As personal trainer I have chosen a profession where I serve people and give my best to make them reach their personal fitness goals and, overall, lifting the quality of their lifes. Over the years I coached many people with different body types, but the most common ones are the apple and the pear type.
Apple types are the people, which carry most of their overweight fat in their midsection. Often I’m looking at hopeful eyes, when the client asks me if they can really loose all this fat? YES you can!
It is easier to loose the fat around you belly as an apple type. It is much harder to loose fat around your hip (pear type) or, if you are a carrot type and have it all on your neck, shoulder, chest and arms.
But let’s go back to the apple type, where the body chemistry is dominated by higher levels of androgen, a typical male hormone. Your fat is stored deep in your body and not just around your belly, chest and back. Some clients say: Mel, look at this: and they squeeze the fat between their hands, and often there is not much of it, as the stomach is hard but round. Next question: Is this round stomach consisting of muscles?…I’m afraid that is not! The fat is stored around and also inside the body. Opposed to a pear type which stores extra fat directly under the skin, mostly around hips and thighs, the apple body type is in much more dangerous situation. The belly fat, we call it visceral fat, surrounds your internal organs as heart, liver, pancreas, kidneys and intestines, generating a plethora of serious health risks. Most common risks are: metabolic syndrome (high cholesterol, high blood pressure, high blood glucose) which mainly causes diabetes type 2, increased inflammations in the body, cardio vascular problems as stroke, heart disease, higher risk of cancer and a higher liability of stress.
Most of my clients come to me because of their body shape. Some of them are more keen to loose their overweight and shape it off than others but I always get attention and get them to focus on their targets, if I explain what risks are involved in excess of visceral fat. People will then loos most of this fat in the first month and definitely at their midsection. This is because visceral fat is the first thing to drop when you start to loose weight and gain muscle.
But of course fitness training is not everything. At least same important is the right diet to really have success. An apple type diet should include 50% of complex carbohydrates (e.g. whole grains, beans, veggies) as those have a more calming and stress- releasing effect on your body, 30% of high quality Protein, and 20% of healthy fat. Such a diet plus right exercise are the perfect matches to loose that dangerous ball in front of you. Supplements as Psyllium Husk, Fish Oil and a complex vitamin intake support your weight loss and lower the risk of the above explained issues. Try it out and have everyday a glass of water mixed with Psyllium Husk (25gr). You will feel the difference very soon.
Are you an apple type? Measure your belly 2cm above your navel. Then measure your hip around the widest part and divide your waist number by your hip number. If the result is higher than 0,8, you have an apple type body shape.
Another tip from me (the fitness maniac, remember?): work out daily and combine cardio and strength training. But have one day off where you can tread your body with a nice walk, yoga massage or a nice swim. Reflect, relax, restore and get rid of the health risk, unaesthetic shape and love your self.
