Effective ways to lose belly fat

Effective ways to lose belly fat

 

 

Hello, Lovelies! Back to you, as I promised, with my insights on ways to lose belly fat.

It’s not an easy task, but it’s not impossible to melt your belly fat. There are no miracle recipes, but you have to focus on INTENSE EXERCISE and HEALTHY EATING! So the first step to losing belly fat is to lose weight. When you lose weight, you start to lose it in the abdominal area, as this fat breaks down faster than other fat.

Any exercise and a healthy diet will help you keep the weight off. When I say HEALTHY DIET, I mean a diet that keeps your insulin low and stimulates your primary fat-burning hormone called glucogan.

I successfully got rid of my belly fat when I realized the missing piece was understanding, observing my body, and developing a healthy diet that does not spike my insulin but increases my fat-burning hormones.

I’ll talk more about this later.

I have heard that hundreds of crunches, sit-ups, etc., will melt your belly fat. I am sorry to say this, but this is a myth. All ab exercises will strengthen your core muscles, but they will not eliminate your belly fat.

TO SUMMARIZE:

• Abdominal exercises alone won’t shed your belly fat. It takes more than that. It’s about developing your lifestyle using two essential tools: Healthy eating and exercise.
• A good rule of thumb is to stick to a diet that keeps insulin levels low and increases the fat-burning hormones glucogan.

 

Before you take any further steps to lose your belly fat, do a self-assessment that answers the questions below. It will help you find the culprit for your belly fat and change your lifestyle accordingly.

• Are you aware that you have a slow metabolism? You have tried everything possible to lose weight but have not succeeded. A slow metabolism could be hiding a thyroid problem, a hormonal imbalance due to menopause, or your fat-burning hormone GLUCOGAN is inactive. Hormones play a huge role in weight loss and, therefore, losing belly fat. If you are going through menopause, you should make an appointment with a holistic doctor who will offer you a natural treatment to balance your hormones. Belly fat can be the result of menopause.

 

•  Do you have a sedentary life? If your answer is yes, you have to build a workout habit that suits you.

 

 

• Are you stressed out? Managing your stress could help you lose your belly fat. It’s time to take control of your stress.

 

 

• When do you have your last meal? Your last meal should be no later than 7 pm or at least three hours before bedtime to lose weight and keep it off. Better to avoid fruits at dinner.

 

• How many meals and snacks do you eat each day? Try to stick to 3 meals a day and avoid or limit snacks in between. When snacking, refrain from unhealthy foods like crisps, cookies, cakes, and sugary foods. They drive up insulin levels and decrease fat-burning hormones that cause weight to skyrocket. A healthy snack is vegetables dipped in homemade hummus.

 

• Assess your hunger pangs. Are you snacking out of boredom or eating out of boredom? It is a form of emotional eating that could result from stress, anxiety, and lethargy. If you affirm this, get to the bottom of your feelings and put them to rest.

 

•  Are you drinking too much alcohol?

 

 

According to studies, occasional alcohol consumption does not affect your belly fat. So, if you can limit yourself to one glass of beer or wine a night, it’s not a problem. During the summertime, I drank a glass of beer almost every night. And I can say that this drinking habit adds extra fat to my belly. Once again, everyone is different, so watch your body and figure out how much alcohol is too much for you.

Once you have done your self-assessment, you can figure out what’s behind your belly fat and be ready for the next step. I’ll show you how to lose belly fat effectively.

 

 

• Give up refined sugar.

It’s the first and the essential step to shedding your belly fat.

You already know how bad refined sugar is for your health. Soda and soft drinks, cookies, cakes, pastries, pies, and ice cream are all loaded with sugar. However, pay attention to labels when you store because sugar is hidden in almost everything: ketchup, salad dressing, processed meats, breakfast cereals, cereal bars, flavored yogurts, juice, etc. Sugar is addictive and is to blame for your belly fat.

 

 

Bottom line: try to cut up refined sugar and foods with added sugar. Check the ingredient list on the package and notice that the word sugar is sometimes labeled differently. Sucrose, fructose, maltose, dextrose, invert sugar, molasses, and corn syrup are hidden sugars.

Coconut sugar or monk fruit are great natural alternatives to sugar, but remember everything in moderation.

 

• Avoid or reduce your intake of some processed foods.

 

 

I must say that not all processed foods are bad for your health. The unhealthy ones are the ones that contain a lot of sugar, preservatives, refined carbs, a lot of salts, saturated fats, and all sorts of artificial ingredients. These ingredients make the food taste better, but they’ve no nutritional value. Some examples of processed foods to avoid are fast food, snacks (chips, crackers, etc.), ready meals, processed meats such as sausage, smoked meats, salami, sausage rolls, granola bars, margarine, etc.

Pay attention to the ingredient list and nutrition labels. Stick to the saying, “Don’t buy anything that your grandmother wouldn’t buy at the supermarket.” It will help you choose a healthier version of processed foods like canned fish, frozen vegetables, low-sodium canned beans, etc. And it’ll help you melt your belly fat.

 

• Watch your fruit and fruit juice intake.

 

 

Although fruits provide some minerals and vitamins, they contain fructose, a form of sugar. And fructose can cause belly fat to accumulate. Your liver converts the fructose from fruits and fruit juices into fat deposits on your belly.

