4 Ways to Lose Belly

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4 Ways to Lose Belly
4 Ways to Lose Belly

Video: 4 Ways to Lose Belly

Video: 4 Ways to Lose Belly
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There are many dangerous and inefficient tricks on how to lose abdominal fat. While there is no "magic pill" that particularly targets abdominal fat, this article will explain what causes the waistline to expand and how you can make that spare love handle disappear.

Steps

Method 1 of 4: Speeding Up Your Metabolism

Lose Belly Fat Step 1
Lose Belly Fat Step 1

Step 1. Relax

Research indicates that the production of cortisol (a hormone your body produces during times of stress) is related to increased abdominal fat. Here are some strategies for combating daily stress:

  • Get enough sleep. Most adults need at least seven hours of regular sleep each night for adequate energy and disposition.
  • Take time to relax. Even if it's only 15 minutes into your lunch break, find time to just close your eyes, breathe deeply and forget about your worries.
  • Keep stressful things away from the room where you sleep. If possible, do not work or do anything stressful in the bedroom. This area should be reserved for rest/relaxation. Try to leave your problems behind as soon as you enter the room.
Lose Belly Fat Step 2
Lose Belly Fat Step 2

Step 2. Try to take 10,000 steps a day

In a study where men reduced their steps from about 10,000 to 1,500 (without changing their diets), their visceral (belly) fat grew 7% after just 2 weeks.

  • Try to walk whenever you need to go somewhere not too far away. Walk to work, school or the market when possible.
  • Get a pedometer and try to increase the number of daily steps you take.
  • Use the stairs instead of the elevator; walk instead of driving.
  • Get up and walk 30 steps every 30 minutes. If you have a sedentary job, consider purchasing a treadmill table.
Lose Belly Fat Step 3
Lose Belly Fat Step 3

Step 3. Swap refined grains for whole grains

In a scientific study, people who ate only whole grains (in addition to five servings of fruits and vegetables, three servings of low-fat dairy and two servings of lean meat, fish or chicken) lost more abdominal fat than the other group of people on the same diet but who ate refined grains.

  • Whole grains are rich in fiber, promoting satiety for longer. This way, you will be able to eat less and lose weight.
  • Avoid white beans. For example, eat wholegrain bread instead of over-refined common bread and prefer brown rice to white rice.
Lose Belly Fat Step 4
Lose Belly Fat Step 4

Step 4. Drink lots of water

Studies suggest that drinking water consistently throughout the day can lead to a much more active metabolism, no matter what the diet. Drinking more water also helps your body get rid of toxins and increases your overall health.

  • Try drinking a 240ml glass of water 8 times a day or 2 liters in total.
  • Take a bottle of water with you so you can drink whenever you feel thirsty.
  • Understand how to find out if you are sufficiently hydrated. You will know you are drinking enough water when your urine is almost transparent. If it's still yellow, keep drinking water.
  • Reduce your consumption of alcohol, sugary drinks (such as sweetened teas, soft drinks, punches, fruit juices and others) and carbonated drinks.
Lose Belly Fat Step 5
Lose Belly Fat Step 5

Step 5. Have breakfast

It may seem contradictory to eat if you're trying to lose weight, but studies show that drinking coffee within an hour of waking up keeps your insulin and LDL (the bad cholesterol) cholesterol levels lower.

  • Choose a protein: eggs, beans, peanut butter, nuts, lean meats.
  • Choose a fiber: oats, fresh fruits, vegetables.
  • Avoid refined sugar: stay away from processed cereals, pancakes, cakes and instant oatmeal.
  • Oats and other high-fiber carbohydrates help maintain healthy blood glucose levels, facilitating weight loss.

Method 2 of 4: Exercising to Lose Fat

Lose Belly Fat Step 6
Lose Belly Fat Step 6

Step 1. Exercise at small intervals

Research indicates that interval training, or alternating small energy loads with brief rest periods, can build muscle and build endurance more quickly than traditional exercise.

  • Run. Run as fast and far as you can for 20 seconds, then slow down until you catch your breath. Repeat for 10 minutes.
  • Use a treadmill or an exercise bike for interval training. Most modern exercise equipment can be set to an interval training mode, which significantly increases the difficulty of exercising for short periods of time.
  • Take brisk walks. Put some exercise into your workday and do 5 minutes of intensive walking. Take long strides and keep a brisk pace, or try walking up and down stairs.
Lose Belly Fat Step 7
Lose Belly Fat Step 7

Step 2. Do cardiovascular exercises

Aerobic exercise gets your heart pumping, burns calories faster and facilitates overall fat loss, including abdominal fat. You can't burn fat with "spot exercise," but it's usually the first fat you burn when you exercise, no matter what your body size or shape.

