Looking for Fat Loss Tips that actually work?
Here are belly fat loss tips to make the right choices about what you eat and drink. Learn how to exercise, handle stress and make lifestyle changes to get rid of stubborn belly fat.
Many people seeking fat loss tips feel that a few extra pounds of fat around the waist makes them look unattractive.
Clearly it isn’t very exciting to go around with a beer paunch or love handles. But being overweight isn’t just about appearances.
All researchers and doctors agree that excess belly fat is a much more serious problem.
That’s because extra fat around the middle is always associated with ‘visceral fat‘ inside your tummy, which is a major risk factor for
- diabetes,
- heart disease,
- dementia,
- even breast and colon cancers.
Belly fat can be estimated by using a tape to measure the circumference around your waist. Anything more than 40 inches in men (and 35 inches in women) is too high.
Unless you melt away this fat, all the exercising you do to acquire washboard abs is useless.
You’ll get a six-pack only after the weight comes off. And the secret to losing belly fat is obvious and logical.
It boils down to just 3 things:
- eat a clean, balanced diet
- workout regularly and get exercise
- rest, relax and avoid stress
Yes, it’s really that simple.
But for many people who are overweight and struggling to get rid of belly fat, it still remains a challenge.
If you’re one of them, here are 38 belly fat loss tips to help you lose weight.
You’ll find at least a few that you can use productively.
Fat Loss Tip 1 : Eat Right
Avoid Sugar and Sweetened Drinks
Sugar breaks down in the body to glucose and fructose.
Only the liver can digest fructose. When it becomes overloaded, the liver is forced to convert fructose into fat, which is then stored in the belly leading to insulin resistance and other metabolic problems.
Sugar-sweetened drinks are worse because you tend to drink more of them.
Say No To Sweeteners
It’s tempting to pick artificial sweeteners because they’re zero calorie, even though popular options like Splenda are over 300 times sweeter than sugar.
There’s a problem with this. You develop sweet cravings that lead to making bad food choices.
Eat More Protein
As you grow older, you produce more insulin because your muscle and fat responds poorly to it. This leads to more fat being deposited around your belly.
A high protein diet protects against insulin resistance, and also lowers food cravings by 60%. When good quality protein accounts for 25-30% of your calorie requirement, you’ll reduce belly fat.
Fish, eggs, seafood, nuts, legumes, meat and dairy products are excellent protein sources.
Reduce Carbs In Diet
Surprisingly, a low carb diet is even more effective at belly fat loss than a fat restricted one.
Reducing carbs decreases your appetite, lowers water weight, and specifically gets rid of belly fat. Even avoiding refined carbohydrates like white bread and pasta alone is enough to make a difference.
You Need More Fiber
Soluble, viscous fiber in your diet binds with water to form a thick gel that remains in your gut. It slows down digestion and absorption of food, creating a feeling of fullness and satiety.
In a study from 2011, increasing dietary soluble fiber by 10 grams/day lowered visceral fat by almost 4%.
Don’t Consume Food With Trans-Fats
These hydrogenated fats, found in margarine and spreads, have been linked to insulin resistance, heart disease and increases in belly fat.
Read food labels carefully to avoid items containing partially hydrogenated fats.
Stop Snacking
Don’t snack. Especially at bedtime. Eating something, even if its healthy, late at night throws your metabolism off.
Decide not to eat anything after dinner. Stay out of the kitchen and away from the fridge for at least two hours before you go to bed.
Go Green
Kale, lettuce, watercress, arugula and broccoli are low on calories but rich in vitamins and sulforaphane (a nutrient that acts on genes that turn stem cells into adipocytes).
These veggies will also leave you feeling full. Munch on them at lunch, or during a snack break. You’re less likely to eat anything more fattening or unhealthy.
Add a salad to every meal and watch belly fat melt away.
Use Coconut Oil for Cooking
Medium chain triglycerides found in coconut oil have special fat burning properties. They boost metabolism and reduce the storage of surplus calories as visceral fat, even causing belly fat loss.
In one research study, obese men took coconut oil every day for 3 months and lost, on average, 1.1 inches from their waistline – without making any changes to their diet or workout routines.
30 ml of coconut oil every day is optimal for belly fat loss.
