Beating Belly Fat and Slimming Thighs…Really?

“Beat that belly fat, once and for all”.   “Slim your thighs with three simple moves”.  “Look ten pounds thinner by standing taller”.

OK.

Really?

How are headlines such as these still gracing the covers of so many magazines, blogs and ads?   Does anyone still really think that eating one certain food is going to create such a huge caloric burn that the doughnuts and ice cream you ate late night are of no significance?   Or that if you eat one particular food at a certain time of day that it will somehow not contribute to the total number of calories you’re consuming that day?

To review:

• There is no such thing as ‘spot reducing’.  One cannot eat random, junky food, then do hundreds of sets of hip abduction exercises and expect to slim the bulges on the outsides of their legs. If there is an excess of bodyfat anywhere in the body, the diet needs to be addressed.  Period.  Go Paleo.
• There is also no magic recipe to lose weight rapidly that is also safe and effective and lasting.  If one has been gaining weight over the course of the last several years and now tips the scales at fifty pounds heavier than they should be, why on Earth should they expect it to come off in two weeks.   Slow and steady is the way to go; go Paleo.
• There is no way to ‘increase one’s metabolism’ by taking a pill.   There is one way to increase metabolism:  build lean muscle.  That’s it.  All those dangerous pills that claim to do so, really do nothing more than increase one’s heart rate and sometime suppress appetite.   On the mild side, it can result in a jittery feeling; on the serious side, death.  Not really worth it, is it? Again, go Paleo.

Quite likely,  in many cases, we know what’s good for us, what we should eat and what we should avoid; the problem is just wanting it all now.

Be patient, treat your body kindly and feed it good foods.   Doing so will pave the way for a long, healthy life in a lean, fit body.