The statistics for obesity are staggering:

8 out of 10 over 25 years of age are overweight

Diseases related to obesity:

Type II diabetes

Cardiovascular disease

Breast and colon cancer

Gall bladder surgery

High blood pressure

Childhood Obesity Statistics:

25% to 30% children overweight in 2001

One in four overweight children showing signs of type II diabetes

60% already have one risk factor for heart disease

Of children diagnosed with type II diabetes, 85% are obese

As you see from the above statistics, a vast majority of people have excess abdominal fat. Many people think of this excess abdominal fat as ugly and are self conscious about showing off their body. What we need to realize, is the seriousness of excess abdominal or belly fat. It is generally unhealthy to have excess body fat all over your body, it is particularly dangers to have excess abdominal fat.

There are two types of fat in the abdominal area:

1. Subcutaneous fat – lies directly under the skin on top of the

abdominal muscles.

2. Visceral fat – lies deeper beneath the abdominal muscles

surrounding your internal organs

There are serious health risks for both subcutaneous and visceral fat. Both greatly increase your risk for developing heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, sleep apnea, various forms of cancer and other degenerative diseases.

However, visceral fat is particularly dangerous because it releases more inflammatory molecules into your body on a consistent basis. In order to improve your quality of life for yourself and your loved ones, reducing abdominal fat should be a top priority.

Unfortunately there is no easy fix. The only solution to consistently lose abdominal fat and keep it off for good is to combine a sound strategy of nutritious diet full of unprocessed natural foods with a properly designed exercise program that stimulates the necessary hormonal and metabolic response within your body. Both what you eat and a training program are important if you are to get this right.

While you can lose weight on diet only approach, more weight can be lost when exercise is combined with good nutritional choices. When choosing food at the market stay away from prepared mixes and dinners and choose fresh fruits and vegetables. For some, a whole new way of eating will have to be developed. There are certain fat reducing foods and ways of cooking that will help accelerate your efforts toward losing the ugly abdominal fat.

Now the important thing to realize is that just any old exercise program will not necessarily do the trick. The majority of people that attempt getting into a good exercise routine are not working out effectively enough to really stimulate the loss of stubborn abdominal fat.

The only reason most people fail in their fitness goals is that they have good intentions at first to adopt a new lifestyle, yet after a few weeks or months, they abandon their good intentions and slip right back into their old bad habits that gave them the excess body fat in the first place. You are never too old or too young to start improving your life. Start now making changes that will make a better future for you.