  • Time the race. Track your progress by timing how long it takes to run a kilometer. As your cardiovascular endurance increases, you will find that time will decrease.
  • Correct shin splints. If you get shin splints when you run, you're probably doing too much pronation (that is, putting most of your weight on the outside of your foot when stepping on the floor). There are shoes made especially to help alleviate this.
  • Do not exaggerate. When doing aerobic exercise for the first time, try exercising three times a week, then increase to four when you can. Trying too hard every day does not give your body enough time to recover and build muscle, which can lead to injury.
Lose Belly Fat Step 8
Lose Belly Fat Step 8

Step 3. Add resistance training

A 2006 study published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism suggests that combining cardiovascular (aerobic) exercise with resistance training is more effective than aerobic training alone in getting rid of abdominal fat. You can do resistance training with free weights, exercise machines or resistance ropes.

Lose Belly Fat Step 9
Lose Belly Fat Step 9

Step 4. Let go of your abs for now

Doing sit-ups will give you strong muscles, but you may not see them under the fat. In fact, doing sit-ups can make your belly look bigger as you build up your abdominal muscles. Try these exercises to focus on your core muscles instead:

  • Make the bridge. Stand in a position as if you were going to do push-ups. Rest your elbows and always keep your eyes on the floor. Contract your belly muscles, imagining they are touching your spine. As you do this, your lower body should be down and your back straight. Hold this position for as long as you feel comfortable. During this period, do not arch your back, but keep it as straight as possible. If it's difficult at first, let your knees form a resting platform. Try to hold this position for 30 seconds and repeat this exercise three to five times.
  • Do squats. Stand with your feet 8 inches apart. Extend your arms in front of your body and squat your hips back. Do four reps of 15 to 20 squats, working several minutes at a time.
  • Stretch the sides of the waist. Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Place your right hand on the right side of your hip and lift your left arm so your palm is facing to the right. Keeping your legs centered, lean to the right trying to bring your left arm to the right side over your head, stretching your left side. Do this three to five times on each side.

Method 3 of 4: Dieting to Lose Weight

Lose Belly Fat Step 10
Lose Belly Fat Step 10

Step 1. Reduce caloric intake

Unless you restrict your caloric intake, you won't lose abdominal fat. Try these tips:

  • Remember, it takes a deficit of 3700 calories to lose 450 grams of fat. That is, you either have to burn 3700 calories through exercise, or eat 3700 calories less than you burn in a week.
  • Try to lose no more than 900 grams per week. Losing more than that is unhealthy and leads to a vicious cycle, in which you quickly gain any weight you've lost.
  • Keep a food diary. Most people tend to underestimate how much they eat. Make an honest assessment of your eating habits by writing down everything you consume for a week. Use an online calorie calculator and find out roughly how many calories you consume per day. From there, see what you can cut.
  • Try a diet in which you consume 2200 calories (men) or 2000 calories (women) a day. This should cause enough deficit to allow you to lose 450-900 grams per week, depending on your activity level.
  • Do not consume more than 1200 calories a day.
Lose Belly Fat Step 11
Lose Belly Fat Step 11

Step 2. Eat good fats

Studies suggest that a diet with a higher proportion of monounsaturated fats - such as those found in avocados, nuts, seeds, soy beans and chocolate - can prevent the accumulation of abdominal fat.

Trans fats (in margarines, crackers, biscuits or anything made partially with hydrogenated oils) seem to result in more fat being deposited in your abdomen. Avoid this type of fat as much as possible

Lose Belly Fat Step 12
Lose Belly Fat Step 12

Step 3. Add more fiber to your diet.

Soluble fiber (like that found in apples, oats, and cherries) lowers insulin levels, which can speed up the process of burning visceral fat.

  • Slowly add fiber to your diet. If you're currently getting 10 grams of fiber a day, don't jump to 35 grams of fiber the next day. The natural bacteria in your digestive system need time to adjust to your new fiber intake.
  • Eat the peel of fruits and vegetables. Incorporating more fruits and vegetables into your diet will add fiber, but only if you also eat the rind, as this is where all the fiber resides. Do not peel apples before eating them.
  • With the potatoes, leave the skin (in boiled potatoes, or in the puree). If you want to peel them, make dishes with them. The potato skin also helps to retain more vitamins/minerals in the pulp (just do not eat any part of the skin that is green).
  • Have more pea soup. Peas are a concentrated source of fiber.

