I used to work for my dad in his office, the very first “real” job I ever had, and his favorite joke was saying that I was getting the “secretary spread,” a delightfully insensitive term he used to poke fun at the stereotype of overweight office women with flat butts munching out of candy bowls all day. Little did I know, while his delivery was anything but tactful, his message was pretty dead on.

If you sit for more than 6 hours a day, (think about work, driving, watching TV, surfing the internet- are you sitting right now?) here are some disturbing facts: your risk of heart disease is increased by up to 64 percent. You’re also more at risk for certain types of cancer. If kept up long enough, you’re shaving years of quality time off your life. Sitting is literally killing you. Want one more scary fact? Most people sit for 15 hours a day.

Why is sitting so bad for you? Let us explore.

While the effects of sitting also depend on diet and other health factors, let’s assume you are a relatively healthy person of a healthy weight. You finally land your dream job, which unfortunately, has you parked at a desk for the full work day, minus an hour for lunch, and few bathroom and coffee breaks, for a total of 6 hours. Uh oh. There’s that number. And keep in mind, most people sit while eating lunch and, well, during bathroom breaks.

Immediately after sitting down, the electrical activity in your muscles slows and your calorie-burning rate drops to one calorie per minute- about a third of what it does while walking, setting you up for weight gain.

Within five days of working your fancy new desk job, your body increases plasma triglycerides, which are fatty molecules, your LDL cholesterol (the bad stuff), and your insulin resistance. This means your muscles aren’t taking in fat and your blood sugar levels skyrocket, putting you at further risk of weight gain and cholesterol issues.

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Today, The Dr. Oz Show is featuring a four-step guide to getting rid of butt fat. The “Butt-Blasting Plan” consists of a supplement, a low-fat diet, a seven-day workout and a brownie. How can eating dessert help you lose fat? Dr. Oz claims that his no-bake dessert “revs up your metabolism.” There’s no sugar in this brownie either, just raw cacao powder, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, milk, raisins and oats (see the full recipe at the end of this post).

For the rest of the diet, Dr. Oz recommends eating plenty of complex carbs and no more than 34 grams of fat. He explains that the butt is prone to storing fat, so it’s better to increase your carb intake when targeting this area. Dr. Oz adds that you should supplement this diet with 100 milligrams of kudzu root at breakfast. Kudzu is a climbing vine native to Japan and southeast China and is used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Of course, exercise is also key to the butt blasting plan. Dr. Oz lays out a seven-day workout schedule, which consists of a different exercise to work the booty for each day. The exercises are donkey kicks, twisting lunges, dead lifts, a squat-to-jump move, glute glides using a chair, leg lifts while lying on your back and a bridge pose. Each exercise will be done 10 or 15 times.

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Blame it on Kim Kardashian, although I would like to think people are actually realizing that a high, tight butt is the ultimate sign of a fit, healthy person, but butt enhancement surgeries have claimed the top spot as 2011′s top cosmetic procedure.

Big butts have long been praised by men as a sexy asset, while women have strived for tiny, tight rear ends for years. Now, it seems women are starting to get the message that big butts are in, and are willing to go under the knife to get one. There are two types of big rears, however: the dimply, flat and wide butt that comes with a sedentary lifestyle and high BMI and the round, pert rear that looks awesome in your favorite pair of yoga pants. While surgery may get you the latter by injecting fat into strategic areas, the only way to get a butt you can be proud of is to put in the work.

The glutes are terribly, horribly, outrageously overlooked in most people’s fitness routines. Many think that your butt is the shape it is meant to be, and you just have to deal with it. Not so. Your glutes are completely under your control, and if you want a firm, tight butt, with no crease below your buns and upper thigh, you gotta work for it, and cardio isn’t going to do jack to get any results.

By putting in just a little effort and focusing on the muscles that give you a more shapely backside, you will be shocked how quickly you see your butt lift and round out. While traditional squats and lunges will hit them a bit, really focus on the glutes with these easy to do exercises you can perform anywhere.

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A yoga butt as defined by the Urban Dictionary is “the ultimate external sign of a strong and powerful body.” Sounds great, but I am not convinced of the rest of the definition that a yoga butt is a status symbol, a result of years and years of practice and discipline, and only available to those who can afford extensive personal training and healthy eating.

I have seen the transformation in my students. A yoga butt is attainable for anyone. The following routine includes yoga poses that are responsible for this welcomed and celebrated phenomenon, so you too can display a strong and powerful body.

Warm Up

This can include anything from walking, running or simple calisthenics. Spend at least five minutes getting your blood flowing and your joints moving at ease.

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A great butt can stop traffic and even score you a few free drinks at the bar, but a person’s butt is also the window to their fitness. Chances are, if your glutes are in great shape, so is the rest of you. In addition to having a well rounded fitness routine, a tight and firm butt is also a great indicator that someone has a healthy and clean diet.

Most people think that the shape of their butt is the shape of their butt and there is nothing they can do about it. Some people are born without that crease under their tush, some are destined to always have it, some have cellulite, and some are smooth as a baby, right? Wrong.

Men tend to gain weight around their middles, and women tend to gain weight around their butt and hips. It’s just science. No one, however, is born with a high tight, bullet bouncing tush- it takes work. Therefore, you should work your glutes like they are a badge of honor.

Whether you want to get rid of your cellulite, wear boy short undies with confidence or add a little shape to your flat-as-a-pancake tush, we’ve got your plan to whip your butt into shape.

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