I don't have a six pack...so?

Every Tom Dick and Harry wants to have a six pack these days. I mean its kind of become a craze lately. I see loads of people sweating on tread mills when I walk back home. I pity them. Why? What's wrong if one wants to sport a six pack? Nothing wrong if one wants to look skinny / slim / fit. But I don't see a point when people don't understand the importance of fat, body structure, metabolism but want to shed weight or want a six pack.

Now I have browsed through several articles to understand how fat gets built up, how it is used and when it becomes dangerous. I shall try and restrict my self to 2 paragraphs and will provide sources at the bottom so that readers who are interested can get more information.

If you're under the assumption that our ancestors used to work really hard and we aren't. Its a MYTH. In fact, we are working more than they did or at least the same. So, where is the problem? Early man used to hunt and food wasn't plenty back then. More so till the invention of pesticides. In the recent times, I had never heard about a famine in India or most countries except some nations in Africa. Countries like North Korea (1995-99) and Sudan (1998) had famines after 1990. (Amn't talking about poverty here. Am talking about availability of food and most parts of Africa is still under famine. Its an eye opener to read this wiki article  and this BBC article). We have abundant food available more than what our ancestors had. The intake is more than the expenditure. Over a period of time when energy (measured in calories) intake is more than expenditure, it gets deposited in the form of fat and further deposits can lead to obesity.

1 pound of fat stores a little more than 3500 calories. This is what helped early man to survive when there was no food. Nature has helped humans in storing fat at certain places in body. Thus helping in mating too. Fat helps you to keep yourself warm, acts like a cushion. Now there are two types of fat. Visceral and Subcutaneous. The former in excessive amounts is dangerous and is a risk to your life. So if you have more of Visceral fat burn it. But fat burns in an order too. The fat in the face gets burnt first, then arms and legs, thighs and hips then comes abdominal fat. So, its absolutely of no use if you just keep working only on abs.

Anyway am not suggesting any diet recommendations here. Point is having a small paunch is ok. As long as you're healthy don't feel bad that you don't have a six pack. Walk more often. Drink plenty of water. Reduce in take of alcohol and that will reduce the urge to binge junk food. Now you could also consider donating some money and help: Famine in East Africa How you can help

Sources:

http://www.caloriesperhour.com/tutorial_pound.php

http://www.howstuffworks.com/life/cellular-microscopic/fat-cell1.htm

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/30641.php

http://greatist.com/health/belly-fat-worst-kind/#

http://www.ieham.org/html/docs/Famine%20in%20the%20Twentieth%20Century%20Devereaux.pdf

http://www.mikementzer.com/bodyfat.html

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