In the case of fruit juice, it is the same fructose that leads to excess belly fat. In addition, fruit juice is very high in terms of caloric intake. Moreover, it is easy to consume more than necessary, and it does not make us feel full.

Essential tips:

– Swap your fruit juices for whole fruits to reduce sugar consumption, leading to excess belly fat. Keep your intake moderate. Remember moderation in all things.

– Eat the fruit instead of dessert, but watch your portion. My nutritionist told me that an adequate amount of fruit is what we can hold in the palm of our hands.

– Eat your fruit in the morning as this will give you enough time to burn off what you have eaten.

– Avoid or limit your consumption of dried fruits that are very high in sugar

– Avoid fruits high in sugar like bananas. I know bananas are convenient, but they contain a lot of sugar. Try to stick to berries, apples, apricots, etc., although you can have ½ banana in your smoothie.

 

 

• Avoid refined carbohydrates

Choose nutrient-dense carbohydrates like quinoa. This wonderful grain contains many healthy nutrients and is low in sugar and carbohydrates.

Look for foods that are 100% whole grains to maximize fiber and nutrient contents. White flour products such as pasta, bread, cookies, etc., cause blood sugar levels to spike and drop, making you feel hungry again shortly after eating them. Replace white bread with whole-grain bread.

 

 

A good quality loaf of bread is not cheap. But if you crave bread, buy it of good quality. One piece of bread a day is enough. You can freeze the rest sliced to take out a slice when you need. Most bread in the supermarket is not very nutritious, has many calories, and makes you hungry. Reducing your bread eating will help with your belly fat loss.

 

• Add more vegetables to your plate.

 

 

Try to eat organic vegetables to avoid all the pesticides in veggies that can cause hormone imbalances that lead to weight gain. Choose the vegetables you like best. I’m not too fond of kale. So, I don’t have to have it on my plate just because it’s healthy. A sustainable eating pattern and physical activity plan are the secrets to the long run.

 

• Be physically active

Try to get some regular exercise into your daily routine. It will also improve the quality of your sleep and lower your stress levels. If you are not physically active, start with a walk and increase the pace until you eventually reach a brisk pace. If your health permits, do some intense exercises. It will help stimulate your primary fat-burning hormone.

 

• Keep your stress in check.

 

Don’t reach for food to relieve stress relief or reward yourself after a busy and stressful day. Sometimes I break this rule because I hear a voice saying: “you deserve a nice reward after the horrible day you had.” That’s fine when it happens by accident, but it shouldn’t become a habit.

 

• Improve your sleep quality

You’ve already heard that chronic lack of sleep can lead to weight gain, making weight loss more difficult. I need 5 hours of good sleep. Since everyone is different, I can’t say how many hours of quality sleep you need. Restful sleep is vital for weight management and overall health. A good night’s sleep helps with stress management.

 

• Stick to a diet that does not spike your insulin but stimulates your fat-burning hormones

 

 

I saved the cherry on top of this post for last. As I already said, the key to losing belly fat is to eat a diet that keeps your insulin levels low and stimulates your fat-burning hormones.

In a nutshell, insulin and glucogan are produced by the pancreas. Insulin is the primary fat-making hormone, while glucogan is the main fat-burning hormone. These two hormones are enemies in a way, but the result depends on our healthy diet and lifestyle.

How do you go about doing that?

 

Here are some tips on how you can achieve that.

 

• The first essential step is to give up sugar. If you strongly like sweets, you should first reduce the added sugar and gradually cut it down.
• Stay away from hidden sugars and unhealthy snacking such as crackers, chips, cookies, etc.
• Avoid snacking between meals if possible. Sticking to 3 meals a day without snacking will help you avoid insulin spikes.
• Add quality protein to your meals to stimulate the fat-burning hormones glucogan. Protein plays a vital role in producing glucagon.

 

 

• Create a workout program that suits you. If your health allows, choose Intense Exercise such as swimming laps, intense water aerobics, aerobics, kickboxing, tennis, running, etc. Focus on exercises that work all your muscles. I do 30 minutes of intense workouts every other day to give my body time to recover. It seems that glucogan, the primary fat-burning hormone, is triggered by intense exercises, too.

 

 

• Intermittent fasting:  Studies suggest that fasting increases glucogan. Fasting is about giving your body a break from processing food and not starving yourself. It is a natural and effective way to heal your body from the inside out. Our body uses this time to rest and repair. Our body is like a factory. When we eat food, very complex chemical processes occur in the body. I fast for  13 hours. My last meal is at 6 pm, and the next one is at 7 am. It is the easiest way to fast because I rest at night and  I don’t feel hungry.

 

Takeaways

• The key to fat loss is keeping insulin low and stimulating the primary fat-burning hormone, glucogan.
• Losing weight and belly fat is about developing healthy habits with your diet and lifestyle.

 

 

Looking in the mirror, I can say that it is possible to get in top shape at any age. You will be amazed at how changing a few habits at the beginning can lead to losing a few pounds.

With that in mind, I wish you the best of luck with your belly fat loss process.

I would love to hear from you, and let me know how you are doing by commenting below.

 

I wish you the best of luck,

Gabby

 

 

 

Disclaimer:

No content on this blog should ever be used to substitute for medical advice from your practitioner or other qualified doctors.