared her story with us. She documented her journey and is now coaching others. — **Check out Myya’s story**

Guest Post by Myya Mixon

I am often asked what I did to lose my belly fat. After losing over 100lbs, I lost a substantial amount of belly fat by simply changing my diet and becoming more active, however, I still had some troublesome belly fat that I just could not get rid of. So, I did some research to find out what I was doing wrong and applied these strategies to lose the belly fat .

5 steps to losing belly fat

1. I cut out all sugary drinks and drinks that contained calories. This includes fruit juices, soda, sports drinks and coffee or teas that contained sugar. Instead I increased my water intake to at least 64oz a day.

2. I increased my protein. The increased protein helped me feel fuller longer. I increased my protein intake by eating more lean meats, fish and eggs, and reducing dairy from my diet. Non-processed foods is the best way to go.

3. I increased my physical activity. I exercised at least 5-6 times per week for no less than 45 minutes. I focused on a combination of both cardio and strength training. There were no days that I only did cardio. I also made sure that I spent most of my workout in my fat burning zone. The best way to track this is by using a fitness watch/monitor.

4. I made sure that I got at least 8 hours of sleep. By getting enough rest, it increased my overall energy throughout the day.

5. I eliminated stress! The best way to eliminate stress is by identifying people and/or situations (stressors) and removing them. For stressors that I could not eliminate, I used exercise as a remedy. Stress is a large factor in increased belly fat!

Abdominal Exercises

Contrary to popular belief, abdominal exercises are not the best remedy for eliminating belly fat! Everyone has abs, however, you can’t see them because they are covered by, what I refer to, as a blanket of fat. Of course, it is important to work your midsection and build your abs by doing core exercises, strength training, etc., but working your abs is useless if you aren’t leaning out your belly and midsection in general by focusing on what you are eating. It’s like the saying goes “Abs are made in the kitchen.” Your nutrition is 80% of your overall weight loss result and it the main factor in eliminating body fat. Exercise, on the other hand, contributes to about 20% of your results.

Meal Prepping and Planning

The best way to ensure that your nutrition is on track is by meal prepping and planning. Decide what you are going to eat in advance. Focus on your protein and vegetable intake and be sure not consume too much sugar.

I’m too busy to plan?

I am an extremely busy single parent who has a full-time job, owns a few business and volunteers in my community. I have found that the best way for me to prep my foods is by taking 30 minutes to an hour 1-2 days per week. One day I cook my meats and the other days I cook my veggies. I eliminate time in the grocery store by writing a list and only purchasing what is on that list. My list is written based on the meals I have selected to eat.

Bottom line: Nutrition is the key to eliminating belly fat. No matter how hard and how often you exercise, “you can’t out exercise a poor diet!”

Need Help Getting Started? Check out Coach Myya at myyamixon.com for details or to sign up!

Tiffany lost 34 pounds

January 25, 2016 by Ajima Jackson 3 Comments

Transformation of the Day: Tiffany lost 34 pounds and transformed her midsection. This 5 foot tall, proud mom wanted to lose the pounds, get rid of belly fat and remedy how her midsection had been affected by having 9 children. She chose a great online fitness and nutrition program for support and focused on doing the work. 210+ days later, she’s sharing her victory story with us.

tiffany before and after

Tiffany English, Representing Texas, 41 years old mom of 9.

What was your motivation/inspiration?
I have really never been an overweight person. When I had my 1st 4 children, I was still able to maintain a weight of around 135 to 140 pounds. It’s when I had my other 5 children that the weight started creeping up on me. I started trying all the weight loss plans known to man, including the most popular ones, however I just couldn’t stay consistent. I would allow issues with my family and my relationships take over and I lost myself. When you have people who adore you tell you that you are looking good, you believe it and you run with it because what else do you have. Also, I was skeptical that this weight would come off… truly come off!

