Does how and when I eat affect my metabolism? Beside getting the right diet and right exercise to get a flat stomach, yes, how and when you eat do affect your metabolism significantly.
Research has supported that eating a few small meals per day (ie 5 meals) is a better way to burn calories than say 3 meals a day. The reason is simple, you are increasing your energy expenditure (energy used to digest your meal) by increasing your meal frequency. The thermogenic effect of dividing calorie intake over several meals may also be higher. As you split your meals throughout the day, your hunger is controlled better and you have less tenancy to eat more.
When you take your meal is equally important. It is very important to note that you should never skip breakfast as eating breakfast will get your metabolic revved up first thing in the morning. If you go without breakfast , your body will go into a catabolic stage where your body will break down muscle tissue for energy. In the long run, you will see your muscle reduces which in turn reduces the metabolic rate, hence making it easier for you to gain fat in the long run.
Eating in the hours after brisk exercise may encourage more calories to be burn as your metabolic rate increase. On the other hand, moderate exercise like a walk after eating can encourage the thermogenic response to food and burn more calories.
The speed of eating is important too. Basically the slower you eat, the faster and more efficient you metabolize the food. When food is swallowed whole, it makes it more difficult for the body to absorb all the important nutrients. That said, when you are eating fast, do you feel very full, not immediately but a short while after you have finished your meal? This is because your brain will only take 15 to 20 minutes to start signaling feelings of fullness and by eating fast, you will eat even more because when your brain has not given you the “signal of fullness”, you will continue to eat!
There you go. While you are working hard in your exercise to get flat stomach, do not forget about your eating habits. These little details in your diet go hand-in-hand to the success of your exercise to get flat stomach!
Flat stomachs do not need to be a pipe dream. Everyone can achieve what they want regardless of their financial situation, location or background. But, it will take motivation, dedication and time.
Exercising your stomach muscles can be achieved in an number of ways, some of them employing expensive equipment, others using what is to hand such as a floor and mat or a medicine ball. Certain stomach muscle groups will be exercised as part of other routines. Pilates, while providing an all round aid to fitness will have an impact on all areas of your body including the stomach, legs and back. But it tends to be the basic, focussed exercises, regardless of how you do them that have the greatest impact.
The Crunch is the basis of a successful stomach routine. Crunches are a better way to exercise the body than routine sit ups as they don’t put anywhere near as much strain on the back. A crunch is achieved by compressing yoru stomach muscles, most often by lying down and raising your upper torso a few inches from the ground. You do not need a long, excessive movement rather a short lift repeatedly used will apply pressure to the stomach muscles just where needed and the results are better.
A variation of this is the side crunch. The same basic principle applies, but the twisting motion as the crunch is completed will work the ‘love handles’ or obliques as they are more properly known.
The key is to make sure that your stomach muscles, not your legs, or head or arms do the work. Maintaining a straight back, shoulder and head line is important to ensure it is the stomach that is worked, and there are numerous resources across the internet that can assist you with style and methods.
As well as focussing only on the middle section of the stomach it is important that you include a range of different exercises to work all areas of the abdomen. This should pay attention to the upper and lower, side and central areas of your stomach. It will do a person no good to only focus on one specific muscle group.
As with exercise in general there are a wealth of resources available in book stores, libraries, on video and on the internet to assist with producing a balanced program. With so many options it is not unusual for people to struggle to identify the quality information from the rest. Putting a balanced stomach exercise program together is important and tailoring this to yourself is key. What suits one person will not always suit another. A person who exercises a lot will need a more demanding program than a novice, an overweight person a different one to a slim one.
While some exercises will work better for some, no exercise will work if it is not implemented properly, done well and performed frequently. A person should decide which exercise they are capable of as well as determining how long each session of training should be. They need to achieve a balance between different types of exercise. If the exercise is too complicated, takes too much time or needs specialist equipment is is less likely to be successful.
Only over an extended period of time can you hope to achieve a flat stomach irrespective of the types of exercise used.