The Most Efficient Ways to Get Rid of Belly Fat

What is the best way to get rid of belly fat?

Getting rid of belly fat can seem impossible at times. But don’t be concerned! We have a few pointers that will get you started in the right direction. According to some of the top experts, focusing on your goal and following these tips will help you lose weight. It’s definitely possible to rid your belly fat!

The definition of belly fat may seem self-evident—after all, it’s the fat that sits around your midsection, right? That’s not entirely true. While belly fat (also known as visceral fat) is found around the midsection, it extends deeper than the skin to cushion your intestines and other vital organs.

It differs from other types of fat because it is more metabolically active—it enters the bloodstream faster than the fat beneath your skin. Belly fat has a negative impact on blood cholesterol and sugar levels, as well as all metabolic diseases. As a result, belly fat raises the risk of metabolic diseases such as diabetes.

Belly fat can exist independently of overall body fat, which means that even if a person is not overweight, he or she may have a lot of excess fat around the waist. Here’s some exciting news! When most people lose weight, it usually comes off in the middle. Because the abdomen is just a temporary holding zone for fat, people tend to lose belly fat a little faster than other areas. (1)

What does belly fat do to your body?

Belly fat doesn’t just sit there; it can cause problems for almost every organ in your body by producing too many hormones and chemicals. Having too much visceral fat puts you at risk for a variety of other health problems, including heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and colorectal cancer.

How do you know if you have too much belly fat?

Measuring yourself at home is an easy way to see if you have too much belly fat. Wrap a measuring tape around your bare stomach, directly above the hip bone. It’s important that the tape is snug but not too tight. (3) Keep in mind that it’s normal to carry some weight around your midsection. For men, a normal waist circumference is less than 40 inches, and for women, it is less than 36 inches. If you want to slim it down, there are a few options. (2)

Getting rid of belly fat now can help you avoid a lot of health problems later on. Maintain your health by getting plenty of rest, exercising regularly, and eating a low-carbohydrate diet.

Why you should lift weights to lose belly fat

It’s impossible to spot-reduce. To put it another way, you can’t tell your body where it should lose weight. When it comes to losing belly fat, you might think of doing dozens of crunches or spending hours on the treadmill. While these exercises may help you burn calories, they aren’t the most efficient way to lose weight. In fact, you should head to the gym and pick up some dumbbells or a barbell. The concept of focusing on your midsection is a myth.

If you want to lose weight, especially around your midsection, keep in mind that you have no control over where your body loses fat. It’s up to your genetics to determine where you lose weight when you lose weight. So, in order to lose belly fat, you must reduce your overall body fat. (3)

Consider the five key aspects of any successful fat-loss program: increasing NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis), weightlifting three days a week, HIIT one to two days a week, getting enough sleep (seven to eight hours a night), and eating in a healthy calorie deficit. It’s not by chance that hours of cardio aren’t included on the list. (5)

Functional exercises that use the muscles of your entire core—abdominals, back, pelvic, and obliques—as well as other body parts, according to experts. Because these exercises use more muscles, you will burn more calories while doing them.

Planks are a popular functional exercise because they work all of your muscles, including your core, arm, leg, and buttocks. You can up the ante even more by adding movement to the plank, such as shoulder taps or leg lifts.

You may believe that barbell squats and deadlifts have no effect on your midsection, but you are mistaken. Lifting weights has been shown to improve body composition in a variety of ways. Weightlifting helps you gain muscle mass, which is one of the only proven ways to speed up your metabolism. This is due to the fact that muscle burns more calories at rest than fat, so having more muscle mass means having a higher resting metabolic rate. At rest, a higher resting metabolic rate means you’re burning more calories and, as a result, more fat. (4)

Cardio workouts, such as a daily run or a Spin class, are great for your heart, but they won’t do much for your waistline. You should combine weightlifting and cardiovascular exercise. Strength training boosts muscle mass, allowing your body to burn fat more efficiently.

Muscle burns more calories than fat, so having more muscle will help you burn more calories throughout the day. Experts suggest that you do 250 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise or 125 minutes of high-intensity exercise per week. (4)

Strength training, which builds muscle, is the way to go. When you gain muscle, you tend to lose fat and replace it with muscle.

