Q&A with Zaheer Kiani:

REPS Dubai Level 3 & licensed Fitness Trainer

Question: What is the best way to lose belly and back fat and what is the proper way of training/working out to target specific areas of the body?

A woman’s body fat level is higher than that of men’s and it is completely natural. The reason for this is that women’s body stores fat in legs & hips, whereas men mostly start gaining fat on their belly and around their waists. The ratio of women’s fat to men’s is as follows:

Women              Men

Body fat             Body fat

15% to 25%       10%to 18%

For both, ideally an exercise workout of 45 minutes 5 days a week will suffice, ensuring that fat is depleted. Resistance training

Resistance training helps with fat loss in a number of ways.  Weight training increases the calories you burn at rest for up to 40 hours after your workout.

Plus, the more muscle your body has, the more calories you burn each day.

There are several ways to target weight loss on the body:

• For hips: squats, lunges, HIIT training, step box jumps, running, bicycling, climbing stairs or even hiking.
• For the back: Flat pull down, dumbbell rows and bench presses.
• For Triceps: Cable push down and bench dips.
• For Shoulder and Chest: Best is to do pushups.
• For protruding belly: Planks or side planks.

Nutrition

Blasting fat has a lot to do with what you eat. Increase your Protein; increasing protein intake will increase your metabolism and help to maintain your muscle mass, all of which helps with fat-burning. In fact, your body burns more calories when you eat protein than when you digest either fats or carbs.

Also, eat plenty of soluble fiber an avoid food that contains trans-fats.

Additional to exercise and nutrition, an excess of fat can sometimes be the result of an upset lifestyle. Don’t drink alcohol & smoke and reduce your stress levels. Don’t eat sugary fast foods, cold drinks or artificial juices. And of course it should go without saying to increase the intake of fruit and vegetables and to always have an abundance of water, green tea and black coffee to eliminate the onset of fat.