Stomach fat can be something that seems incredibly hard to shift, but there are some very simple things that you may be doing that you can cut out, or practices you can add to your routine, that make all the difference.
The fact that stomach fat has been linked to a number of different conditions such as blood-lipid disorders, insulin resistance, diabetes, developing cardiovascular disease, and stroke, just to name a few, means scientists have been looking into it more.
Increased weight to hip ratio equals increased chance of death, so here are some ideas to help you turn it around.
1. Eat Plenty of Soluble Fiber
Perhaps when you are looking at any kind of weight issue the most obvious place to look at is what you are putting into your body. You got to the point where you are at by doing something, and conversely, you can get where you want to go by doing something different.
Are you eating enough soluble fiber? You may think of fiber being a solution for one particular problem, but it actually impacts on way more than just your ability to have healthy bowel movements.
It helps you absorb vital nutrients as well, so you are going to get more benefits from the food that you are eating. It also feeds the good bacteria in your body and is going to improve your immune system, which also helps regulate your body weight.
It actually works by absorbing water and produces a gel that slows down the food that is passing through your digestive system. You are going to feel fuller and you are going to want to eat less. It may also cause a decrease in the amount of calories that your body is absorbing from food.
Increasing that fiber intake has been seen to be linked with a decrease of belly fat, and that was just with a 10 gram increase.
2. Do Aerobic Exercise
Get that diet rolling along, and then you are going to need to look at how much you are exercising. A lot of people spend a fair amount of time sedentary in their jobs, and are not getting their metabolism running at a high enough rate to burn those calories.
Aerobic exercise is better for getting rid of that belly fat than resistance training because it burns more calories. If you add resistance training in you can improve insulin resistance, liver fat, and other areas which will be of great benefit to you, but being overweight or being obese points to aerobic exercise as the solution.
It has not been established whether moderate or high intensity is going to be your best bet when it comes to getting the most out of this form of exercise, but starting to do anything is going to be better than nothing. You should make sure that you are taking it gradually if you are not used to exercising, and be careful not to overdo it, and work up to a level that is good for you.
A lot of it is about changing the lifestyle habits that created or added to the problem in the first place, and doing something that you are going to be able to sustain when you have reached your target, and are looking to maintain it, makes more sense than charging at it, hitting a wall, and then wanting to give up.
3. Don’t Drink Too Much Alcohol
Let’s be honest – even if you don’t drink, you may have been mistaken for having a beer belly, and it didn’t get that name for no reason. When you drink alcohol one of the places that the weight increase it can cause shows up is your belly.
Studies have been carried out that showed how alcohol consumption increased the chances of central obesity, or fat being stored around the waist.
If you drink daily, but lessen the amount you are drinking, you may even do better than those who don’t drink daily, but who drink a lot when they do indulge. So, if you like to go out for a drink, it’s not all bad news.
Alcohol is one of those things you consume that gives you calories but no nutritional value, and at 155 calories in a 12 ounce can of beer, tat can mount up. Even wine at 125 calories in a 5 ounce glass is adding a strain on the system, when you consider afternoon snacks should be hitting somewhere between 150 and 200 calories, and those snacks do have nutritional worth.
It’s full of sugar too, and that sugar turns to fat, and that fat finds its way to your abdomen.
4. Eat a High-Protein Diet
Have you ever heard of Peptide YY or PYY? It is a hormone that gets released when you increase your protein intake, and it is that thing which tells you when you are full, so you don’t feel hungry all the time, and end up eating more than you should. Overeating is obviously something that is going to increase your chances of developing belly fat.
Protein also increases your metabolic rate, so if you are exercising it is going to help you burn calories, and help reduce that belly. Another thing it makes sure isn’t happening when you lose weight it a loss of muscle mass.
You can easily add it into your diet by either eating food that is high in protein, or drinking protein shakes for specifically that purpose. The great news is that a lot of the protein options are plant based, so that means it is available for all types of diets.
So, you will be taking in less calories because you are less hungry, and you will be able to burn those existing calories more easily because of an increased metabolism, and it is easy to add to your diet. Protein is your friend.
5. Reduce Your Stress Levels
Stress can have an effect on your waistline in a number of ways. You may be more likely to reach for those comfort foods which have a high sugar content, and that is going to end up being carried as fat on your belly.
You may not be sleeping well because of that stress and there has been research that demonstrated that sleep can affect weight loss. It affects your ability to function, and you may lean on things like coffee and sugar to keep rolling through the day. It also impacts on your metabolism, and your metabolism is a regulator of weight.
Bad sleep also triggers a cortisol spike and cortisol tells your body to hang onto fuel for your waking hours, so more weight. Insulin sensitivity is disrupted and again your body can’t handle the fat in your bloodstream, so stores it as fat.
A study from Yale found that women who were stressed were more likely to have increased abdominal fat, or stress belly, which again is linked to a reaction to cortisol.
As well as telling the body to store that energy, cortisol also tells you that you are hungry, and women who already have a large waist have been found to produce more of it as a response to stress.
So, whatever you have to do, whether it be meditation or listening to relaxing music – find a way to drive those stress levels down.
6. Coolsculpting
If you are looking for a new technique for getting rid of fat cells and reducing that stomach fat coolsculpting is a great development that allows you to shed that fat.
Administered by a plastic surgeon, or someone who is a licensed practitioner, it works by applying a special tool to certain parts of your body and cooling them to freezing temperature. What happens is that this kills the fat cells in the areas that you are having treated.
Give it a few weeks of treatment, and those cells will break down naturally and your liver is going to flush them out.
It has been approved by the FDA as safe medical treatment, and has a lot of advantages over plastic surgery. It’s non-invasive, non-surgical and doesn’t require any recovery time. It has been found to be effective at reducing fat cells in those areas treated by 20 to 25%.
Bear in mind it is not going to be for you if you suffer from cryoglobulinemia, cold agglutinin disease, or paroxysmal cold hemoglobinuria, and if you have any other health concerns you should consult with a professional before doing it.
It is going to help with some amount of fat, but you are also going to want to think of using it as a tool alongside a healthy diet and exercise.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are some great solutions, and none of them are that hard to implement, and the benefits are going to be something that you don’t just feel in the immediate health changes you are going to experience, but the long term ramifications of being and feeling healthier.
It is always a good idea to get some advice from your doctor or a healthcare professional before you make any drastic changes to your lifestyle, but stomach fat really is something that can be handled.
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