A healthy meal of chicken and lettuce.
Image Credit: Metkalova/iStock/Getty Images The fat pad is another name for the fat on the lower abdomen area. Infomercials flood the television airways with abdominal workout devices that promise to melt fat off your abs in minutes, especially on those hard to reach areas. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. You cannot target one area of your body for fat loss, you have to lose fat all over. Clean up your eating habits and perform workouts designed to increase fat loss to see that fat pad disappear.
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Step 1
Evaluate your eating habits. Focus your diet around clean or unprocessed foods. Eat vegetables, whole grains, brown rice, oatmeal, high-fiber cereal, fruits, lean meats, eggs, fish and low-fat dairy, such as cottage cheese or Greek yogurt. Avoid processed foods like deli meats, potato chips, frozen dinners and pre-seasoned rice and pasta that encourage weight gain.
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Step 2
Eat often to increase your metabolism. Consume five to six smaller meals per day or eat every three hours. Digesting your food burns calories so you burn more calories even when at rest. Skipping meals, especially breakfast, will slow your metabolism and cause your body to preserve energy and store fat, according to Natural Health magazine.
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Step 3
Limit your dairy intake. Switch to soy, rice or almond milk instead of cow’s milk. The sugars in cow’s milk is difficult for the body to digest, which causes bloating, says the New York Times.
Step 4
Work your abdominal muscles three days per week. Do exercises like hanging leg raises – hold a pull up bar with your legs hanging and squeeze your abs to lift your legs, repeat for three sets of 20 repetitions. Perform plank holds – hold yourself in a push-up position on your elbows for 30 seconds, repeat for three sets.
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Step 5
Engage in total-body circuit training three days per week to build muscle and blast fat at the same time. Train one weighted exercise per muscle group like chest press, lunges, squats and triceps dips. Perform 30 seconds of cardio, like jumping jacks, after every exercise. Rotate through the circuit for 30 minutes.
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references & resources
University of Maryland Medical Center: Weight Control and Diet
New York Times: Debate Over Milk
University of Maryland Medical Center: Abdominal Fat Pad
MyPlate
references & resources
University of Maryland Medical Center: Weight Control and Diet
New York Times: Debate Over Milk
University of Maryland Medical Center: Abdominal Fat Pad
MyPlate
A healthy meal of chicken and lettuce.
Image Credit: Metkalova/iStock/Getty Images
Image Credit: Metkalova/iStock/Getty Images
University of Maryland Medical Center: Weight Control and Diet
New York Times: Debate Over Milk
University of Maryland Medical Center: Abdominal Fat Pad
MyPlate
