How To Get Rid Of Arm Flab
You suddenly discover “bat wings” or excess flesh hanging on the back of your upper arm and you wonder how on earth you’re going to get rid of it!
If it’s of any consolation, you are not alone.
Thankfully, you can take to get rid of the flabbiness, whether it is caused by rapid weight loss or weight gain.
In this article, we cover some great tips on how to get rid of arm flab. You will also discover a few lifestyle changes that can help you avoid the issue completely.
Let’s get started.
What is Arm Flab?
Arm flab is usually the result of extra body fat. Although it is common in older adults, it can also be seen in people who are overweight.
This excess skin hangs from the upper arm and looks more like bat wings.
Age-related arm flab happens because our metabolic rate decreases as we grow older. Unfortunately, not very many people live physically active lifestyles.
This means excess fat could begin to accumulate in the arms.
To make things worse, our muscle tone also diminishes with age. So, keeping the body firm and strong will require doing certain simple but effective exercises.
But excess fat isn’t the only reason for flabby arms.
Sudden weight loss can also create flabby skin on different parts of your body including the arms.
This is usually the case for people who follow extreme weight loss methods. It is not a good idea to lose weight too quickly.
Ideally, shedding 1 to 2 pounds per week is recommended. Going beyond that could create other health issues besides flabby arms.
Can You Avoid Getting Arm Flab?
The good news is that you can avoid getting flabby arms, to begin with. Arm flab is not automatic just because you are aging.
Here are some simple measures you can take to control or avoid arm flab.
Do More Cardio
Since cardio exercises elevate your heart rate, doing more of them can effectively burn off calories. This can increase overall fat burn in your body over time.
Cardio is very important in losing arm fat. About 20 to 40 minutes of cardio is recommended per day. If you can keep this up, you will end up doing approximately 150 to 300 minutes of cardio every week.
To meet your cardio goals, any combination of these simple exercises should do the trick:
Stay Hydrated
Drinking the recommended amounts of water daily increases the feeling of fullness and reduces the urge to consume too much food.
With time, drinking enough water can help control your weight and increase your metabolism, even if it is for the short term.
Cut Down Refined Carbs
If you’re like most people, you already know that refined carbs are very low in several important vitamins and minerals.
The problem is, most people still consume a surprisingly significant amount of refined carbs, even when they know better.
Refined carbohydrates have undergone processing, making them high in calories but low in fiber. This can trigger blood sugar levels and increase in hunger rate.
The result? You consume more food than your body really needs and end up storing the excess fat.
Eating refined foods such as white bread, breakfast cereals, pasta, and other pre-packaged ingredients are linked to accumulating body fat.
You can avoid this by consuming whole grains in moderation. Think more in the lines of buckwheat, quinoa, barley, oats, and sorghum.
These foods are can help you reduce overall body fat and lose weight safely in the process.
Incorporate Bodyweight Exercises
Even without going to the gym, doing bodyweight exercises at home is a very good way to increase muscle tone in your arms and keep them looking good.
For example, you can do calisthenics from home. Calisthenics refers to the type of exercises that you can do with minimal use of gym equipment.
Interestingly, these exercises can produce effective results and even increase upper body strength.
Bodyweight exercises are very convenient, budget-friendly, and can produce great results. Typically, you want to focus on using the body to form resistance while building up muscle mass and strength.
Some upper body exercises you can try to tone your arms include pushups, triceps dips, and planks.
Increase Protein Intake
Consider increasing your protein intake to keep your diet under control. This will decrease levels of ghrelin (the hormone that stimulates hunger) and make you feel full.
Eating protein foods will help you curb cravings and this, in turn, may help you reduce excess body fat and also support healthy weight management.
Try protein rich-foods like seafood, meat, legumes, poultry, eggs, and dairy products to help improve your body composition and also help you lose arm flab quickly.
How to Get Rid of Arm Flab
If you already have the unsightly and embarrassing excess skin dangling from your arms, it is important to understand that it doesn’t pose any danger to your overall health.
Instead, it is an indication that you may need to up your game because a sedentary lifestyle might be an underlying cause in your case.
It could also mean your weight loss attempt is rather too drastic, in which case, it is less likely to be sustainable.
Whatever the case, you probably prefer to get rid of the flabby skin if you are like most people. Thankfully, this can be accomplished by a change in lifestyle.
Here’s how to get rid of arm flab and stay in perfect shape with toned arms.
Do Regular Exercises
Spending a significant amount of your day without adequate physical activities will not help you to burn enough fat to keep your muscles toned.
This is why doing a handful of exercise routines as part of your daily activity can be a quick way to get rid of overall body fat, including flabby arms.
Thankfully, you don’t have to do too many strenuous workouts to fight off arm flab.
You can even do all the exercises you need from the comfort of your home without spending a fortune on gym memberships.
No doubt, exercises can help you eliminate flabby arms. But you will have to do them consistently to get results.
Also, you need to give your body enough time to recover after your workout routine.
You can’t simply spend the entire day in the gym every day of the week just to get rid of arm flab! That would be overkill and you’ll be inviting more serious health issues.
But can exercises target the fat in a specific area of your body, such as the excess fat in your upper arm? Unfortunately, no!
Instead, exercises are geared toward burning overall body fat. And come to think of it. Indeed, exercises are important for getting rid of flabby arms – that’s already been established.
But let’s get something straight. Focusing on exercises alone to get the job done is next to possible.
Here’s an example, you can’t go on consuming unhealthy refined carbs and junk in the hope that you can use some workout routines to burn off calories!
It doesn’t work that way. In other words, you will have to combine a good diet, weight loss exercises, and a healthy lifestyle to accomplish this.
There are exercises you can do to help you get rid of arm flab fast. Examples include:
- Pushups
- Weight lifting
- Scissors
- Bicep curls
- Triceps dips
- Side plank with dumbbell raises
Good Diet
Getting rid of excess fat in the body is the simple answer to eliminating bat wings.
In addition to using exercises, the type of food you predominantly eat is an important aspect to also factor in. For this reason, you will need to overhaul your diet and eating habits.
Generally, this will mean adding various fat-burning foods into your diet. You should also consider increasing your protein intake, as doing so can quickly get you to your arm flab toning destination.
To maximize the benefits of increasing your protein intake, make sure to consume protein-rich foods after workouts. You can go for a protein shake if you wish and add some veggies for maximum nutrients.
Also, whatever you do, remember to eat only when you are hungry, and not because there is food available or because you are eating on a schedule.
Conclusion
When flabby arms aren’t exactly something to be excessively worried about, they can begin to do some damage to your overall confidence, especially if a toned muscle is something you would prefer.
Thankfully, you can get rid of the bat wings and flaunt your perfectly shaped arms with a few lifestyle changes.
Keep in mind that these things take time and commitment. So, it is important to manage your expectations.
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