The Complete Guide on How to Lose Belly Fat

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The Complete Guide on How to Lose Belly Fat

The Complete Guide on How to Lose Belly Fat
sarah baker

Written by

Sarah Baker

Nutritionist @Nutiro

Are you starting to feel uncomfortable in your clothes? Is your trouser not fastening easily now? Is it difficult to sit with ease? If that is the case, there is an immediate need for you to lose belly fat. The fact that you are reading this guide on how to lose belly fat means you are ready to take every step necessary.

 

Also Read: Ultimate Guide on How To Meal Plan

 

 

When it comes to the fat in your body, the worst of all is the belly fat. Also called visceral fat, it is one of the leading causes for the development of several serious diseases such as heart problems, type 2 diabetes and several other illnesses as well. A lot of health practitioners use BMI for measuring health risk but this can be misleading in cases where people have thin bodies and excess belly fat.

 

 

It takes a great deal of effort to reduce the fat reserves in this area but the effort you make is not only worth it but also downright necessary! Thankfully, there are a lot of different ways of losing belly fat and we are providing you with a comprehensive list of things that you can choose from.

 

 

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Cut Trans Fats

 

Trans fats are referred to a lot lately and you may have heard of them as well. But do you know that they are extremely bad for you? Trans fats are actually a type of unsaturated fats that can be found naturally in things like red meat and also dairy from sheep, goats and even cattle. However, naturally occurring trans fats are not that harmful as long as they are consumed in moderation.

 

However, industrially produced trans fats, like the ones present in chemically altered vegetable oils can have a seriously negative impact on health. As per research, it is also held responsible for increasing the risk of coronary heart disease.

 

 

Eat More Soluble Fibers

 

The positive effects of eating foods rich in fiber in order to lose belly fat is no secret and it is also a recommendation from this guide. However, you should also give more focus to water-soluble fiber which is not only good for digestion but also aids in weight loss. The solubility of this type of fiber allows it to create a gel which fills up your stomach and intestines. This, in turn, slows the speed at which food passes through your body. The ultimate result is that you stay full for a longer period of time and will automatically be prone to eating less.

 

The role of soluble fiber in losing belly fat is also quite evident. A study conducted with more than 1100 participants showed the results of increasing 10g of soluble fiber intake over 5 years. The results show that for every 10g increment, the person could reduce belly fat gain by 3.7%.

 

 

Also Read: 30 High-Fiber Foods You Should Be Eating

 

 

Focus on Proteins

 

When it comes to figuring out how to lose belly fat, almost every single person will tell you to go for a diet that is focused mainly on protein. Not only is it considered to be the best way to lose belly fat by many people, it is also actually important to get real results.

 

One of the main impacts of eating proteins is that it allows your body to feel full quickly, thereby decreasing your appetite. This is done through the anorectic hormone peptide called YY. The only responsibility of this hormone is to tell your brain that the body’s hunger has been satiated.

 

In addition to that, your metabolism is also increased when you consume more proteins and when you lose weight, your muscle mass stays unaffected.

 

You can find proteins in foods such as meat, fish, dairy, eggs, whey and even beans. White meat, like the one found in fish and chicken is the best source as it does not contain any harmful fats and is almost entirely made of protein.

 

 

Reduce Alcohol Consumption

 

We are well aware of the drawbacks that the consumption of alcohol can have on your body. While you may be focusing on the damage it does to your liver, do you know it is also a major cause of increasing belly fat? Multiple studies have been conducted on the effects of drinking alcohol on fat gain and they all show an increased risk of gain in belly fat.

 

When trying to burn belly fat, it is crucial that you reduce your alcohol consumption to a minimum. While it may be most beneficial if you stopped drinking completely, it is not exactly mandatory for losing belly fat. You can reduce belly fat even by simply limiting the amount of alcohol you consume.

 

 

Avoid Sugar Intensive Food

 

The most unsuspecting culprit in weight gain is sugar. You eat it in small portions and it still ends up accumulating into a huge quantity without you even realizing it. One of the main ingredients that sugar has is fructose, a type of reducing sugar with a very high impact on health. Fructose consumption has been linked directly with several major health problems such as heart disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes and growth of fat deposits on the liver. It is also a major culprit in the accumulation of fat in the abdominal area, something that you are trying to address directly.

 

However, while the use of things like refined sugar needs to be avoided, you should also reduce the amount of sugar you consume through natural sources like honey. Limiting the use of sugar alone has been found to have caused people to lose belly fat.

 

 

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Get Free from Stress

 

Recent researches have started highlighting the impact of stress on the amount of fat one accumulates around their belly. When you are under stress, your body produces a hormone called cortisol. This is also called stress hormone and its main function is to increase the person’s appetite.

 

You must have heard of the term “stress eating” and that is exactly what this hormone triggers. The food due you eat due to stress is often not part of your regular requirement for sustenance and is therefore mostly stored as fat in the abdominal area.

 

So one of the ways on how to lose belly fat fast is by engaging yourself in relaxing activities. Find things that you feel happy about doing, meditate often and even perform relaxation exercises to lose belly fat like yoga.

