The Truth in Losing Belly Fat!

Ladies, regardless of our shapes and sizes, we all face the same issue of wanting to lose that belly fat. It is a dream to create a flat tummy and toned abs, and this is not limited to those who have a slim silhouette. Due to the busy lifestyle and advanced technologies, it is easy to have stubborn fats accumulating around our hips and belly. The long hours of sitting behind a desk and reduce in mobility is all part of the contributing factors.

There are many tips and myths on how to reduce belly fat by doing abdominal exercises for 5 or 10 minutes a day. In reality, do these abdominal exercises really help to lose belly fats?

The Truth…
By doing these abdominal exercises such as crunches, planking or leg lifts, it does not provide the result of a toned abs nor will it reduce your belly fat. What these exercises provides, is strengthening of your muscles but if you have a thick layer of belly fat under your skin, these abs will not surface and be seen no matter how many reps of crunches you do per day.

So What Should You Do?
What you do need to achieve is losing overall fat by doing cardio or moderate-high intensity workout to burn off the fats and core exercises at the end to create a toned body. The results will not be visible if you target to do only abdominal exercises without a holistic fitness plan and diet.

After all the sweat and tears, you do not want to go and eat a heavy meal and ruin the earlier efforts. Include food that increases your metabolism rate and help to burn off the fat even when you’re not exercising. Here are lists of foods that you should eat to help reduce belly fat:

Foods such as garlic, cucumber, tomato and apples are great at inducing metabolism which helps to burn overall fats. You need to take note that the calories intake should not be higher than the calories you burn off in order to lose those fats.

Increase in physical activity will definitely help in burning extra calories, slowly but surely, you should be able to see a difference in your body. For example, instead of taking a bus home, opt for that 15-20 minute walk back. Instead of taking the lift, opt for taking the stairs to burn off the fats.

Other than turning to these exercises to burn belly fat, there are other options that will help in the daily maintenance of reducing our belly fat.

One study showed that the amount and quality of protein consumed was inversely related to fat in the belly. That is, people who ate more and better protein had much less belly fat.

Protein has been shown to reduce cravings by 60%, and boost metabolism by 80-100 calories per day and help you eat up to 441 fewer calories per day! Not only will it help you lose these calories, it can also help you avoid rebound weight.

So make an effort to increase your intake of unprocessed eggs, fish, seafood, meats, poultry and dairy products. These are the best protein sources in the diet. Eat smart and get the maximized results with minimal effort.

Carb restriction is a very effective way to lose fat. When people cut carbs, their appetite goes down and they lose weight. Low-carb diets also lead to quick reductions in water weight, which gives people near instant results. There are also studies comparing low-carb and low-fat diets, showing that low-carb diets specifically target the fat in the belly, and around the organs and liver.

Just avoiding the refined carbs (white breads, pastas, etc) should be sufficient, especially if you keep your protein high. However, if you need to lose weight fast, then consider dropping your carbs down to 50 grams per day. This will put your body into ketosis, killing your appetite and making your body start burning primarily fats for fuel.

Cutting down on beer or other alcoholic beverages is an effective way to lose belly fat, as alcohol is basically pure concentrated sugar which will eventually be stored in the belly area. Alcohol also causes low blood sugar levels and dehydration, leading to an increase in appetite and binge eating at the end of a drinking session. Now you know why there is an increase in hunger pangs after a night of drinking!

Besides these, the liver also processes alcohol before other carbohydrates and protein, thus the presence of alcohol in the body slows down fat burning. For instance, studies have shown that your body’s ability to burn belly fat decreases up to 73% for a few hours after having a couple of drinks and drinking more than a couple of drinks can lower your fat burning ability for up to 4 days.

Sugar is half glucose, half fructose and fructose can only be metabolized by the liver in any significant amount. When you eat a lot of refined sugar, the liver gets flooded with fructose, and is forced to turn it all into fat. Numerous studies have shown that excess sugar, mostly due to the large amounts of fructose, can lead to increased accumulation of fat in the belly.

A can of coke gives you 140 calories, and that extra calories per day could make you gain 6.3kg more per year. In order to burn off the excess calories, you will need to walk at medium pace for at least 40 minutes. Do not reach for the coke if you are not ready to work for it.

So instead of thinking that abdominal exercise itself can help lose belly fats, you now know that those crunches or planking challenges will not provide the result you wish to achieve without losing overall and belly fats.

Once you have accomplished in losing the fats that harbours underneath your skin, the abdominal exercises should pay off and you will be able to achieve that toned abs that you desire.