My motivation was seeing a friend China Chambers on the Fitness on Fire Online Training Program and seeing her results, I decided to join. I looked at their site and I admired the ladies they helped achieve progress on the program. I said to myself that one day it’s gonna be me! Therefore, everything that Nutritionistguru and King Of Fire gave me to do, I executed, because my determination set in and I didn’t allow anything else to interfere with that.

How did you change your eating habits?
Oooh, yes the eating. Changing up and not eating beef or pork was challenging to my mind, only because these are the things I grew up on. However, it didn’t matter. This was the plan and I wasn’t going to deviate from it. I also cut down on sugar, stopped drinking sugary drinks and juices and stopped drinking diet soda as well. I learned thru my nutritionist that I didn’t have to give up my favorite foods. I just had to swap some ingredients and make them healthy. Now, nothing will make me transition back into my old ways. I really enjoy food more, along with cooking, because I know that I am giving my body what it needs. Food tastes better now then it did the old way.

I started eating chicken, turkey, fish and some shellfish. I stopped eating pasta and started eating more whole grains, like brown rice. The biggest plus was learning to eat more fruits and vegetables, as that was never something I did often before joining Fitness On Fire.

What did your workouts consist of?
My workout consisted of resistance training, cardio and HIIT training. Later into the program, my online coach/trainer, King Of Fire, added some weights to help me preserve muscle tone. I started out with 60 minutes, then as I got more and more fit increased my workout time to 90 minutes.

Starting Weight/Current Weight/Height
Starting Weight: 198 pounds
Current Weight: 164 pounds
Total Weight Loss: 34 pounds
Total Inches Loss: 48.5 inches
Height: 5’0″

How long did your transformation take?
I lost the 1st 20 lbs pretty quickly but overall 6 months.

What advice do you have for others who want to lose weight?
I would say to never give up! You are just as important as anyone or anything. Even if you fall, know how to quickly get back up. Remember, one cannot effectively love and care for others without first loving and caring for thyself. Lastly, on this journey there will be obstacles that will invade your path, but never let them get in your way. You deserve this!

Why did the “Fitness on Fire” Online Training Program work for you vs other programs you’ve tried before?
It worked because I finally had something that I never had in the past, and that was a team who were focused on self improvement across the board. None of that sugar coating stuff you get from other programs. Everything is real and very honest. You don’t have to second guess yourself because they are right there. It’s fail proof. I have never been alone throughout this journey. For that alone, I’m grateful. Fitness On Fire has changed the game in nutrition and fitness. They plan and I execute!

Instagram: @journey2becomingaphitchicc
Her trainers:
WebSite: www.fitnessonfireonlinetraining.com
Instagram: @NutritionistGuru
Instagram: @Fitness_On_Fire

tiffany2jan16blog

6 Reasons You Aren’t Losing Belly Fat

October 27, 2015 by Ajima Jackson 3 Comments

losing belly fat Spare tire, love handles, muffin top, pot belly- these are just a few of the funny names given to abdominal fat. Abdominal fat isn’t a laughing matter, however. Being overweight and having too much fat is of course not good for your health but abdominal fat can severely affect your health. (more on that topic)

The reason abdominal fat, also known as visceral fat, can be so bad is because it surrounds some of your vital organs. Also, those with too much belly fat can face an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes. Even those that don’t have a super flabby belly or aren’t clinically obese can still have too much belly fat inside their bodies (some may be “skinny fat”). Most doctors recommend that on average women should have a waist measurement of 35” or less. Waist circumference measuring is considered a health assessment tool.

“Abdominal, or visceral, fat is of particular concern because it’s a key player in a variety of health problems — much more so than subcutaneous fat, the kind you can grasp with your hand. Visceral fat, on the other hand, lies out of reach, deep within the abdominal cavity, where it pads the spaces between our abdominal organs.

