08 May 2019
While often termed differently, muffin top, belly fat and spare tire are all essentially the same thing – excess abdominal fat. No matter what it’s called, it can be a frustration for many men. One of the most difficult areas to slim, the abdomen contains two types of fat which each require different tactics to tone the area. We asked Brent Wilson, a registered dietitian at INTEGRIS, Health to share his advice on how the spare tire affects men and what can be done to get rid of it once and for all.
Fat around the stomach and waist can be caused by a variety of factors. “The spare tire is excess body fat stored around the midsection when our calorie balance is off,” Wilson explains. Caused by an imbalance between calorie intake and output, poor diet and insufficient activity are the main culprits of belly fat.
Inactivity during the day, worsened by sitting at a desk or in front of the television for long periods of time, is also a large contributor to one’s spare tire. Even stress can be a factor as it can impact the hormones that create fat.
Visceral Fat “Subcutaneous fat hibernates just beneath your skin and you can grasp it with your fingers,” Wilson says. “Visceral fat stows away deep in your abdomen around your organs.” These organs can include your intestines and stomach. Visceral fat is more dangerous than its subcutaneous counterpart as it can produce cytokines, or inflammation, that can damage those organs.
Health risks commonly go hand-in-hand with the spare tire. “Excess belly fat increases your risk for high blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides and metabolic syndrome,” Wilson explains. The chemicals created by excess visceral fat can increase the risk for heart disease or diabetes. As men age, it becomes more important to exercise regularly as their bodies tend to lose muscle mass more easily.
When it comes to shedding the spare tire, lifestyle changes must be made. “Ultimately, it comes down to the decisions we have to make on a daily basis,” Wilson says.
He explains these decisions become increasingly more difficult to make due to the convenience of highly processed foods that include substantial amounts of fat, sugar and calories. Combined with the typical low level of activity required by many jobs, it becomes more important to make conscious decisions to be physically active.
The first step toward eliminating the spare tire is to set healthy and reasonable goals. Shedding abdominal fat takes time and should not be treated as a race. So, how do you track your progress? The number on the scale doesn’t always represent the amount of fat and muscle mass a person carries, making it a less than optimal choice for measurement. Many people prefer to track their Body Mass Index (BMI), although Wilson advises against this. Instead, he opts for a more specific source of measurement.
“The BMI will ultimately give you a general idea of where your weight should be; however, it can be misleading as it doesn’t take muscle mass into account,” he says.
“The best thing would be to have your body fat percentage tested and retested after a few months of implementing physical activity and healthy eating.” The INTEGRIS Health Weight Loss Center provides several options for both surgical and non-surgical weight loss services, including seminars and assistance with nutrition.
It is also important to set a healthy daily calorie goal. “Ultimately, we need to lower our calorie intake,” Wilson says. “I would encourage keeping a food log to identify where the most calories are coming from in your diet. Then, try replacing high calorie food and beverages with lower calorie options.” He suggests the app MyFitnessPal as a way to track your dietary choices.
When exercising to burn belly fat, it’s important to create a healthy mix of cardio and strength training. When targeting the spare tire, especially if you don’t go to the gym on a regular basis, you should start slowly. Wilson suggests beginning by walking or cycling and slowly increasing the duration and intensity of cardio.
Make sure to include stretches in your routine to keep your muscles limber and limit soreness. He advises setting a goal of 150 minutes of physical activity per week.
When it comes to choosing between cardio and weights, he says “both can be effective if used properly. The key is to get your heart pumping, so you can start burning the fat stored around the belly. Cardio is great at this. Weights can also work well, as long as you are keeping your heart rate elevated. Rather than resting in between sets of weight lifting, try using your rest time to keep your heart rate up with things like rowing, walking, or cycling.”
Stay committed to your exercise goals by creating a workout calendar or setting a joint fitness goal with your friends or family. For those who need to set a specific time to work out or thrive on extroverted activities, try joining a group fitness or boot camp style workout.
A healthy diet is the perfect complement to your new exercise regime.
It can also be the most difficult part of the process. Essentially, it’s important to choose lower calorie options, skip processed foods, limit sugar and practice portion control.
“Choose lean protein sources such as eggs, nuts, fish and chicken,” Wilson recommends. “Increase your intake of fruit and vegetables, which contain fewer calories per cup than most other foods. The fiber in them will keep you feeling full for longer so you take in fewer calories throughout the day.”
It is vital that men strive to achieve a healthy lifestyle as they age. Eliminating the spare tire is a crucial factor in the process of lowering health risks and staying in good physical shape. Contact an INTEGRIS Health physician today to assess your health needs.
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21 March 2017
Let's be honest… there is nothing 'lovable' about 'love handles'! It's the worst when you're trying to fit into those new skinny jeans, or a cute little crop top.
They're one of the hardest things to get rid of… much to our dismay. And no amount of ab workouts and crunches is going to help – because love handles lie in a very specific group of abdominal muscles that make it really hard to get rid of them.
So apart from eating clean (no, no more late night pizza orders), here are 5 exercises you can do to target your love handles.
Cardio
The thought of 'cardio' is enough to make everyone weep. But don't worry, you don't need to do too much. Just a 30 minute cardio every other day or even six days a week is an effective way to get rid of that extra fat around your belly. It doesn't matter how intense the workout is. Even walking for 30 minutes, 6 days a week makes a big difference.
Woodchoppers
Stand with your feet apart and rest your weight on your left leg. Hold a dumbbell or a medicine ball in both hands and lift it up towards your left shoulder.
Then, twist downwards towards your right hip, and pivot your feet and knees with the twist. Raise the weight back to your left shoulder and repeat for 20 reps. Then work your right side for another 20 reps.
Image courtesy: Your Fitnessity.
