Belly fat is the most problematic area of the body that both men and women tend to struggle with. The truth is even during a weight loss journey, the stomach fat is the last to go away. However, don’t feel sad about your “Jojo tank” because there are several ways to get rid of the excess fat around your midsection.
Being trimmed and having a slim waistline does not only make you look good and smart, but it also reduces your risk of having certain illnesses and diseases. The excess fat around the stomach is called visceral fat, and this type of fat is harmful because it wraps around your organs and pushes the organs. As the fat adds more, it adds pressure on the organs, your blood pressure also begins to rise which puts you at risk of stroke and high blood pressure.
I like to advise people to exercise but due to time constraints or just laziness or perhaps some other health conditions sometimes make exercising difficult and impossible.
There are however other things that can help you get trimmed and lose the excess stomach fat with ease.
How to start losing belly fat
- Eat healthily: eating healthily may sound relative to some people. Having excess food with a lot of variety on your plate at a time does not count as eating healthy. It is advised that you eat 2-3 meals per day and they must be a balanced diet, consisting of 50% carbs, 30% protein and 20% fat. Your body needs that proportion to get the RDI of vitamins, except if you are on a keto, Mediterranean or any other diet plan. Begin with 3 meals per day but aim for 2 meals per day as you journey to a trimmer you. The more calories you cut or burn, the more stomach fat you lose.
- Avoid snacking: contrary to what most people think; they say to eat small portions and snack all through the day help one to lose weight. The truth is, whenever you eat, especially sugary stuff, insulin is activated and high insulin levels prevent fats from being broken down into energy, and insulin is the hormone that works to decrease blood sugar levels by moving glucose out of the body to other areas where it’s needed for fuel, when it is not used as fuel it is stored as body fat. Insulin is responsible for the midsection weight and is therefore important to your flat belly goals.
- Drink a good amount of water: drinking water has super amazing benefits other than just satisfying your thirst. How does water help weight loss? Water increases your metabolism rate and acts as an appetite suppressant. If you drink a lot of water before a meal you’d realize that you can’t stomach a lot of food. So, water helps you eat less and stay fuller for longer. It also helps the digestion process and gets rid of wastes fast. Drink a minimum of 8 glasses of water per day to get this benefit, have some water in the morning, before meals and after and at different intervals during the day.
- Sleep for a good number of hours: in a recent article I wrote about the 5 benefits of sleeping more, while you sleep, your body burns fat and does a lot of repairs. Growth hormone is also triggered when you sleep and the hormone stimulates fat burning. Lack of sleep makes you tired and when you are tired you are likely going to eat a ton of food in an attempt to find an escape route or comfort from not being able to sleep. Get an extra hour of sleep, nap midday and anytime your body calls for sleep.
- Reduce your stress levels: cortisol is the body’s alarm system, it is the stress hormone and your body releases it when you are stressed. Cortisol prevents fat burning. So many things can stress you out but some of them can be avoided. Avoid people that stress you out, those friends and colleagues who consciously or unconsciously cause some form of stress, avoid the news if possible because once you turn on the tv these days, there’s something worrisome in the news. So as much as you can, reduce your stress levels so that you can burn that stubborn belly fat.
- Drink green tea: there have been controversies about teas for weight loss. Green tea is different from slim tea. Green tea contains an extract known as catechins, catechins are known to help reduce belly fat and boost metabolism. Also, know that this does not work in isolation, you cannot eat carelessly and expect green tea to perform a miracle on your stomach. I’d suggest you add a little exercise but if you can’t, make sure to control the portion of food you consume because that’s the only way green tea can be effective in your system.
- Avoid carbonated drinks: carbonated drinks are in fact the number one culprits of belly fat. Sodas and carbonated drinks contain About 20-25 grams of sugar, if you have a bottle daily for a week coupled with either overeating or just regular eating, imagine the quantity of sugar you would have consumed in a week. Sodas do not have any dietary content your body needs so it causes more harm than good. You cannot lose any belly fat if you constantly find solace in a bottle of soda. It’s normal for the body to crave sugar and sweet things, you can deceive your body into thinking it’s getting what it wants by replacing soda with a healthy fruit juice or smoothies. You get to satisfy your cravings and fuel your body with the necessary vitamins your body needs.
- Consciously tuck your tummy in and sit upright often: someone will ask, how is this different from wearing a waist trainer. Whilst a waist trainer may make your stomach look flat in the interim, it has adverse health effect that may damage your internal organs, and whatever weight or flatness you achieve with a waist trainer is not sustainable. Unlike when you tuck or suck in your stomach, this may look ineffective but trust me it works. Just like the stomach vacuum exercise, when you do it consistently the muscle around that region just remembers to stay tucked in. Also, learn to sit upright and avoid slouching, they both contribute to your flat belly goals.
- Take the stairs instead of the lift: a sedentary lifestyle is responsible for excess weight, both bad eating habit and moving seldom. Deliberate exercising may be stressful but walking is way easier and can achieve more than you know. If you are the type that drives from home to work and back and takes the lift, how about you take the stairs when next you go to a high-rise building, walk within the office and try as much as possible to avoid seating for long. Download a step counter app or buy a Fitbit so that you can see how much you have walked throughout the day and it also prompts you to get up when you sit for long. For starters, aim to walk 5000 steps per day, you can burn so many calories from walking alone and if combined with healthy eating, you will be amazed at the number of inches that you will lose around your waistline.
Takeaway
The journey to being fit or having a fat belly is rigorous whether you are exercising or just dieting, and you must be deliberate and intentional about it if not you would give up in no time. There’s no short cut to having a flat tummy, it can’t go away in 2 weeks or even a month depending on how big your “Jojo tank” is. Don’t fall for miracle and wonder products that tell you that you can have a flat stomach in 2 or 3 weeks. Any product that promises such will cause an adverse health effect. Have a short-term goal, enjoy and endure the process, just know that you are getting healthier in the process and will achieve your flat tummy goal in the long run.