Visceral fat has been linked to metabolic disturbances and increased risk for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. In women, it is also associated with breast cancer and the need for gallbladder surgery.” – health.harvard.edu

If you find yourself struggling to lose fat around your stomach, don’t worry. Your progress could be influenced by one of these 6 factors;

You’re Getting Older

Getting older isn’t an excuse to be overweight or a sole cause of weight gain, but your age is something to consider if you find yourself struggling to lose fat. Women in their late 30s and early 40s may notice that losing weight isn’t as easy as it use to be and the belly can be one of the most stubborn areas. Studies support that once a woman reaches 40, losing weight becomes more difficult.

There are a number of reasons why age can make losing belly fat difficult. There are hormones that increase appetite, your metabolism slows, and your muscle mass will start to shrink if you don’t maintain yourself. If you are nearing 40 years old or already crossed into that chapter of your life, keep in mind that losing belly fat will be more of a struggle than if you were 15 or 20 years younger. However, I want you to know that many thousands of women over 40 have lost the weight despite this challenge. You can do it too.

You’re Only Doing Cardio

Oh, the Cardio Myth! There is an incorrect belief that the best way to lose fat is cardio, cardio, cardio and cardio only. This simply isn’t true, yet so many people (especially women) end up focusing most of their time on these types of workouts. Most of the time women stick with cardio-dominant exercise regimens because they fear “bulking up” if they do strength training. Many times people focus on steady state cardio on machines in the gym vs. intense cardio, like HIIT and Tabata.

It isn’t uncommon for someone who focuses only on cardio to struggle with losing fat at some point in their journey, especially when it comes to stubborn belly fat. Studies show that strength training and HIIT (high intensity interval training) are very helpful for losing fat. If you’ve reached a plateau or feel that you are in a rut, consider trying weight training and more intense cardio. Don’t get me wrong, jogging on the treadmill or brisk walking 30 min a day is great, but eventually you may have to kick up the intensity to transform your body.

You’re Eating Too Much Sugar and Processed Food

Processed foods are often laden with surprising amounts of sugars, excessive salt, bad fats and other unhealthy or bloat-inducing ingredients. If you are serious about losing your belly fat but find that you can’t seem to break that plateau in progress, check your diet. Sugar-free and diet foods, as well as calorie-free style foods and drinks are simply not good for you when it comes to transforming the body due to the types of chemicals and artificial sweeteners they contain. Avoid processed foods as much as possible, especially in the beginning of your weight loss journey. Allow your body to detox from chemicals, dyes, trans fats, and other things that the body can’t process as food. You want your body to be prime and ready to break down stored fat.

If you eat a lot of whole foods and overall have a clean diet yet still struggle, consider your overall carb intake. Remember that all carbs are basically sugar, fiber and nutrients (vitamins, enzymes, etc) when the body breaks them down. Too much simple sugar is going to cause issues when it comes to fat retention. Know your carbs and the glycemic index of what you are eating. Avoid blood sugar spikes and overindulging in carbs, which leads to insulin spikes and potential weight gain.

You’re Genetically Predisposed to Belly Fat

Now, there is some debate about how much your genetics play into whether you are overweight or not and where you tend to carry extra fat. While doctors tend to agree that environmental hereditary factors do play a role, it doesn’t mean you are destined to always have a muffin top.

If you have a family history of obesity or abdominal fat, it is likely that you may have more of a tough time trying to lose fat from your belly. This isn’t an excuse, but it is something to consider if you’re wondering why you are struggling and not sure why. Some people are “hippy”, some are “busty” and some are “apple snapped” with large midsections. We all carry our weight in different ways, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t whittle your middle with diet and exercise.

You’re Too Stressed

Stress is still so underrated as a contributing factor to bad health. Consistently high levels of stress without any reprieve is just as bad for your mental and physical health as eating junk or leading a sedentary lifestyle. Stubborn belly fat is another symptom of excessive stress.

When it comes to fat and stress, it’s typically impacted by the hormone cortisol. Cortisol causes your body to react to stress as a survival situation, somewhat similar to a “starvation mode”. When cortisol is released it causes your body to hold onto fat for dear life, even causing fat from your hips, thigh or butt to move to the abdomen.