Method 4 of 4: Measuring Progress

Lose Belly Fat Step 13
Lose Belly Fat Step 13

Step 1. Calculate your waist-to-hip ratio

Waist-to-hip ratio - or your waist circumference divided by the circumference of your hips - can be a good indication if you need to lose belly.

  • Measure with a tape the thinnest part of your waist, at the level of your navel. Write down this measurement.
  • Measure with the tape the widest part of your hips, where you can feel a bulge, about 1/3 of the top of your pelvis. Make a note of the measurement.
  • Divide the waist measurement by the hip measurement.
  • Know what's healthy. Women must have a ratio of 0, 8 or less; men must have a ratio of 0, 9 or less.
Lose Belly Fat Step 14
Lose Belly Fat Step 14

Step 2. Continue taking measurements as you progress

After incorporating some of the strategies described above, continue taking your measurements to see your progress.

It's virtually impossible to control the way your body distributes fat. This distribution depends on several factors (genetics, menopause, etc.). What you can control is your body fat level - if you're low on fat, it doesn't matter where it's concentrated, there won't be enough to make a difference

Lose Belly Fat Step 15
Lose Belly Fat Step 15

Step 3. Weigh yourself at the same time each day

Since your body weight fluctuates depending on the time of day, when was the last time you ate, or when you last went to the bathroom, standardize the process by weighing yourself at the same time each day. Many people choose to do this first thing in the morning, before breakfast.

Tips

  • If you're craving sweets, swap the sweets for fruit. Fruit sugar is digested differently than the empty calories than refined sugar that are present in most sweets and processed foods. The fiber in fruits also helps to reduce the absorption of sugars.
  • Dine in smaller portions. You don't have to stop eating what you like, but try to eat smaller portions, bit by bit. Larger meals tend to hamper the fat loss process because people don't get very active after big dinners. This is the basis for "don't eat anything after a certain hour before bed" advice. The claim that your dinner is completely stored as fat is not entirely true. The process is more complicated than that, but the fact that you don't move around after dinner is enough to detract from your goal. Balance this with more lunch or a healthy after-dinner snack.
  • An easy way to burn more fat is to walk everywhere within a reasonable distance. You can save money on gasoline and also save your vehicle from wear and tear. You can also save on parking and/or taxi, bus or subway payment. All you need are comfortable shoes (take your best shoes with you if you have to) and walk, walk, walk. Speed up your pace as you get in shape to cut down on those short journeys and smile at the congested traffic. Cycling is also good, because you'll be exercising and getting to places faster.
  • If you don't have weights to use for resistance training, you can start by lifting anything heavy. Or, you can use gravity as resistance: do bars and pushups.
  • Having trouble getting motivated to exercise? Take the first step. If you want to go to the gym but feel uneasy, drive/walk there and say you'll go home if you don't want to exercise. You'll probably stick around when you arrive. Then say that you will only use the treadmill for 10 minutes, even if your exercise routine requires a lot more. Just saying you're going to do one more thing, without committing to anything else, will make things a lot easier. Before you know it, the endorphins will take over.
  • Force yourself to consume lean protein if you don't get a lot of sleep. Without adequate sleep, we tend to want to eat sugar and junk food. Prevent this by eating lean proteins (nuts, fish…).
  • Before eating, think about why you are eating. Is it because your body is really hungry? If not, don't eat.
  • Drinking plenty of water every day without exception will give your skin a glow too…
  • Walk at the same time every day and, if you can, run 1.5km a day.
  • Many women gain more weight on their bellies as they age, especially after menopause. The distribution of body fat changes: less fat for your arms, legs and hips and more fat for your midsection. Some people even see their waistline widening while their weight remains the same. However, the steps above will help you get rid of belly fat.
  • Avoid eating in restaurants that do not serve healthy food, such as fast food restaurants. If you can't help it, learn to eat better at these establishments.

Notices

  • Doing just sit-ups can actually cause the appearance of having more belly fat, as the abdominal muscles grow in size and shape, they will push the fat away, making it look bigger and thicker.
  • If you gained weight or were pregnant, you may have excess skin in the fatty area that won't go away no matter how much fat you lose. You will only know how much excess skin you have if you get rid of the fat first. It is also possible that your skin will tighten again after you lose belly fat.

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