Causes of Flabby Fat and Lean Muscles

Some fitness experts and scientists are re-thinking their stand. Weight loss today is usually through strict dieting or avoiding fattening food. Well, to some extent, yes. But some are discovering how food alone is not to blame and dieting alone is not to be thanked for. The thing is, how active are you through the day? You're not just what you eat. You're also what you do.

Photo by Chip Vincent on Unsplash.

Active All Day long

Are you active all day long? I don't mean being active or busy at the office or enjoying an active social life--being an "active" member of this or that club, or present in so many gatherings and functions. That will kill you. How active are you through the day? Ideal weight is really the result of lean muscle mass plus workouts, and then physical activities during the day. Lean muscle mass makes the metabolism work well to burn calories and bring your weight always to normal levels, including trimming your tummy. 

Lose weight with God's Word and Medical Science.

What do I mean by "active through the day?" Aside from eating balanced and healthy, plus your regular physical workouts, make sure you're always moving most of the day. Do not be a couch potato or constantly idle behind the desk. Move around! Go up and down the stairs now and then or go out and walk around the street or block once or twice for a break. I do it sometimes but what I often do is lift a weight or do a 30-reps push up, and that's besides my regular workouts.

I mean, MOVE!

Even simple activities matter. Take out the trash, clean the toilet (scrub the floor and walls), wash pots and pans (brushing away stain means a lot of arm exercise), do manual laundry (especially hanging clothes manually), walk the dog, give the dog a bath (that's a lot of effort), and walk to the street-corner store (I know folks who take their car going to the street-corner store 😁). Pick up things on the floor. You can be creative with this and try other new things, like keeping your tummy in as much and as often as you can and keep the muscles there always tight. 🏋

Our Ancestors Were like That

Our ancestors were like that--they were active all day long hunting for the next meal or snack. They stalked their prey, wrestled with them, ran after them, hiked miles, climbed heights, and swam in rivers just to get food for their next meal. No wonder deadly diseases today did not exist then. And we always picture them as fit and muscular. I remember grandpas and grandmas always lean and mean. They were always outdoors managing the farm or putting their hands to the plow. 

When I visit Nueva Ecija, the rice granary of the Philippines, I see folks there young and old mostly lean no matter how they enjoy their big meals. They eat big servings of rice or rice cakes and yet remain slim and athletic. Their active metabolism melted all the fats away and that's because of the lean muscle mass plus the workouts they do while working in the fields. Deeper breathing after doing manual hard work in the fields (manual farming in Southeast Asia) can help you burn body fat and lose weight.

How to Have Lean Mass

Lean mass often means more proteins and less to zero carbs, or ZERO SUGAR, plus workouts, which not all of us can afford. So we're all mostly flabby because of our more than average carbs intake. No-Diet Slim Plus always believes in eating everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) in right proportions and especially with discipline, which may include periodical intermittent fasting. 

I eat one and half or two meals a day, but I eat a lot--no dieting--during my eating window, and in right proportions. I eat one to two cups of rice once a day, sometimes none. Intermittent fasting, however, should not be a forever diet. Once you hit your ideal weight, you resume with no-diet meals (plus workouts). I did intermittent fasting for 6 months to reduce body fat. Today, I enjoy eating with discipline. 

Here's good news--there are probably some other areas where you haven't looked before but which mostly contribute to your flabbiness and weight gain. Sometimes, it's not just because you eat lots of carbs and don't workout enough. Sometimes there are other reasons. 

Here are some tips from the popular health site, WebMD:

1. Perhaps you're not sleeping enough. Or probably you're oversleeping. Both ways can give you a hard time trying to lose weight. The ideal is 9 hours but 7 is good enough. And if you don't get enough sleep, you won't be in any mood to workout. See? 
2. Not enough water in your body. And I mean water, as in H2O, not any other fluids. Not your juice drink, not your health drink. Definitely not your cola or coffee. Water improves your metabolism. Read about it here.
3. You don't chew and enjoy your food well. Less chewing and enjoyment of food can mean stressful eating, and that can translate to added weight, besides possible high blood pressure.
4. Don't eat out a lot. Do it perhaps once or twice every month. Restaurant foods and fast foods have lots of transfats, chemical enhancers, salt, preservatives and SUGAR. A lot of foods we buy in restaurants, "karenderias" and grocery stores are loaded with SUGAR. 
5. You just sit all day. See what I mean in the beginning of this article? MOVE!
6. Get rid of overstress. It makes you eat more, and especially snack more.
7. Check your thyroid for hypothyroidism.
8. It's probably your medication or maintenance. Check with your doc.

Source

Push-Ups and Bending Bar

While eating right and balanced for lean muscles, it's important to lift weights to gain lean muscles and strengthen the bones. You may lift weights like I do but I prefer push-ups because I can do them anywhere and anytime without special equipment. I used to do it a lot at the office when I was still employed. So it's easier to maintain. 

Bending bar is a kind of isometric exercise but falls more under resistance training than pure isometrics. Next to push-ups, it's my favorite workout. It toughens your muscles and tones them. It's also one way you get lean muscles. I lift weights to get some bulk. But one professional wrestler who trained in Japan gave me a tip--don't do a lot of weights. Push-ups are better for martial artists. So I do them with some bending-bar sessions and chest expander springs. But I still lift weights.

Do It Safely and Effectively

Want lean muscles or want to avoid getting flabby? Then my e-book, "My Simple Secrets to Fitness," can help you a lot. If you're not a competing athlete aiming for championship but want to be fit and healthy and able to do good athletics (like martial arts), then you may need my e-book. Click here for a book review. It will help you do it safely and effectively, at your own pace. It's also a very affordable way of keeping fit, without fancy equipment that cost too much.