If you aren’t losing belly fat despite eating well and exercising, check your stress levels. Take up gentle yoga, meditation, go in for a regular massage, etc to ensure you keep your stress down to a minimum. Read more about cortisol and why it’s important to keep in check.

You Have a Lot of Belly Fat and Haven’t Given Yourself Enough Time

This last reason may be the real reason why the average healthy woman struggles to slim down her stomach. All in all, belly fat is just plain hard to get rid of! Period. If you have a lot of abdominal fat you aren’t going to be able to just get rid of it overnight. Give yourself time to make progress. Depending on your body and how serious you are about diet and exercise, it may take months or up to a year. Frankly, there is no specific time frame, because everyone’s journey is different. If a lot of time has already gone by with you belly fat not budging and the rest of your body has really changed, consult your doctor or a nutritionist for help. You may also want to speak with a personal trainer about changing up your workout routines.

If belly fat is a major concern, just know that you are not alone. Belly fat can make even the most confident woman feel a little self-conscious. It also is an area of the body that often is really difficult for many people to slim down. There is no quick fix or special exercise that will melt belly fat automatically… unfortunately.

Stick to a healthy diet with low to moderate level of carbs, high in fiber and balanced with fats and protein. Always stay hydrated, exercise often and try to be as active in your life as possible. With time and trail and error you will learn what works for you and what you have to do to lose weight on your midsection.

What Happens to Your Body When You Skip Meals?

September 17, 2015 by Ajima Jackson 1 Comment

affects of skipping meals It’s safe to say that you’ve probably skipped meals either accidentally or on purpose. You may believe that skipping calories will simply help your weight loss efforts. Unfortunately, skipping meals doesn’t just leave you hungry but could actually increase weight gain! Not only is weight gain the opposite of what you are trying to achieve, but there are other side effects of missing meals that you should know about. Here are 6 things that could happen to your body when you decide to skip a meal.

Your Blood Sugar Drops

Blood sugar levels aren’t just something diabetics have to worry about. When you skip a meal or two your blood sugar levels drop and your body reacts to the lack of food. Low blood sugar can lead to shakiness, strong cravings, dizziness and even fainting if you constantly skip meals consecutively. Eating every 3-4 hours will help you avoid low blood sugar. Some people feel that the body goes in to “starvation mode” but that’s not entirely true because the body will break down excess fat (which we want it to do) and muscle if there is a lack of food for days and days.

Giving into Cravings or Outright Binging Increases

So, your blood sugar is low from a skipped meal. No big deal- you just eat a large one to compensate, right? Wrong! Low blood sugar pretty much signals your brain to eat a lot once you do have a meal to compensate for the lack of food. Eating a lot of food suddenly and rapidly (even if it’s a healthy meal!) can in turn spike your blood sugar, even if you’ve had low blood sugar before the meal. It all depends on how much you eat, how insulin sensitive you are and whether you have existing issues with blood sugar, your liver and your pancreas.

When you skip meals, you are far more likely to end up giving into cravings. Even worse, you are more likely to completely binge, because along with the cravings you may feel that you have calories to spare since you skipped a meal. It is easy for starve-then-binge patterns to become a habit and many dieters struggle with this.

You Destroy Your Energy Levels and Inhibit Workout Results

Skipping meals also depletes your energy levels. You are going to feel tired, heavy and physically slow. You may inadvertently pick up bad sedentary lifestyle habits just because you feel so weak. Feeling so tired is obviously going to affect your workout. Not only will you just not feel like working out, but you open yourself to overexertion and increased chance of injury if you’re tired. Your muscles run on glucose from food, so keep that in mind.

Focus and Short-Term Memory is Negatively Impacted

Going without meals makes your body tired but also can really affect your mental energy. One of the first things that happens when you skip a meal is difficulty when focusing on tasks. Your mind may feel foggy and slow. Also, you may have trouble remembering things at work, school or around the house. After you eat, the high blood sugar spikes mentioned earlier can also make your mind feel so jittery that you can’t focus simply from over stimulation. Don’t put your body on a blood sugar roller coaster.

