In order to learn how to lose belly fat you must embrace some tough principles. We are not saying it’s easy, but they will surely get you astounding results.
Belly fat is perhaps the most stubborn area that needs trimming down. Not only do men and women not understand the importance of nutrition for this but also go about the process in a completely incorrect way. Worry not! In your pursuit to learn how to lose belly fat, there are two vital points you need to understand before I can tell you steps that will help you to lose that gut.
- Men and Women store fat differently. Women tend on an average to have at least 8 percentage points of fat higher than men purely because of genetics and that too predisposed on their tights. Fear not ladies, because the pear-shaped body is much better than the man’s beer gut due to dangers of obesity. Gents, if you are in the pursuit to lose the beer gut, then cut out alcohol. That will surely help you to understand how to lose belly fat faster and further understand that alcohol and muscle building or fat loss are two separate entities.
- There are many hidden determinants that do not help you to lose fat. Sugar for one, which we will discuss in greater detail, is one of them. Likewise are the amount of calories that you intake but perhaps the biggest reason why people fail to lose weight is unrealistic expectations. Set ambitious yet realistic goals. Set a target to high, and you’ll lose motivation because of unsatisfactory results; set under realistic results and you are bound to fail because of negligible progress. Below are some of the strategies to employ, to lose belly fat.
- Exercises will not help you lose belly fat, so you can kiss your 100 ab crunches a day routine goodbye! This is because all exercise i.e. resistance training does, is develop the muscles. So you’ll increase your belly by doing exercises. Unless you don’t reach a certain body fat percentage, keep the ab training exercises to a minimum.
Aim for a range of 0.5kg per week for sustained and effective reduction in belly fat
Protein is the most important macronutrient to help you lose weight and eventually your belly fat. Protein curbs hunger by more than 60% and thus helps you eat 440 calories less in a given day. You could then say that eating a higher amount of protein is a proven way to lose belly fat. Eating a higher protein content will pack on the muscle as well but this will eventually help you lose weight as well. This is a process called body re-composition. Increasing your muscle mass, decreases your fat because your body then tends towards holding more muscle mass and for that it will melt away your belly if needed to! One study in Denmark has shown that protein, especially animal protein, led to a risk of belly fat gain over several years. Opt for leaner cuts of protein like chicken breast, turkey and stay away from fatter cuts like pork and beef. Aim to get at least 1gm per pound of lean body mass for your daily protein needs.
Before saying anything else, let me tell you this is not mandatory. You can very well lose belly fat without cutting your carbohydrates. However while you are going to be severely depleted by a low fat diet and may even experience hormonal changes; a low-carb diet is one of the quick ways to burn belly fat fast. This sudden drop on the scale, is a result of the loss of water weight. Carbs that are high in sodium make you hold onto water weight and thus reducing them drastically will show dramatic results on the scale. Compared to low fat diets, low carb diets target the belly area and the fat around the organs and the liver. Though this may seem as a trick to help you lose belly fat, it is honestly helpful. Just remember to avoid the usual suspects like roti’s, white bread and pasta’s if you are wanting to reduce your carbohydrate intake.
I keep on reiterating this and for good reason. Guys start reading the nutritional labels and you will understand that the food and beverage industry is fooling you. Added sugars, not only are a prime contributor to fat gain around the belly area, but also the leading cause of the obesity problem. Even chilly sauce could have as much as 6gms of hidden sugars. What does Sugar do? Well unless you’ve been living under a rock, sugar is absorbed in limited quantities in our bodies. The rest is obviously stored as fat! In simple terms, if you want one of the most safe and effective ways to lose belly fat, then start limiting your sugar intake. No more than 3-4g per day and I guarantee you will see tremendous changes!
Yes, I told you not to exercise your abs. But remember that burning the fat around your belly requires intense aerobic exercise and weight training. Although a 1.5 hour session of intense weight training only burns around 300-500 calories, the body keeps on burning calories as you intake more food. That’s right. Your body actually burns calories as you intake calories making exercise the answer to your question of how to lose belly fat naturally. Do remember to also include cardio exercises as a part of your routine. I would recommend doing Low Intensity Steady State Cardio, for 30minutes after your weight training commences.
Counting calories is the fastest way to lose belly fat. Not only that, it is also the most effective. No matter how much exercise and clean food you intake, if your calories exceed that of your basal metabolic rate, you will never lose weight. It is quite literally the most simple law of thermodynamics. Calories in vs. Calories out. By eating less than the amount required for your bodies maintenance, you are creating a deficit of calories. This deficit means that the body now needs to get energy from another source. That source, as you may have guessed, is stored body fat. This is how you burn abdominal fat.