Begin Your Day With Oatmeal
Oatmeal topped with some fruit is a magical combination that provides fiber and feeds healthy gut bacteria. This stimulates production of butyrate in your intestines which reduces whole body inflammation.
The fiber further increases blood levels of the appetite suppressing hormone called ghrelin.
Take Eggs Along With Breakfast
Eating more eggs makes you less egg-shaped!
Eggs are an excellent source of nutrition and are especially rich in choline, a nutrient that attacks the genetic mechanism regulating fat storage around the liver.
Choline is also found in seafood, lean meats and collard greens.
Make Up Protein Snacks
Another great tip for belly fat loss is to mix together protein-rich foods like seeds, nuts, dried fruit and dark chocolate with peanuts to prepare your own protein snacks.
Peanuts are an excellent source of resveratrol and genistein, which impair the action of genes that promote fat storage around the belly area.
Eat Dark Chocolate
Choose low-sugar brands and eat it in moderation. Dark chocolate has zinc which increases leptin, a hormone that controls your body’s energy production and distribution, as well as appetite and storage of fat in adipose tissue.
Gut bacteria ferment dark chocolate into anti-inflammatory products which inhibit genes that control insulin resistance.
Real Peanut Butter Is Good
Peanut butter really has only two things – peanuts, and some salt.
Genistein, a compound in peanuts, acts on the genes for obesity and down-regulates them so that your body won’t store belly fat.
The danger, though, is that many brands have ingredients like sugar and palm oil that cancel out the benefits of peanuts.
Include Fatty Fish In Your Diet
At least once a week, eat fatty fish. Omega-3 fatty acids in fish like salmon, herring, sardines and mackerel help lower visceral and belly fat.
Fish oil supplements are another option for fat loss, and will significantly lower liver and belly fat.
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Take Probiotics
Probiotics are gut bacteria that improve gut health and enhance immunity. Some forms like Lactobacillus even regulate body weight and help belly fat loss.
However most commercial probiotics brands have less healthy bacteria than their advertisements claim.
Intermittent Fasting Might Help
Fasting for 24 hours a couple of times in a week can encourage belly fat loss. Other less intense fasts that last 16 hours, allowing you to eat your food within an 8 hour period, also work.
Studies have found a 4-7% drop in belly fat within 6 months.
Fat Loss Tip 2 : Exercise Regularly
Exercise Vigorously
Brisk exercise for at least 30 minutes daily, 5 times in a week, is extremely effective at getting rid of belly fat and visceral fat.
A brisk walk or jogging is good, as long as you work up a sweat and your breathing and heart rate are faster than usual.
Exercise In Bursts
Interval training in intensive bursts has been recommended by experts as the best way to burn belly fat and flatten your abs.
Whatever exercise you prefer – squats, jogging, running, or box jumps – do it in short but intensive bursts for the highest impact. It burns a lot of calories in a short time frame.
Another benefit of high intensity interval training (HIIT) is that it boosts your metabolism for long after you finish working out and your body continues to burn fat for many more hours.
Do Aerobic Exercise
Abdominal exercises alone won’t help reduce belly fat. Other kinds of aerobic exercise, including walking, running and swimming, are more effective at reducing belly fat.
Aerobic exercise further sustains the weight loss and prevents belly fat from being re-gained later. It can also reduce blood sugar, prevent inflammation and improve overall metabolism that helps control central obesity.
Try Yoga
When they practiced yoga for 16 weeks, postmenopausal women reported significant loss in belly fat in a study carried out in 2012.
But if bending your body into yoga poses isn’t comfortable or even possible, try other simpler exercises. Even deep, quiet breathing can help lower stress hormone levels in the blood, which helps with belly fat loss.
Lift Weights
Lifting weights (resistance exercise) will help preserve and gain muscle mass. These muscles help your body process calories and burn off fat as fuel to meet energy needs.
The more muscle mass you develop, the more you can eat without gaining weight. A combination of resistance training and aerobic exercise is very effective at burning belly fat.
Don’t Stop Moving
Visceral fat loves a sedentary lifestyle. Aerobic exercise is its deadly enemy. That’s why running, bicycling, swimming or jogging can melt away belly fat effectively.
Even when you watch your diet carefully, if you don’t exercise at all, you’ll continue to have extra visceral fat. The key is to be active and never stop moving.
Take An Early Morning Walk
An interesting research discovery is that exposure to sunlight early in the morning lowered risk of weight gain, independent of calorie intake or physical activity levels.