You Increase Your Body’s Belly Fat Storage

When you miss meals regularly, your body can go into a protective mode that causes your body to store more fat, especially around the stomach. Based on an Ohio State University study, researchers believe that humans who go into this mode followed by binging or “gorging” eating behaviors inadvertently teach their bodies to improve their fat storing capabilities.

You simply can’t tell your body that you are skipping meals to lose weight. It simply doesn’t work that way. The body is designed to protect us from starving and it doesn’t know that there is a grocery store down the street. It is trying to anticipate famine before it happens and conserve energy. Continuing to eat in an unhealthy way is likely to just make your weight loss goals more difficult to achieve. This is one of the reasons that eating small meals spread out over the course of a day and meal planning can be so effective.

You Could Become Deficient in Important Nutrients

Skipping a couple meals throughout the week doesn’t seem like a big deal in terms of nutrition, but it can lead to serious deficiencies. Humans need a varied diet of vegetables, fruits, meats (for some), fiber, vitamins and more to be healthy. The average person is already deficient in some vital vitamins and minerals because unhealthy eating habits are so rampant. By skipping meals, you further reduce your opportunities to eat a variety of nutritious food.

Another common behavior among meal skippers that leads to deficiencies is that when they do eat, they tend to eat the same staple meals all the time. Even if your staples are very healthy, it’s easy to create a deficit if you really haven’t planned out your meals to be inline with your nutrition needs. A multivitamin can help, but it won’t correct the problem completely.

It is important to eat regularly and throughout the day. Calorie-counting and logging your meals with a website or app is also very helpful for weight loss. It allows you to track how much you are eating, which can help you prevent having to skip dinner or snacks just to stay in your limit.

Spot Reduction: Can you really just lose belly fat?

May 12, 2015 by Ajima Jackson Leave a Comment

spot reduction belly fat

There are ads, commercials, books, magazines and videos galore that make promises to get rid of your love handles, slim your inner thighs, boost your booty and get rid of that upper arm jiggle. It is normal to find exercise regimens that target the legs or the abs or tone other specific parts of your body. How true are these claims though?

Spot reduction has been a hot topic for a long time and often times controversial. If you plan to adopt a spot reducing exercise plan or buy the latest exercise gadget to target your legs or abs, you might want to reconsider.

What Is Spot Reduction?

Spot reduction is a term used to describe using exercise to target a specific area of the body. For example, doing a certain leg exercise in an effort to slim your thighs. Sometime spot reduction is very specific, slimming the back of your upper arms for example, or more vague, such as toning your butt.

Spot reduction might seem plausible since certain exercises will give you a burn in the spot you want toned, but the truth is this technique just doesn’t work. At least not to the extent some “experts” want you to believe. When it comes down to it, our bodies burn fat in a very specific way. While we can alter the effects of fat burning, you can’t change the way the fat on your body is burned and where.

The truth is that much of the reduction in size or appearance of toning is due to muscle development more than fat loss. Also, genetics play a major role in what areas of the body release fat and when. Ask anyone who’s lost a lot of weight and they can tell you what areas of the body released weight first. If you come from a family of hip heavy women, you may lose weight in your arms and waist first. If you carry weight around your midsection, you might lose weight on your legs and arms first. We are all different and no one can predict how your body will release weight.

How the Body Burns Fat

There are 5 main steps your body goes through when you burn fat:

Your liver releases glucose to fuel your body’s energy requirements
The glucose begins to run out so your body taps into stored fat cells
Hormones in your body “tell” your body to release the fat cell’s triglycerides
Your liver takes some triglycerides and converts them to energy while others go directly to your muscle
Fat cells are depleted and shrink

Unfortunately it isn’t possible to tell your body which fat storage cells you want used when you are exercising. This is simply why spot reduction isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. If you are focusing on slimming your inner thighs, the fat cells on your inner thighs that you want diminished may not be the cells your hormones deliver the message to.

