How to lose weight quickly from the abdomen, hips or thighs? Is it possible without exercise?

How to lose weight from the abdomen, hips or thighs and other parts of the body? How to get rid of fat? Is it possible with abdominal exercises or without exercise and without destructive reduction diets (and yo-yo effect)?

A sculpted belly down to the "bricks" is the dream of many people. Or at least to shed a few grams from the fat cushion around the waist.

The gained kilograms, no matter how it was, torment many people. What to do with it?

The answer is clear. You can not. Physiologically it is impossible.

However, one can find a bit of optimism. Why would you lose weight only from your stomach when you can lose weight from other parts of your body for the same effort?

Abdominal musculature in a nutshell

The abdomen is made up of several muscles. However, the one that gives it the right shape of a baker's bun is called the rectus abdominis muscle. Latin for musculus rectus abdominis.

Its function is to:

• bend the back
• change the inclination of the pelvis
• act as an accessory expiratory muscle
• to participate in the abdominal press

Its contraction can lift the upper body when we want to get from lying to sitting.

Everyone has it in the desired brick shape. However, whether it will also be visible depends on its size and the thickness of the fat layer that covers it.

Fat on the belly - how to get rid of it?Are abdominal exercises necessary?

In many cases, it would suffice to say, do the opposite of what caused the abdomen to be coated with fat.

It is a mistake if someone thinks that sit-ups will help. It is impossible to shed the fat layer with isolated exercises on only the part of the body we choose.

Fat is deposited all over the body, some more and some less, but it is deposited all over the body.

It is also a misconception that working out is a way to shed pounds and that everyone who goes to the gym actually loses weight. In this case, it depends on what kind of workout you choose. Of course, you can do it in the gym, but it doesn't even have to be necessary to lose belly fat. You can even do it without doing a single sit-up.

Of course, this is just to illustrate that you don't need to do sit-ups to shed fat from your belly. However, you do need to do sit-ups to bulk up your abdominal muscles.

You might also be interested in the article on overweight.

Why is this so?

In order to reduce the amount of body fat, it is necessary to perform muscle work. Muscles draw energy through biochemical processes just from fats, sugars and creatine phosphate. Oxygen also plays an important role in burning fat.

It's all nicely arranged.

In the human body, there are smooth muscles and striated muscles. Smooth muscles are not controlled by conscious will. They are found in the digestive tract, respiratory, excretory or reproductive systems, for example. They help in their proper functioning.

The striated (skeletal) muscles, on the other hand, are controlled by the human will. They form the human locomotor system, i.e. they ensure human movement.

The striated muscles

The striated musculature will interest us a little more. It consists of three types of muscle fibers.

Type Ia (the so-called slow red fibres) have a high myoglobin content. This is a protein found in skeletal and cardiac muscle that binds oxygen to itself. Thanks to this (see below), they also benefit from aerobic metabolism. They have a high oxidative capacity and slow fatigability. They are equipped to contract more slowly. They are mainly used for endurance loads of lower intensity. They get tired very little.

Type IIa (fast white fibres) are able to contract rapidly. They have a medium fatigability. They are used in moderate intensity loads. They use both aerobic and anaerobic energy replenishment.

Type IIb (so-called fast red fibres) have a low oxidative capacity. They contract quickly but fatigue rapidly. They are involved in high intensity exercise. In strength and speed performance. They use anaerobic energy metabolism.

The following table shows the characteristics of muscle fibres

Energy metabolism

The energy needs of a muscle as it works are dependent on an adequate supply of oxygen, i.e:

• blood supply to the muscle
• on cardiac output
• respiration

To understand all this, it is necessary to explain how striated muscles obtain energy. There are three types of energy metabolism.

How much energy do we take in from our diet:
Calorie tables: what are the nutritional/nutrient values of food and food?

Anaerobic alactate energy system

It is used by the body, specifically the striated muscles, during physical activities or exercises of an explosive nature. That is, when a large amount of energy needs to be released in a short period of time. During these exercises, fast-twitch type IIa and IIb muscle fibres are engaged.

The energy recovery here occurs in the absence of oxygen supply. It is therefore called anaerobic.