Russian Twists
Begin in a seated position, with your body in a C shape – so keep your knees bent, feet on the floor and your torso leaning back at a 45 degree angle. Remember to keep your back straight. Hold a dumbbell or a medicine ball with both hands and lift your feet off the ground, balancing on your butt. Then twist your body from the left to the right and back to the left with the dumbbell touching the ground on each side. Repeat back and forth about 50 times.
Bicycle Crunches
Yes, you still need to do some crunches, and it's not going to be easy, but worth it.
Start in a standard crunch position – lie on a mat with your knees bent and your hands behind your head. Then, lift your upper body up and raise your left leg, connecting it with your right elbow somewhere in the middle of your body. Without resting your body back on the floor, connect your right leg to your left elbow. Continue this as fast as possible for 30 reps.
Side Plank Hip- lifts
This is probably the hardest one, and requires balance – It's the bane of all exercises, at least for us. Rest on your side, with your elbow, legs and hips on the ground. While keeping your body in a straight line raise it off the ground in a side-plank position. Hold it for a few seconds and lower your body. Repeat for 15 reps and then work on your other side.
Clothes spoiled in ballpoint pen paste? This is a fairly common situation, as evidenced by numerous search engine queries on how to wash a pen from clothes.
Trouble can happen at any moment, so you must always be ready to face a problem and know perfectly well how to remove a pen from clothes so as not only to return things to their original appearance, but also not to spoil them. It doesn’t matter if you don’t even know how to clean a pen in the most effective way - in this detailed guide to action, you can find useful recommendations on how to clean a pen on clothes!
Before you can wash a ballpoint pen from clothes, you need to always understand a set of certain rules that will allow you to clean things without harm to them:
That the products do not contain acetone, as well as other aggressive agents. Not only will they not have the desired effect, but they can significantly aggravate the situation. These four tips on how to remove ballpoint pen marks will help you avoid the many mistakes that accompany many people who take up washing clothes.
It is worth thinking seriously about how to remove marks from a ballpoint pen on certain fabrics - depending on the material from which the clothes are made, you need to choose methods:
Be careful when removing the paste from clothes made of delicate fabrics - incorrect handling will not only not bring the desired result, but will also leave you without a thing.
Gel pen stains are much more difficult to remove, which is why many people are actively interested in how to remove a gel pen stain. Despite the complexity of the task, it is quite feasible. People use the most extraordinary methods to remove the gel stain - toothpaste, shaving gel, as well as cologne and even detergents. You better try these ways:
The last step is to cut the clothes as usual (you can use a washing machine). The above tips on how to clean a gel-based ballpoint pen will definitely help you deal with the problem. Even if folk methods did not have the desired effect from the first application, repeat the procedure until the gel spots of the pen disappear completely.
How to remove a stain from a gel pen (or usually a ballpoint pen) if it was suddenly planted on clothes of a dazzling white color? A rather unpleasant situation, however, there is a way out of it:
How to remove a stain from a pen if the above methods do not bring the expected effect? Try a mixture of baking soda, salt and water - the solution should be applied to clothing, hold for 15-20 minutes, then rinse with warm water. To enhance the effect, you can wash things after.
Many housewives are interested in the question of how to remove a stain from a pen from clothes made from delicate fabrics, for which most methods simply cannot be cleaned. However, now you will have no doubts about how you can wash a pen from clothes of this kind - you can make your own gasoline soap, which has rightfully earned the title of one of the best tools than washing a ballpoint hand.
Here's the recipe for you:
The next step is the same as showing how to remove pen paste from a shirt or other clothing - just rub the stains with petrol soap and launder. If after the first application the result did not satisfy you, repeat the procedure again.
How to remove the paste from a ballpoint pen, even if repeated repetitions of the above procedures did not bring any benefit? At your own risk, you can use the following funds:
The only drawback of the method is the inability to use for delicate fabrics. Turpentine has a very aggressive effect, which can ruin even ordinary fabrics. You can congratulate yourself - now you know perfectly well how to remove pen stains on clothes. Your arsenal has been replenished with many proven and effective recipes, use them!
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What do we have on our noses? Winter, of course.
Drivers, accordingly, have traditional fun puzzles. Well, and no less traditionally - recipes for solving problems. For example, ice on car windows. A couple of tips on how to avoid this scourge. It's all about prevention. Even in the evening - five to ten minutes before arriving at your parking lot, turn off the stove in the cabin and open the window a little. Next, after parking the car, open the doors of the passenger compartment for a couple of minutes. This will equalize the air temperatures inside and outside. Well, the old grandfather way. Pour salt into a cloth and wipe from the inside of the glass. Of course, they will not stop freezing, but they will do it much more slowly.
Or another problem. For example, in the morning you discover that the car door cannot be opened - it is frozen. Calm down, it is we who have a bunch of recipes for salvation. Before you start to warm up a frozen lock, you should make sure that the door does not open precisely because of the lock.
The rubber door seals could also freeze. It is easy to find out - if the door does not open due to frozen water in the seal, the car lock can be opened with a key. You can open the door, just do it very carefully. The recipe is to shake the doors, swinging in and out within the free play - in most cases this helps to cope with the situation without damaging the seals.
The situation is much worse if the ice has formed in the lock well - and the locks cannot be opened either from the key fob or the key. First, forget about boiling water - if the air temperature is below -10 degrees Celsius, then dousing the door will only aggravate the situation. In addition, due to a sharp temperature drop, the paintwork can be damaged. Heating the key is our solution. Warmed up - and into the castle. Five or six times and please - access is allowed. They sprinkled the larva with a “vedeshka” or any other liquid key and go.
You can listen to any of the episodes on our website or by subscribing to the official podcast.
