When did body contortions go from circus acts to weight loss tools?!
Made popular on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, the Belly Button Challenge has participants attempting to reach their arms around their backs and touch their belly buttons. Falling short means weight needs to be lost! Not only is this challenge flawed (think: short arms, inflexibility, etc), but it also detrimental to the understanding of true health where moderate fat is critical!
The critical fat is subcutaneous fat, or fat that you can see and pinch. In
APPROPRIATE AMOUNTS,
it is essential for life because it warms the body in situations of extreme cold. The not so good / dangerous fat is visceral fat. This type of fat hides deep within the torso and wraps around key organs like the heart and liver. Not only is visceral fat immeasurable in the Belly Button Challenge, but it is also deceiving in that "it is very possible to be thin and still have too much visceral fat!"
So rather than channeling an inner contortionist to determine a weight maintenance plan, try instituting strength training exercises into a workout routine and eating less processed foods! Both will work in decreasing the amount of visceral fat hidden deep behind the belly button.
((Photo Source: http://www.popsugar.com/fitness/Belly-Button-Challenge-37705563#photo-37705563))
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