The source for energy recovery in the form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is creatine phosphate. Thus, energy is generated by the process of breaking down creatine phosphate. It is the most readily available source of energy for muscular work. However, it is quickly depleted, in about 10 to 15 seconds. Therefore, during intense exercise, the muscles fatigue quickly. It feels as if one can hardly make any movement. For example, during weight training exercises.

Anaerobic glycolytic energy system

The working muscles use it during high-intensity exercise. It also engages the muscle fibres of groups IIa and IIb.

Energy recovery occurs in the absence of oxygen. However, the source is sugars stored in the skeletal muscles and the liver. Energy is produced by anaerobic glycolysis, the breakdown of sugars. The energy thus obtained is used up in 30 seconds to 3 minutes of muscle work. For example, during medium-distance runs.

Aerobic energy system

This is the system we are most interested in in terms of weight loss, and therefore weight loss from the abdomen. The body uses it during low to medium intensity exercises lasting longer, from 30 minutes upwards. Thus, during various endurance exercises. For example, running over longer distances and so on.

The energy is generated by the aerobic burning of sugars and fats. This type of exercise engages the slow type Ia muscle fibres, which have a greater capillary supply and a greater amount of myoglobin, which carries oxygen. This in turn is an essential element in the burning of fats, which, together with sugars, are the source of energy in the use of this system. And the circle begins to close.

This can be explained with the example of running without a break.

We start running. For the first few seconds, the muscles burn up all the ATP (adenosine triphosphate). All the energy substrates, including fat, must be converted into ATP. Because the muscle cells can't digest anything else. When the ATP reserves run out, but we keep running, the muscles start to draw energy from glucose (sugars). These are stored as glycogen in the muscles and in the liver. If we keep running without stopping and at a moderate intensity, after about 20 to 25 minutes, the body switches to the aerobic energy system. Then it starts to draw energy by burning fat.

If the exercise is prolonged and the energy is not replenished by an external supply of sugars and fats, hypoglycaemia, i.e. a reduction in blood sugar, occurs. There are other risks associated with this.

The activation of different types of muscle fibres therefore depends on the intensity of muscle work.

Fast white muscle fibres are engaged at high intensity. They do not have time to burn fatty acids and use a more rapid, albeit short-term, energy recovery.

Slow muscle fibres are engaged at low intensity. Then weaker muscle contractions are sufficient. Since they have enough time, they use the aerobic energy system. Energy is restored in the presence of oxygen. Its source is fats and sugars. These muscle fibres are still able to contract after 1 hour of work with only slightly less intensity than at the beginning of physical activity.

Fat burning

It is linked to the intake of oxygen. Unlike burning sugars, fat burning is not possible without an oxygen supply. Therefore, it is important to know that if we want to burn fat effectively, longer and less intense activities are better.

These involve the slow-twitch muscle fibres of type Ia, which use the aerobic energy system already described.

This explains why some people fail to lose weight by exercising in the gym. If they only do strength training, aimed at increasing strength and muscle volume, fat tissue will hardly decrease. This is because fast muscle fibres are involved in such activities. This is when the anaerobic energy systems are used.

Also interesting is the article on how to lose fat.

How to shrink the belly?

So just doing sit-ups is not going to work. It is an activity that serves to strengthen the abdominal muscles. Different fibres are involved and therefore different energy systems than we would need. Fat is stored throughout the body and so it is also burned. It is also stored on the face, for example. How would we get rid of it from this body part if it were possible by doing sit-ups from the abdomen? It doesn't work like that.

When losing weight, and therefore losing weight from the belly, it is important to expend more energy than we take in. It is not so much what we eat, but how much. Of course, with regard to health, what we eat is also important.

So fat is burned when muscles work with oxygen. It serves as energy for the muscles during prolonged and moderate exercise. It engages the slow type Ia muscle fibres.

Hence, we should focus on endurance activities. For example, low-intensity running over longer distances. It must last at least 30 minutes, because fat starts to burn after about 20 minutes of such activity.

However, the desired effect is better achieved if more muscle groups are involved in the activity. Therefore, it is a good idea to combine endurance training with strength training. Different interval exercises can also be used for this purpose. For example, high-intensity interval training (HIIT). In this type of training, strengthening is combined with low-intensity activity.

You can also read the article on how to create your own training plan.