Spot Reduction Doesn’t Work

There is a study that went to the extreme to show this theory. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research published a study in which participants trained only one leg, their non-dominant leg, using leg press exercises. This training went on for 12 weeks. You would think that it would be impossible to exercise only one leg and not have drastic results compared to the other leg. Well, the results in all participants showed a huge decrease in fat….in their upper bodies.

Despite using an extreme spot reduction technique there was no significant change in the legs of the participants but all of them had a very significant improvement in the torso. The participants also had an improved BMI from the weight loss. This study is an excellent example of why targeting one part of your body doesn’t guarantee you’ll get the results you are trying to achieve.

How to Address Problem Areas on Your Body

If you have specific areas of your body that you are unhappy with, you should focus on exercise and eating healthy meals that will support fat loss and toning. Focus on overall fitness and exercising your entire body. One of these most effective ways of shrinking fats cells is high-intensity workouts (HIIT). Strength training is also important, so don’t rely solely on cardio. Muscle burns fat at rest and is more compact than fat so it can help the metabolism along with helping you look more toned. It also needs to be stressed that you have to give your body ample time to restore and rest the muscles after a strength workout. Be sure that you are also eating enough protein and watching your overall food intake so that you don’t overeat and make your exercise efforts null.

Another thing to consider is that the study mentioned above is excellent proof that if you do choose to focus on certain areas of your body you can still get results elsewhere. This is helpful for those of you who may have an injury or for some reason are unable to exercise certain areas of your body.

Though spot fat reduction isn’t really possible, you will be better able to target parts of your body as you get fit. The shape of your body can be affected in a major way, just look at bodybuilders. Sure, you could develop a six pack and have a flat stomach. You can do a lot of squats and build you booty. You can transform your body with healthy eating habit and regular exercise.

Can Waist Size Reflect Health and Longevity?

May 29, 2014 by Ajima Jackson Leave a Comment

belly fat Few would argue that a toned guy with six-pack abs walking down the beach probably leads a more healthier life than the fellow with a beer gut spilling out of his ‘frankie says relax’ tanktop as he double-fists a cold brew. While exercise and eating right has a tendency to limit health problems, is it a guaranteed fact that beer-belly guy is unhealthy? For years people have made the correlation that waist size reflects health and longevity so let’s weigh out the facts.

The Two Types of Waist Fat

The fat that builds up around our waist is mainly caused by two things – a sedentary lifestyle and poor food choices. Sure, there are likely a health issue or two that cause waist fat, but for this article I’m ruling those issues out because that is not the case for most people. That being said a big belly isn’t necessarily a health red flag…as long as the fat is the right kind. One type of fatty tissue found around the abdomen is called subcutaneous fat that is stored directly underneath the skin. This type of fat acts similar to other fat around the body, it’s not especially beneficial but at the same time it’s no real special threat.

On the other side of the spectrum is a substance known as visceral fat that is stored in the abdomen and around internal organs. The presence of extreme visceral fat raises blood pressure and blood sugar and increases the risk of cardiac arrest. Eating foods high in fat or sugar lead to the accumulation of visceral fat as does high stress and lack of sleep. Visceral fat is extremely hard to lose and in workout and diet plans it’s usually the last to go.

What Constitutes a ‘Big Belly?’

We’d all love to have six-pack abs but just because we don’t are we considered out of shape? To understand how waist size reflects health means to understand the waist to hip ratio that determines how at risk you are. Use these steps to determine your waist to hip ratio:

Relax your abdomen
Measure your waist at the navel
Measure your hips at the widest point
Divide your waist size by hip size to get the ratio

When you’ve figured out the waist to hip ratio realize that in men the risk for adverse health effects for a big waist starts to increase after 0.95 and 0.85 in women. Some experts also are simply using your pants size as a way of evaluating your risk whereas a 37” waist and below present low opportunities, 37 to 39.9 moderate and 40+ high risk.