 

 

Resistance Training

 

Commonly referred to as strength training or lifting weights, resistance training is considered to be the best way to lose belly fat. Among all the different exercises to lose belly fat, this one has a lot of impacts and can result in a quick loss of fat from the belly. Studies showed that even for people with type 2 diabetes, prediabetes or those who had accumulation of fat deposits on liver, there was a benefit to be gained by engaging in resistance training.

 

Teenagers nowadays are increasingly at a risk from visceral fat and having a combination of aerobics and lifting weights helped them decrease their visceral fat reserves.

 

However, it is important to realize that resistance training does not have self-learned exercises to lose belly fat. It is important that you discuss with a professional trainer about how you can do strength training to burn belly fat.

 

 

Aerobic Training

 

We do not need to prove the effectiveness of aerobic exercises when it comes to reducing belly fat. Of all the different guides ever created for fat loss, every single one mentions the importance of aerobic exercises. There is no way for you to lose belly fat and keep it that way without doing some exercise.

 

The level of impact that aerobic training will have on your belly fat loss is directly related to your physique and the amount of exercise you do. There are many aerobic exercises to lose belly fat and you can make your own combinations depending on your preferences.

 

The most important part of this, however, is that you do it consistently and do not give up after a few days. Long term effort will definitely lead to long term results when you choose aerobic training for losing belly fat.

 

 

Also Read: A Comprehensive Collection of Best Exercises for Weight Loss

 

 

Sleep properly

 

The importance of sleep is paramount, whether you are talking about how to lose belly fat or any other aspect of health for that matter. Our bodies are constantly working like machines and to keep working at their optimum level, they need sleep. Just like a lack of lubrication or fuel would cause a machine to malfunction or stop, lack of sleep can cause some serious issues for human beings.

 

The relation between a lack of sleep and gain in abdominal fat has been studied and proven in many researches. The importance of having a full night’s sleep i.e. at least seven to eight hours is absolutely critical and cannot be ignored in any way.

 

Sleep apnea, a condition where the person stops breathing momentarily while sleeping at night is also caused due to deposits of visceral fats. If you are facing this problem then you should start exercises to lose belly fat and talk to a doctor immediately.

 

 

 

NO sugary drinks and fruit juices

 

One of the biggest culprits in gaining belly fat is the consumption of sugary drinks. Containing high quantities of fructose, sugary drinks are a major health risk and can lead to a lot of different health risks. As compared to foods with high sugar content, beverages are a lot worse as they are consumed in much bigger quantities. Our brain takes liquids to be carrying fewer calories and therefore a lot more calories get through without the body realizing. This excess sugar ends up getting stored as fat in the body.

 

Fruit juices, even though they sound innocent, can be just as harmful. While they may be sources of a lot of different minerals and vitamins, the sugar content in these drinks is just as high as a regular sugary beverage. If you were to consume 240ml of apple juice that is also unsweetened, you will still be consuming a massive 24g of sugar. Furthermore, half of that sugar is the same old culprit, fructose!

 

It is highly recommended that to lose belly fat you replace all your drinks with either water or other flavored low-calorie drinks like green tea, sugar-free iced tea or lime water etc.

 

 

Apple Cider Vinegar

 

If you want to know how to lose belly fat through particular foods, the one thing that has the most impact is apple cider vinegar. It is an incredibly powerful potion that provides relief from a range of different health issues. As far as losing belly fat is concerned, apple cider vinegar reduces fats stored in the abdomen at a surprisingly quick speed.

 

A study conducted on its effects showed that taking 1tbsp of apple cider vinegar for 12 weeks caused a reduction of 1.4 cm in the waist size of obese men!

 

Consuming up to 2tbsp of apple cider vinegar daily is completely fine and is quite effective if you want to burn belly fat. However, it is important that you do not consume it directly as it is a strong acid. Make sure you dilute it with water as consuming it directly can damage the enamel coating on the teeth.

Intermittent Fasting

Having gained popularity quite recently, intermittent fasting has shown a lot of promise in terms of its ability to help lose belly fat. This process involves staying hungry for a full 24-hour period at a time, a couple of times a week. This is one of the two ways however as the other type of fasting involves 16-hour fasts with a period of 8 hours to eat food. This one can be done more frequently as you gain your sustenance back a lot faster.

 

The results of fasting have been studied for a long time already and it is also observed as a religious practice in Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Religious or not, intermittent fasting has proven to be an effective belly fat burner tool.

 

 

▶ Take advantage of our Nutiro Ultimate Guide on How to Meal Plan that gives you the flexibility to enjoy other meal planning options such as keto, paleo, vegan, gluten-free, etc.

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sarah baker

About the author

We are here to support you on your journey to good eats with more healthy food options at your fingertips. Use our Nutiro customized meal plans and take the guesswork out of eating balanced meals for whatever meal options you prefer - Clean Eating, Keto, Paleo, Gluten-Free, Vegan - for any time throughout the day - breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Just like Sarah, we want to make YOU the hero of your own healthy eating lifestyle and help you make good choices with our Nutiro meal plan generator. Sign up and become your own hero in the Nutiro community!