It’s possibly because morning light synchronizes your metabolism better and inhibits fat genes.
Also, the exercise helps burn calories before you have eaten anything, so that all the energy comes from melting away fat stores.
Fat Loss Tip 3 : Plan Smart
Adopt A New Lifestyle
For the best belly fat loss results, you must combine different approaches and create a system that works for you.
This new lifestyle will be yours for the long term, so be sure it includes things you enjoy doing and being.
Eat Meals Every 3 Hours
Don’t try and skip lunch. It only compounds the problem, because you’ll be pushing your body into starvation mode by going without food for too long.
This forces internal changes due to which your body starts storing calories as fat, because it is stockpiling energy sources which may be scarce.
Experts recommend eating a meal or snack once in 3 hours. This keeps your body in calorie-burning mode all day long.
Keep Track
Watch what you eat. Record details meticulously in a food diary. This helps you measure exactly how much of each type of food you eat.
An online food tracker or weight loss calculator can help you track calorie counts. Exercise and activity levels can also be monitored with smartphone apps.
Record Your Workouts
Preparation and planning are an integral part of any successful fat loss campaign. Without clarity in thought and plan, your efforts at weight loss are doomed to fail.
You have to set a higher priority on activities that improve health. If you document workout details, you are 30% more likely to continue with them.
So write down workout times on a calendar or log book.
Pack Snacks
Have readymade snacks that are nutritious and filling. This helps avoid the temptation to reach out for unhealthier alternatives when you’re feeling peckish.
Be prepared for getting stuck in traffic jams, working late in the office, or other delays and distractions that interfere with keeping regular mealtimes.
Snack packs with granola and protein bars, nuts, dried fruits, turkey jerky and high protein foods are effective at losing belly fat.
Fat Loss Tip 4 : Drink Enough
Drink Plenty of Water
Water is important to regulate your metabolism and optimize fat burning.
Drink 8 glasses of water every day to help your body function more efficiently.
Alcohol In Moderation
Too much alcohol helps you gain belly fat. In a study of 2,000 people, the group that drank daily but limited itself to one drink only had less belly fat than the other which consumed more alcohol.
It helps to picture a bottle of wine as a stack of cookies. Both are converted in your body into fat stores. So consume in moderation.
Give Up Fruit Juice
Almost every packaged fruit juice brand contains extra sugar.
A serving of apple juice has 25 grams of sugar, of which half is fructose. The extra calories are often stored as belly fat. So drink water instead of fruit juice.
Unsweetened iced tea or sparkling water with a wedge of lemon are also good alternatives.
Apple Cider Vinegar Burns Fat
Among the impressive health benefits you’ll get from taking 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar are lower blood sugar and loss of belly fat.
In a study of obese men who took apple cider vinegar for 12 weeks, the average belly fat loss was half inch.
Drink Green Tea
Rich in the catechin EGCG, a potent fat burner, green tea is extremely effective in losing belly fat.
When drinking green tea is combined with aerobic exercise, the effect is even better. The recommended daily dose is 625 mg., which can be obtained from 2 cups of green tea.
Fat Loss Tip 5 : Avoid Stress
Reduce Your Stress Level
If you feel stressed or worked up, sit quietly with eyes closed and take long, deep breaths for a few minutes.
It will relax you instantly and lower blood levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which is responsible for building up belly fat.
Meditate Daily
Maybe the idea of sitting quietly for more than 5 minutes without any activity or engagement is unsettling. But there’s no denying the health benefits of such meditation on a regular basis.
Meditation will help boost your fat burning capacity and reduce stress levels remarkably fast.
Get Enough Sleep
There’s no dispute over the fact that 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night helps improve health, reduce stress and lowers belly fat.
In an extended study of almost 68,000 women, those who slept less than 5 hours were more prone to put on weight than others who got enough sleep.
Just as important as the duration of sleep is how deep and restful it is.
Don’t Sleep Late
Some people catch up on lost sleep by waking up late on holidays and weekends. Such chaotic sleep habits mess with your internal biological clock and results in the release of fat-storing hormones like cortisol.
In a study from Brigham Young University, women who were regular in sleep patterns, waking up and going to be at the same time, had lesser belly fat.
Fat Loss Tips : VIDEO
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