When Correlated with BMI

Note: I know that many people don’t like the BMI (Body Mass Index) but for the purpose of having a benchmark…I’m going to use it as a reference. Now…moving on…

There are just some naturally big people in the world and it would be unfair to say a 6’7” 385 pound farmer was high-risk for health concerns just because his overalls were huge. Waist size is only an indicator of proper health when factored with body mass index. BMI is a number calculated from a person’s height and weight and while it doesn’t measure body fat directly is used as a screening tool to detect possible weight problems. BMI is calculated by dividing the body weight by height (in inches) squared and multiplying that number by 703. The corresponding number helps determine if an individual is underweight, normal, overweight or obese. Once again a person with a lot of muscle will tend to register at overweight despite the fact they’re an ideal picture of health so BMI can’t solely be used to reflect health either.

Being the Proper Weight Isn’t Necessarily a Free Pass

It’s important to remember that the visceral fat is the harmful substance that causes an increased risk of death in people with bigger waists. The thing is that visceral fat can also exist in thinner people’s abdomen areas and even a 160-pound guy who has a big belly could stand to increase his exercise regimen. Visceral fat releases fatty acids, hormones, and inflammatory agents that present risks to the liver, heart, and kidneys among other organs.

A good rule of thumb to remember is that it never hurts to lose a few inches around the midsection (so long as you maintain a healthy minimum weight.) By getting exercise and eating better you’ll feel energized and will in turn sleep better and hopefully have less stress – all factors that contribute to a bigger belly.

Leslie lost 71 pounds

April 18, 2014 by Ajima Jackson 2 Comments

Update 8/2014: Leslie wrote in this month to let us know that she’s lost a total of 116.2 pounds. Check out what she shared with us back in April about her weight loss journey.

Leslie weight loss success story

Weight Loss Story of the Day: Leslie lost 71 pounds. She changed her eating habits and committed to regular exercise to transform her midsection and deal with serious health issues. Check out what she shared with us about her weight loss journey:

Leslie weight loss

Hi, I’m Leslie it took me 2 1/2 years to loose 71 pounds. I take a nutrition supplement, eat clean and work out everyday for 30 mins! My Motivation to lose weight was being told I was diabetic! I was scared. The doctor also told me I was overweight.

I changed by eating habits by doing a nutrition program which is not easy at all but well worth it. I simply tried to stay away from bad carbs, but I ate plenty of vegetables and fruit! I worked to not eat processed foods and made sure that I was eating often, like every two hours. Sometimes I supplement meals with a nutritional shake. Now watching what I eat comes naturally! For exercise, I worked out daily for 30 minutes a day mostly doing Zumba or walking!

My Starting weight was 286 pounds I am now 214.8 pounds. My transformation took 2 1/2 years.

My advice if any is never give up and don’t get wrapped up in the scale. All things are possible. I gave up 5 times but in still in there and still working toward my goals! Let’s go Black Women! Let’s lose weight!

Instagram: @royal_priesthoodp31

Leslie before and after

Taniqua lost 28 pounds

November 5, 2013 by Ajima Jackson Leave a Comment

Taniqua wrote in to share her weight loss story. She is down 28 pounds with My Fitness Pal, clean eating, working out regularly and using the Weight Watchers weight loss plan. Here is what she had to say:

Taniqua weight loss photos

“Hey y’all! I’m Taniqua but all my family and friends call me NeNe. This is me at my heaviest (photo)!!! I was 214 pounds and I am now 186 pounds. I’m sooo proud of my progess over the last year. I have lost a total of 28 lbs so far and I vow that I will never get this big again because I had never been that big before!!! I looked at myself in this picture and was like “Ohh noo girl, you have gotten too big!!!!” It still took me another year to get motivated to lose the weight. Everybody would tell me that I didnt look like I was over 200 lbs but I was! Myfitnesspal.com, clean eating and Weight Watchers helped in addition to working out 3 times a week!!! I still have a ways to go because I still need to get rid of the rest of this belly fat!!!! I hope this story can help motivate somebody to just do it and you have to believe that you can. If all you can do is take a short walk everyday do it because she did it and she’s doin it and I’m proud of myself.
Yayyy Me!!! Lol

