Muffin is a small dome shaped spongy cake made with eggs, all purpose flour and baking powder. And muffin top is not the whipped cream, jam or chocolate toppings on the muffins. Rather muffin tops are the visible flab or rolls of fat that spills over the tight-fitting pants or skirts, as the top of the muffin that spills over the edges of its baking case. It is also called love handles. Muffin tops in your body are not a favorite like muffins are favorite to you.
Reasons Of Muffin Tops
Hormones
Hormones play a crucial role in your muffin tops. For women, pregnancy, contraceptive pills, aging are some of the factors of hormone imbalances in the body that cause muffin tops.
Genetics
Genetics are quite a good reason for muffin tops, actually a good reason not to try shedding the muffin tops. Fat accumulation, fat distribution are related to our ancestors, i.e genetics. But it does not mean that genetic muffin tops can’t be removed. Exercise and diet can ensure that any of your descendants can’t be sure of muffin tops.
Stress and Anxiety
Stress or anxiety release cortisol hormone in the body that turns the body into survival mode and stores extra fat in the belly. Cortisol also increases the urge of having sugary or salty foods to cope up with the stress and feel-good effect. Sleep is the best stress reliever, it is hard to fall asleep in stress.
Must Read : Balancing out the hormones that control how fat and carbs are metabolized.
Diet And Exercise
Both muffin and muffin tops are made at kitchen. Diet makes the muffin tops. Every time we eat something, there is no need to count calories, but to think whether we are really hungry or just eating for the sake of eating. And the thing we are eating should be high in protein, low carb, and low fat. Complex carbohydrates like whole grains, vegetables and fruits are rich with complex carbohydrates.
How Risky Is Muffin Tops
Muffin tops may be the reason behind numerous health issues other than beauty and dress issues. Fat can be accumulated in the abdomen area in two forms. 1. Visceral fat and 2. Subcutaneous fat. Subcutaneous fat stores just below the skin and you can pinch it, whereas visceral flats surround the organs in the abdomen. This is a very dangerous type. Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer may occur because of visceral fat which is very hard to get rid of.
How To Get Rid Of Muffin Tops
Abdominal fat is very hard to lose. We can’t move our abdomen muscles the way we move our hands or legs. Liposuction or cosmetic surgeries can be done, but many of us don’t prefer it. So the next best alternative is diet and exercise. To go for the next option, patience and consistency is required. It takes a long time to notice the slightest difference.
Spot reduction is not possible for abdominal belly fat. Cardio and resistance exercises reduce not only the belly fat but fat from all over the body. However strong your abdominal muscles are, they won’t be visible till the layer of fat above the muscle is not reduced.
Some very common and effective exercises are suggested for reducing the fats from abs and toning the core muscles.
Exercises for muffin tops
There are specific exercises for every part of the body. But focusing on abs only does not serve our purpose. The main purpose of the exercise is to create a calorie deficiency, meaning the gap between the calorie intakes and calorie burns. The more the muscle works out the more energy it needs and the more fat will burn to supply.
Thus exercise works in reducing fat. The biggest muscle in our body is the thigh muscles. If with the abs exercise, thigh muscles are also engaged in work out, they need more fat to burn to supply the energy they need. Thus thigh exercises burn your fat more quickly than any other body parts’ exercise does. The exercise variations are also different for different people. But the fat loss formula will be the same for everyone.
While doing exercise, regularity is the most important thing to be considered. Generally what happens is that we start with great enthusiasm and continue for 1 to 2 weeks. But after that we lose interest as it is tedious and no quick fix is there. And once there is a one day gap, we keep on extending the gap to weeks and then to months and finally stop exercising.
Fitness experts suggest starting with a three days-a-week session and gradually increase it to a 5 days-a-week session. That way you feel a bit relaxed and get time to notice the changes occurred in your body by the previous workout session.
Next point to be considered is the consistency. Design your workout and as per your capacity. The types of exercise, number of repetition, hours, time of the day of doing exercise. In that way
There will be a lesser chance of missing the workout session.
Morning is the best time for exercising for everyone. We can keep some time for ourselves before starting the day.
Work out can not be cumulative, meaning you can not increase the hours and intensities to make up any gap. A 4 hours exercise a day can’t be the alternative for a half-an-hours workout for 8 days.
Also Read : Various causes and respective treatments to reduce hormonal belly fat
Diet
Proper nutrition or nutritious food is essential at the time of transforming a body. Go for a protein rich diet with complex carbohydrates and proper fat food should be taken. Junk or processed food, carbonated drinks, sugary food can not make your workout work
Some specific exercises are mentioned below.
- Side Plank
- Russian Twist
- Mountain Climb Twist
- Side Plank crunches
For thigh muscles
- Squats with all its variations
- Lunges
- Wall sit
The exercises should be performed with the guidance of experts. With expert advice and guidance we can reduce the accumulation of genetic or hormonal fat. Though we can not restrain the cause we can reverse the result.