Continue to challenge your muscles by lifting heavier weights to gain more fat-burning muscle. If you’ve been exercising regularly, gradually increase your weight by 10% for a few moves each workout. If you do eight exercises, for example, choose two and increase the weights on those two while keeping the others the same (if you’ve been using 10-pound weights, go up to 12). Choose two more exercises the following week and increase the weight for those. Carry on in this manner until you’ve increased the weight for each of the eight moves. Then begin again, increasing by 10% for two more exercises at a time. (7)

Ramp up your workouts

You must increase your workouts to lose stubborn belly fat. People who followed a high-intensity workout plan lost more belly fat than those who followed a low-intensity plan, according to experts. (8) They also discovered that low-intensity exercisers had no significant changes. You must exercise at maximum intensity because the ultimate goal is to burn more calories, which high intensity exercise accomplishes. High-intensity workouts imply that you push yourself to the limit for as long as you can. If this seems daunting, consider this: you will burn more calories in less time.

One of the most effective ways to lose belly fat is to exercise regularly.

One of the best things you can do to improve your chances of living a long, healthy life and avoiding disease is to exercise.

Eat all fats in moderation – even the healthy ones

The body does not react the same way to all fats. High saturated fat intake (meat and dairy) has been linked to increased visceral fat in studies. Monounsaturated fats, like olive oil and avocados, and specific types of polyunsaturated fats (mainly omega-3s, found in walnuts, sunflower seeds, and fatty fish like salmon) on the other hand, have anti-inflammatory properties in the body and, if consumed in appropriate amounts, may benefit your health. Just remember to eat them in moderation. (9)

Sugar and sugar-sweetened beverages should be avoided.

Sugar-added foods are bad for your health. Consuming a lot of these foods can lead to weight gain.

Sugar is known to cause fat to accumulate around the abdomen and liver. (11)

Half of sugar is glucose and half is fructose. When you consume a lot of added sugar, your liver becomes overburdened with fructose and must convert it to fat.

Some believe that this is the main cause of sugar’s negative health effects. It causes insulin resistance and other metabolic issues by increasing abdominal and liver fat.

In this regard, liquid sugar is even worse. Because the brain does not appear to register liquid calories in the same way that it does solid calories, drinking sugar-sweetened beverages causes you to consume more total calories. (10)

Reduce the amount of sugar in your diet and consider eliminating sugary drinks entirely. Sugar-sweetened beverages, sugary sodas, fruit juices, and various high-sugar sports drinks fall into this category.

Check the labels to ensure that the products you’re buying don’t contain refined sugars. Even foods marketed as “health foods” can have a lot of sugar in them.

Remember that none of this applies to whole fruit, which are extremely healthy and contain a lot of fiber, which helps to offset the negative effects of fructose.

Increase your protein intake

Eating a high-protein diet can help you lose weight by increasing your metabolism and decreasing your hunger. For weight loss, protein may be the most important macronutrient.

According to studies, it can help you eat up to 441 fewer calories per day by reducing cravings by 60%, increasing metabolism by 80–100 calories per day, and boosting metabolism by 80–100 calories per day. (12)

If you want to lose weight, adding protein to your diet may be the most effective change you can make.

Protein can not only help you lose weight, but it can also prevent you from gaining it back.

Protein may be especially helpful in reducing belly fat. People who ate more and better protein had significantly less abdominal fat, according to studies. Protein was also linked to a significantly lower risk of abdominal fat gain in women over the course of five years, according to the findings. (13)

Increase your protein intake by eating more whole eggs, fish, legumes, nuts, meat, and dairy products. For your diet, these are the best protein sources.

If you’re having trouble getting enough protein in your diet, a high-quality protein supplement, such as whey protein, is a healthy and convenient way to get more. Protein powder can be found in a variety of forms on the internet.

Eat fewer carbohydrates

It is very effective to lose weight by eating fewer carbohydrates.

Numerous studies back up this claim. When people reduce their carb intake, their appetite decreases and they lose weight. (14)

Low-carbohydrate diets can result in weight loss of 2–3 times that of low-fat diets.

This is true even when those in the low carb groups are given free reign to eat as much as they want while those in the low fat groups are restricted in their calorie intake.

Low-carb diets also cause rapid water weight loss, allowing people to see results quickly. Within 1–2 days, most people notice a difference on the scale.

Low carb eating specifically reduces fat in the abdomen and around the organs and liver, according to studies comparing low carb and low fat diets.

This means that some of the fat lost on a low-carbohydrate diet is unhealthy abdominal fat.

Simply avoiding refined carbohydrates like sugar, candy, and white bread should suffice, especially if you maintain a high protein intake.

Some people cut their carb intake to 50 grams per day if they want to lose weight quickly. This puts your body into ketosis, a state in which it begins to burn fat as its primary fuel source and your appetite decreases.