I started by eating fish, chicken and ground turkey. I would make protein shakes in the morning and have a nice lunch with veggies and chicken. I also would eat sandwiches with red and yellow peppers, instead of potato chips. For dinner, I would have more veggies and a starch and chicken or fish. I stopped frying food and baked everything. As for exercise, I joined Planet Fitness for 10.00 a month I would work on legs shoulders and arms and then do like 45-60 minutes worth of cardio (depending on how I was feeling lol). I would rotate my days and on the that days I didn’t lift I would do just a straight hour of cardio on this machine called the Ark. I love that machine. I’m a work in progress and I’m still trying to lose the rest of my belly fat, so im getting ready to start this challenge for flat abs for 30 days. We will see how it goes!!! :)”

Is Belly Fat Different Than Other Body Fat?

October 24, 2013 by Ajima Jackson 2 Comments

Many people don’t realize that belly fat, also known as visceral fat, is actually different than the rest of your body. The belly fat has been linked to risk for a number of different types of things, from insulin issues, metabolism issues, heart disease, increased cancer risk, and increased type 2 diabetes risk. Even if you’re not overweight, the fat that is in your abdomen can cause a lot of issues.

The body has three different types of fat in it. Check them out:

Triglycerides circulate in your bloodstream. It makes up about 95 percent of the fat within your body.
Subcutaneous fat, which is the layer that lies directly below the skin’s surface, between the skin and the abdominal wall.
Visceral fat is the kind located deep within your belly.

It’s not so much what is in the visceral fat that causes the problem; it’s where the fat is located. It is actually found beneath your stomach muscles, which means that they’re the closest thing to your internal organs. Because of this placement, your internal organs start to use it for energy because it’s more efficient than getting energy from your skin fat. Your body acts much like you do; efficiency is key. If you have an option between two places to get the same exact thing, you’re going to go to the place that is closer.

So, why is this dangerous? In old times, people assumed that fat was just stored energy, but it’s actually much more active than that. All fat cells continually secrete hormones and chemicals; these hormones and chemicals are healthy if you’re at a normal weight, they actually do good things, like regulate insulin, help to regulate appetite by allowing you to feel satisfied after eating, and even help burn stored fat. Essentially, this fat acts how fat is supposed to act. The fat does standard metabolic functions and is absolutely nothing that you have to worry about. That’s why it’s unhealthy to be without fat; you can actually starve yourself or, at the very least, get ill, if you have no fat on your body at all.

Where the problem comes in is when you are overweight or obese. If you are overweight or obese, your body has more fat cells, and those cells are much larger than they should be. These larger cells, as you would expect, work harder and secrete more hormones and chemicals than you need. Essentially, you’re getting “too much of a good thing,” which is when it becomes a very bad thing. The chemicals that come out of your fat cells start to impact your health over time. These chemicals play a huge role in diseases like diabetes, stroke, heart attack, and even certain cancers.

Alright, so why does belly fat get the short end of the stick? Don’t all fats do this? Absolutely not! Visceral fat cells actually produce more of those chemicals to start with, so if you’ve got a lot of fat in your stomach region, those chemicals are actually being produced at toxic levels. As I mentioned above, those toxins are getting into your internal organs because the visceral fat is where your internal organs are getting their “energy” from. So basically, by having the excess stomach fat, you’re actually poisoning yourself in a way in terms of what the fat is leaching into your body. That is incredibly scary.

This is why good health is important. Exercise and diet are incredibly important parts of keeping you healthy. If you’ve noticed that you have an excess of belly fat, make sure to talk to your doctor as soon as possible. The great thing is that belly fat responds well to time tested weight loss methods of eating and exercise. You doctor or health care professional can help you to get on a eating and fitness plan that can help you lose weight in that region so that you don’t continue to cause damage to your body.

belly fat

Kitty lost 35 pounds