Diet against fat belly
I am a 75 year old woman and have been struggling with a big belly for years. Lines make no sense. Once a week I do gymnastics, I walk almost every day and watch my diet. It’s in my genes, says the doctor. My mother had it, my 45-year-old daughter too. What can we do about it? The special exercises in gym have little effect.
Joris Bartstra, journalist with medical diploma
I’m afraid I can’t do much for you. In principle, the problem is simply overweight, whereby in your case the fat mainly settles in the abdomen. The annoying thing is that belly fat means an extra risk for cardiovascular disease. There are no special exercises to slim the abdomen.
It’s not that belly fat is burned when you train your abs. Moreover, at your age, not much extra is possible in terms of training muscles in order to increase the ability to use energy. It is therefore a question of adjusting the intake of calories to the burning of calories.
I don’t know what you’ve already tried in terms of weight loss, but I would still talk to a dietitian to get a good overview of exactly what you eat and how the intake of calories can be limited in such a way that it is the long term is sustainable. The only really effective way to lose weight is to stick to a diet that contains several hundred calories less than you normally eat.
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