ABS ARE MADE IN THE KITCHEN, NOT IN THE GYM

Post Partum weight issue:Flabby belly
One of my clients declared: “I have almost come back to my pre-pregnancy weight and am religiously doing crunches, but bulge around my belly doesn’t seem to budge”.

I calmly replied, “Stop your crunches and keep lots of patience. Needless to say she looked at me as if I have committed a sin.
Nevertheless, I continued.

1) Crunches works on the straight muscles of the abs called rectus abdominus. During pregnancy the muscles around belly are the most stretched out which would often result into separation of abs, medically termed as “Diastatis Recti”. In such situation Crunches would do more harm than good. One needs to move the target to Transverse abdominals (This is the deepest of your abdominal muscles and literally wraps around your entire abdomen.)

2) More importantly, there is nothing like SPOT REDUCTION: how nice would it be if one can reduce weight from the desired part of the body? I guess then you, me and all moms can do crunches whole day and fulfilled our desire to wear a bikini. Unfortunately Spot Reduction is a fallacy. So what should you do now? The complete body work out which includes muscle strengthening, functional exercises and the CARDIO.

3) And comes the most vital part: “Flat stomach is made in Kitchen” Often heard dialogues like:

1) “I eat only “Ghar ka khana”: Important is to “right food in right quantity at right time”. Many ladies have a habit of munching the snacks/sweets while serving to others or putting it back in the box. Again many people miss their meal so as to accommodate ice-creams /other sweet cravings. It slows down their metabolic rate. We need to understand the Indian food preparation uses lot of simple Carbs, saturated and unsaturated fats and incomplete Proteins. So we really have to make conscious efforts as to what and how much are we eating.

2) “I workout regular, so I can afford a sandwich or sev-puri everyday”: Well, unfortunately, it can hurt a lot more than you realize because despite taking a gym class, that sandwich isn’t going to just “disappear”.

3) “Again there are people who will not miss a single day in a gym/exercise class but the rest 23 hrs they will not even pick up the glass of water by themselves: How active you are throughout the day matters a lot. Sedentary lifestyle affects the metabolism.

You can’t out-exercise a bad diet, regardless of how many workouts you cram into one day and how much we wish this to be true. Many people overemphasize the importance of the gym while undervaluing the importance of a healthy diet.