20 ways to lose your spare tyre
How to take action after bad news on bellies
IF you can’t see your feet when you look down, it’s time to get rid of that tum.
Scientists revealed this week that having a big belly is worse for you than being obese. The study, by the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, US, found over a period of 14 years that people of a healthy weight with bellies were twice as likely to die as those said to be overweight or obese.
But if you have a spare tyre, don’t despair. Here, CHRISTINA EARLE shares tips on diet, exercise and lifestyle on how to shift it.
Exercise tips
Tone and strengthen stomach muscles
Lie on your right. Supported by your elbow, raise your hips and body off the floor and keep your stance. Hold a weight (a 500ml bottle of water or a can of beans will do) in your left hand, resting on the floor in front of you, arm straight. This is your starting position.
Raise the weight until your arm is parallel with the floor. Lower it back down and repeat, counting two seconds up and two seconds down. Do three sets of 15 reps on each side.
Tone and strengthen lower abs
Lie on your back on the floor. Place your left heel on top of your right toe. Support your neck with your left hand and hold a weight up in the air in your right hand.
Then lift your shoulders clear of the floor until you feel your lower stomach muscles activated, pause for a second at the top and return to the starting position.
Do three sets of 15 repetitions on each side at a slow, controlled tempo.
Tone and flatten stomach to achieve definition
Lie on your back, with your arms at your sides and your fingers pointing towards your feet.
Inhale fully, scooping your belly in as you curl your upper body off the floor.
Look towards your stomach as you exhale and draw your knees up, one at a time, so that your thighs are each at 90-degree angles to the floor.
Simultaneously lift your stretched arms to shoulder height, palms down. Inhale fully. Pulse your arms up and down five times, then exhale fully, pulsing your arms five times.
Continue this pattern for ten reps (100 pulses). Squeeze your knees to your chest, lower your feet to the floor, then lower your upper body, neck and head.
Shrink your waist
Lie on your back, bend your hips and knees to a 90-degree angle, thighs vertical and shins parallel to the floor. Extend your arms to the side.
Press your palms into the floor and lower your legs as far as possible to the left while keeping your right shoulder glued to the floor.
Bring your legs back to the centre, then lower to the right.
To protect your lower back, keep it in contact with the floor and draw your belly button towards your spine. Do three sets of ten repetitions each side at a controlled tempo.
Side-plank with leg raise
Lie on your side with your elbow under your shoulder and your legs one on top of the other.
Side-plank upwards so that the weight of your body is on your forearm and feet.
Slowly lift your leg up about 30cm towards the sky, and then carefully return to the side-plank position. Do 12 repetitions on each side.
Press-ups with rotation
Get into a press-up position and set your hands to one-and-a-half shoulder widths apart and in line with your nipples, not your shoulders.
Keep your legs straight and your weight distributed evenly.
Lower down so your nose almost touches the ground, keeping your body straight, then lift yourself back up to the start position.
Next, rotate on to your right side so that all your weight is on one arm and both feet. Hold for one second and then return to start pose.
Breathe out as you press up to the start position and breathe in as you lower yourself down. Do 12 repetitions, alternating sides.
Suck in your tum
It might sound a little bit daft but actually just sucking your belly in will help to strengthen your abdominals and go some way towards flattening your stomach.
Even just holding press-ups for 30 seconds will trim that tyre in no time. Start today and do three sets of 30 a day for two months to be one inch slimmer around the middle by the beginning of February.
Food & drink tips
Munch on nuts
These are full of vitamins B and E, along with calcium, iron and zinc – and they are filling. According to a study of 120,000 people by Harvard University, regularly eating nuts could mean you consume fewer calories overall.
Feast on more fibre
The average adult lacks fibre in their diet by up to a third. Not enough roughage makes bowels sluggish and all that waste makes your belly grow.
So opt for more wholegrain cereals, vegetables such as broccoli, as well as lentils and brown bread rather than white.
Eat natural yoghurt
If your large tummy is a result of being bloated, you might benefit from eating more natural yoghurt.
Many contain probiotics, which help diversify the bacteria in the gut so you produce less gas when you eat.
Drink milk
A study carried out in 2010 by researchers from the University of Alabama found the more calcium-rich foods women ate, the lower their abdominal fat.
Ditch coffee
Caffeine is responsible for making us produce stress hormone cortisol, which causes us to store fat around the middle.
Have breakfast
Researchers at the University of Nottingham found that skipping breakfast leads to increased food intake later in the day.
Stop binge-drinking
The body struggles to process fats with alcohol present, so stores it round your tummy.
Avoid sugar
Eating sugar helps the body retain water – which can make the belly bigger.
Eat oily fish
Mackerel, along with trout and salmon, are fantastic sources of essential omega 3 fatty acids. Those of us who don’t get enough often will not sleep well – which is linked to late-night eating.
Go high-protein
A study published in The Journal of Nutrition found that women were more likely to have flatter tums if they had a high-protein diet. Eggs, meat and fish make you feel fuller for longer – so reducing the temptation to reach for the snacks.
Lifestyle tips
Relax
Take time to unwind and ease off the pressure.The more of stress hormone cortisol you produce, the more likely you are to have a big belly.
Chilling out means you store less fat around your stomach area because cortisol influences how much you retain.
Sleep
Routinely getting by on five hours of sleep or less a night increases levels of fat around the organs, according to a 2010 study by Wake Forest University in the US.
So to get that flatter stomach, make sure you head to bed earlier for more shut-eye on a regular basis.
Have sex
Getting passionate on a regular basis can also help keep those levels of stress hormone cortisol in check, so reducing your appetite for foods that are high in fat, carbs and sugar.
All of which is a win-win for giving that unwanted spare tyre the elbow.