5 Reasons You’re Not Losing Belly Fat

Have you been exercising and eating healthily, yet you still can’t seem to lose that unwanted belly fat? This can be so frustrating! While you might believe that there’s not much more about your lifestyle that you can change, these belly fat loss tips could be the secret! Check out these five common issues that can lead to excess belly fat, and then change them! Implement these changes into your daily life and you’ll make your way to a flat belly before you know it!

1. You’re not doing the right kind of exercise.
A common misconception about losing belly fat is that you should be incorporating a high amount of cardio and ab exercises. The truth is that you can do 1000 crunches per day and you”ll still have unwanted belly fat! Add weight training activities to your workouts at least three days per week. Focus on full body routines that have you working all of your large muscle groups so that you can burn the most calories possible. Try some of these workouts to amp up your current exercise routine and watch your belly shrink!

2. Salt.
That bloated feeling after eating something salty isn’t just in your head. That puffy feeling comes from the excess salt in your diet causing water from your bloodstream to move towards your skin, making you look and feel bloated. Debloat for good by reducing the amount of sodium in your diet. Maybe you don’t shake the salt shaker over your meals, but you should still check your ingredient lists on the back of your food! 90% of Americans consume more than the recommended intake of salt daily, so keep an eye on it!

3.  Catch more Zzz’s.
The less sleep you get, the more weight you’re likely to gain. Isn’t that unfortunate? Too little sleep can cause an increase in a hormone that increases your appetite, so you’re eating even if your body doesn’t need it. Try to get at least 7.5 hours of sleep each night. Your body may need even more than that. On one weekend morning, don’t set an alarm and see how many hours you sleep until your body naturally wakes up. Now aim for that number during the week!

4. You are what you eat.
To put it simply, you need to burn more calories than you consume in order to lose belly fat. To lose one pound you need a deficit of 3500 calories. It’s safest to lost one to two pounds each week. The best way to do this? Clean eating. Abs are made in the kitchen!

5.  Going long periods without eating.
Are you a breakfast eater? A snacker? You will be now! Eating frequent, small meals throughout the day is one of the best ways to keep your metabolism revving and your body burning calories. Aim for three meals and two snacks every day. Check out our list of snacks to keep you fueled all day long!
 

Source: Skinny MS

The Truth About Belly Fat

Surprise: Everyone has some belly fat, even people who have flat abs.

That's normal. But too much belly fat can affect your health in a way that other fat doesn't.

Some of your fat is right under your skin. Other fat is deeper inside, around your heart, lungs, liver, and other organs.

It's that deeper fat -- called "visceral" fat -- that may be the bigger problem, even for thin people.

WebMD

Deep Belly Fat

You need some visceral fat. It provides cushioning around your organs.

But if you have too much of it, you may be more likely to get high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, dementia, and certain cancers, including breast cancer and colon cancer.

The fat doesn't just sit there. It's an active part of your body, making "lots of nasty substances," says Kristen Hairston, MD, assistant professor of endocrinology and metabolism at Wake Forest School of Medicine.

If you gain too much weight, your body starts to store your fat in unusual places. With increasing obesity, you have people whose regular areas to store fat are so full that the fat is deposited into the organs and around the heart, says Carol Shively, PhD, professor of pathology-comparative medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine.

How Much Belly Fat Do You Have?

The most precise way to determine how much visceral fat you have is to get a CT scan or MRI. But there's a much simpler, low-cost way to check.  Get a measuring tape, wrap it around your waist at your belly button, and check your girth. Do it while you're standing up, and make sure the tape measure is level.

For your health's sake, you want your waist size to be less than 35 inches if you're a woman and less than 40 inches if you're a man. Having a "pear shape" -- bigger hips and thighs -- is considered safer than an "apple shape," which describes a wider waistline.

“What we’re really pointing to with the apple versus pear,” Hairston says, "is that, if you have more abdominal fat, it’s probably an indicator that you have more visceral fat."

Thin People Have It, Too

Even if you're thin, you can still have too much visceral fat. How much you have is partly about your genes, and partly about your lifestyle, especially how active you are.  

