I have worked with people who feel that it is not a big deal if they are heavy.  They say they feel fine.  That “feeling fine” could be short-lived….

Researchers about 10 years ago began to notice that high blood sugar and cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease and even certain cancers mostly occurred in people who were overweight or obese and who were mostly sedentary.  These problems were eventually called Metabolic Syndrome or Syndrome X.

Further research showed that even people with increased waist size who were not obese were also prone to metabolic syndrome. At this point, the focus of metabolic syndrome research shifted to visceral fat and how different fat locations in our body can make a big difference in metabolic disease.

In fact, excessive visceral fat may be more dangerous and lead to more chronic diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels than obesity.

Your BMI could actually still be normal but if you have excessive visceral fat, as measure by waist size greater than 40 ins in men and 35 ins in women,  you have the same increased risk factors as someone overweight or obese. 

What To Do About This Type of Fat:

Studies investigating abdominal fat and aerobic exercise have shown that exercising can effectively target this fat area and reduce waist size better than using weight loss alone.

In fact regular aerobic exercise just 30 to 45 mins per day, where you actually sweat, has seen some very positive outcomes.

Supplements that target the satiety, the term used to describe our hunger for food, have become an effective tool for weight loss.  We know certain foods depending on their flavors, such as sweet, salty, and sour, can activate appetite centers in the brain in various ways.  This is also depends on the type for the food fat, carbohydrates, and protein all cause different reactions.

One of the major reasons attributed to high protein diet’s effectiveness is the ability of protein to reduce our appetite and make us feel full.

Therefore, my Skinny-Rules, which involves only 50 to 100g of carbohydrates per day and around four ounces of Protein consumed every 3-4 hours, six times a day–is enough to help you lose weight…but to lose that extra belly weight, you need to start MOVING!  You have to exercise.  Even if it is just 30 minutes a day.  Walk the dog, walk briskly around the mall…but you have to move.  Start with just 10-15 minutes and work your way up.  Just 30 minutes a day, at least 3-4 days per week, will help you look your best as you are losing weight.

And if you suffer from fatigue or any illness, then try to take it slowly and do slow walking or swimming.  Even chair exercises you find on Youtube can help you.  But, don’t give in to your pain, fatigue or fat.  Do something about it, even if it is baby steps every day.