Aside from weight loss, low carb diets have a slew of other health advantages. They can, for example, significantly improve the health of type 2 diabetics. (15)

Consume foods that are high in fiber

There’s some evidence that eating more soluble dietary fiber can help you lose belly fat. This should result in significant improvements in metabolic health as well as a reduction in the risk of certain diseases. The majority of dietary fiber is indigestible plant matter.

Getting enough fiber in your diet can help you lose weight. The type of fiber, on the other hand, is critical.

The soluble and viscous fibers appear to have the most impact on your weight. Fibers bind water and create a thick gel that sits in your gut. (16)

This gel has the ability to significantly slow the passage of food through your digestive system. It can also cause nutrient digestion and absorption to be slowed. As a result, you’ll feel fuller for longer and have a smaller appetite. (17)

Eating a lot of plant foods, such as vegetables and fruit, is the best way to get more fiber. Legumes and some cereals, such as whole oats, are also good sources.

You could also take a fiber supplement, such as glucomannan. This is one of the most viscous dietary fibers, and research suggests that it can aid weight loss.(18)

Make an effort to destress

Whatever your source of stress is—your job, money issues, or your kids—having too much of it can make it more difficult to lose weight, especially around your middle. It’s not just because you crave high-fat, high-calorie foods when you’re stressed, though that does play a role. It’s also because of cortisol, a stress hormone that can increase the amount of fat your body clings to and enlarge fat cells. More visceral fat has been linked to higher cortisol levels. (19)

Because you need energy to fight or flee, stress is linked to weight gain. Cortisol is in charge of assisting you in obtaining the energy you require, primarily by raising your blood sugar levels.

This is accomplished by converting protein to sugar and then releasing glucose stored in your liver. Insulin is secreted when blood sugar levels are high in order to transport the sugar to the brain and working muscles.

The catch is that the muscles aren’t working because the stress isn’t physical, but emotional. Because you’re not moving, the extra sugar you just secreted (and probably replaced with carbs) is stored as fat. (19)

Sleep more

People who get 6-7 hours of sleep each night on a regular basis have lower levels of visceral fat. Make a healthy sleep schedule for yourself and follow it religiously. (2)

Cortisol levels rise when you don’t get enough sleep. This stress hormone tells your body to conserve energy so you can get through the day. (2)

What this means is that you’re more likely to store fat.

When your body doesn’t respond to insulin properly, it has a hard time processing fats from your bloodstream and stores them as fat.

So it’s not so much that sleeping helps you lose weight as it is that not sleeping enough slows down your metabolism and contributes to weight gain.

There are proven ways to reduce belly fat

Are you prepared to put in the effort required to lose belly fat? In order to lose belly fat, you must combine a low-calorie, high-fiber, low-carbohydrate, and low-sugar diet with and weight and HIIT training. You can overcome genetics and lose weight if you are willing to put in the effort.

Maintaining a healthy diet is also a good way to lose belly fat. Diets high in fiber and low in carbohydrates, such as fish, poultry, lean meats, eggs, healthy fats like avocado and olive oil, and a variety of colorful vegetables, cause visceral fat to subside.

Sources:

(1)https://www.health.com/weight-loss/11-reasons-why-youre-not-losing-belly-fat
(2)https://www.atkins.com/how-it-works/library/articles/what-is-belly-fat-discover-what-it-is-and-how-to-get-rid-of-it
(3)https://huf.us/q/2742988/how-do-you-know-if-you-have-belly-fat
(5)https://fattener.com/a-trainer-explains-why-weightlifting-is-the-most-important-type-of-exercise-for-losing-belly-fat/
(6)https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/news/20090227/weight-loss-may-take-250-minutes-of-exercise
(7)https://www.prevention.com/fitness/workouts/a20473941/common-workout-mistakes-that-prevent-weight-loss/
(8)https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19127177/
(9)https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5504448/
(10)https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/12-causes-of-belly-fat-gain#TOC_TITLE_HDR_2
(11)https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5619737/
(12)https://www.researchgate.net/post/What-is-the-ideal-method-to-reduce-abdominal-obesity
(13)https://sites.google.com/bikon.xyz/lose-weight-8q7
(14)https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1038/oby.2007.516
(15)https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0899-9007(14)00332-3
(16)https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/different-types-of-fiber#TOC_TITLE_HDR_5
(17)https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23885994/
(18)https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25701331/
(19)https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18609301/