Visceral fat likes inactivity. In one study, thin people who watched their diets but didn't exercise were  more likely to have too much visceral fat.

The key is to be active, no matter what size you are.

4 Steps for Beating Belly Fat

There are four keys to controlling belly fat: exercise, diet, sleep, and stress management.

1. Exercise:  

Vigorous exercise trims all your fat, including visceral fat.

Get at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise at least 5 days a week. Walking counts, as long as it's brisk enough that you work up a sweat and breathe harder, with your heart rate faster than usual.  

To get the same results in half the time, step up your pace and get vigorous exercise -- like jogging or walking. You'd need to do that for 20 minutes a day, 4 days a week.

Jog, if you're already fit, or walk briskly at an incline on a treadmill if you're not ready for jogging. Vigorous workouts on stationary bikes and elliptical or rowing machines are also effective, says Duke researcher Cris Slentz, PhD.

Moderate activity -- raising your heart rate for 30 minutes at least three times per week -- also helps. It slows down how much visceral fat you gain. But to torch visceral fat, your workouts may need to be stepped up.

“Rake leaves, walk, garden, go to Zumba, play soccer with your kids. It doesn’t have to be in the gym,” Hairston says. If you are not active now, it's a good idea to check with your health care provider before starting a new fitness program.

2. Diet:  

There is no magic diet for belly fat. But when you lose weight on any diet, belly fat usually goes first.

Getting enough fiber can help. Hairston’s research shows that people who eat 10 grams of soluble fiber per day -- without any other diet changes -- build up less visceral fat over time than others. That’s as simple as eating two small apples, a cup of green peas, or a half-cup of pinto beans.

“Even if you kept everything else the same but switched to a higher-fiber bread, you might be able to better maintain your weight over time,” Hairston says.

3. Sleep:  

Getting the right amount of shut-eye helps. In one study, people who got 6 to 7 hours of sleep per night gained less visceral fat over 5 years compared to those who slept 5 or fewer hours per night or 8 or more hours per night. Sleep may not have been the only thing that mattered -- but it was part of the picture.

4. Stress:  

Everyone has stress. How you handle it matters. The best things you can do include relaxing with friends and family, meditating, exercising to blow off steam, and getting counseling. That leaves you healthier and better prepared to make good choices for yourself.

“If you could only afford the time to do one of these things," Shively says, "exercise probably has the most immediate benefits, because it gets at both obesity and stress.”

Source: WebMD

Are You Ready To Be Belly Fat Free?

Image courtesy of marin at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Do you wish that you were belly fat free so that when you put on your swimsuit nobody would see the belly fat around your middle? Do you see a lumpy, bumpy silhouette when you put on a new dress? When you look in the mirror, do you see a spare tire hanging over your belt? If this sounds familiar, you may be thinking, "I need to lose my belly".

If you feel that you are ready to take actions to be belly fat free, you need to ask yourself a few questions. Why do you want to lose that excess stomach fat? Is it because you want to wear a new swimsuit this summer? Is it to make you look better in your clothes? Is it because of the potential risks to your health?

The First Steps To Losing Your Belly.
Your first steps are to collect as much information and details as possible so that you can make a plan. There are many places where you can find this information including books, weight loss centres and online. Once you have all the information that you can find, you need to decide what belly fat diet or exercise routine will be right for you. Set yourself some realistic objectives which include how much you would like to lose in inches or pounds, how you will do it and when you will achieve your goal.
Now it's time to put your plan into action. This is the hardest part of your journey to be belly fat free. You'll need to arrange your life so that you can begin losing weight right away. That means you may need to make sure you have specific foods in your house and specific foods out of your house. Arrange your schedule so you can get some regular exercise as well as enough sleep each night, and has a little stress in your life as possible.

Be Consistent.
After sticking to your new plan, you will find that you'll achieve your objectives. Now you have another important step to make. And that is maintaining your success. Your plan has be something that you can stick with if you want to be belly fat free in the future. If you return to your old habits, that stomach fat will find its way back to your midsection.

When you're ready to lose the fat around your stomach you need to take action. Once you've achieved your goals it's time to maintain them. You can have the body you've always wanted with these two simple steps.

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