Healthy Living 8-Week Challenge
Have you noticed that waistlines are getting a lot of attention these days? Meno-pot and muffin-top are household terms, and entire fitness classes have been designed to bust our collective gut. But this is one trend that isn't just about vanity. Research shows that ab fat is a critical heath barometer, and large amounts up your risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some cancers. "You must look not only at your weight but also at your waist," says Annemarie Koster, Ph.D., a researcher at the National Institute of Health. In her study, people with the widest middles were 22 percent more likely to die within 9 years than the trimmer-waisted peers. While managing your middle gets tougher for both sexes with age, it's even more difficult for menopausal women, since weight seems to accumulate around the stomach when estrogen dips. Luckily, we've got a three-step plan that will help you make simple changes to decrease ab fat in just 8 weeks. We're not going to recommend hundreds of crunches or a deprivation diet. All you have to do is make these three simple changes part of your daily routine-and here we show you just how to do it.
*The ideal waist is <35 inches for women and <40 inches for men. You may not be able to get your waist all the way down to 35 inches in just 8 weeks, but you can certainly decrease it-and any inches you lose will help your health. The first thing to do before starting our three-step plan? Measure your waist to determine how far you are from 35 inches: Place a tape measure snugly around your bare abdomen just above your hip bone. Relax, exhale, and measure. Now on to step 1!*
Step 1: Stamp out Stress
Feeling stressed is the new normal, but that's bad news for your waist. When you get stressed, your body releases the hormone cortisol, which causes fat to be distributed in your belly. Why? Researchers speculate that abdominal fat has more receptors for cortisol that=n other kinds of fat. In fact, in one Yale University study, the more stressed women were, the more fat they stored in the belly.
Action plan: Weeks 1-2
Reprioritizing time-sapping commitments is an easy way to get a handle on stress levels. So take a look at your calendar for the next 2 weeks and find at least one thing you can delay, one you can delegate, and one you can dump altogether (write delay, delegate, and dump next to each task on your planner)
Step 2: Adjust your Diet
You're already thinking about eating well (it may even be you New Year's Resolution), so this step is a cinch. A diet that whittles your waist is all about the two F's: fiber and fat.
Fiber: You know that fiber can aid weight loss by keeping those hunger pangs at bay, but it may also slim your waist. In a new study, people who ate a diet in high-fiber foods (like whole-grain bread and cereal) decreased their waist measurements.
Fat: You need to build your diet around good-for-you unsaturated fats and phase out trans fats. Like saturated fat, trans fat (found in vegetable shortenings and some store bought baked and fried foods) raise unheathy cholesterol. Here's another reason to keep them in check. Trans fats may plump up your belly. A new study found that trans fats draw fat tissue from other parts of the body to the middle. The study was done on animals, so more research is needed, but there's no reason to keep eating trans fats.
Action Plan: Weeks 3-7
Make healthy eating a habit by incorporating one new healthy fat into your diet each week. Use this list to get started; all you have to do is add one food from each column to your grocery list every week for the next 5 weeks.
Fiber: Artichokes, Beans, Broccoli, Chickpeas, Lentils
Healthy Fat: Avocado, Cashews, Rainbow Trout, Salmon, Walnuts
Step 3: Up your Cardio
Surprisingly, the best route to bikini-worthy abs isn't crunches. They'll tone your core muscles, but those muscles will stay hidden until you lose the weight around your waist. A better bet? Do more cardio. According to a recent Duke University study, participants who took a brisk 30-minute walk 6 time a week had no increase in abdominal fat while those who didn't saw a nearly 9 percent increase in ab fat in just 6 months. And all that walking didn't just decrease their abdominal fat-patients dropped pounds too. Based on those findings, study author Cris Slentz, Ph.D., suggests that you walk 17 miles a week (that's about 45 minutes of brisk walking 5 or 6 days a week) to lose belly bulk.
Action Plan: Week 8
Squeezing in a 45-minute walk nearly every day is easier than you think. Pencil into your day planner everyday this week.
Mon- An am walk before breakfast
Tues- A lunch-hour stroll with a co-worker
Wed- An after-dinner walk with your spouse
Thurs- Three short (15-minute) walks
Fri- Take a rest-you've earned it!
Sat-A walk around the mall while you shop
Sun- A coffee-date walk (sip and stroll!) with a pal
Way to go!
You're on your way to a slimmer waist and a healthier you. Now that you've completed all three steps, it's only a matter of time until your waist measurement hits that 35-inch benchmark of success. Keep up with your new good-for-you habits, and measure your middle every couple of months to check your progress.
Jan-Feb Weight Watchers Magazine
Thanks for this article it has motivated me to start walking.
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