Bella Adams
Do you finally want to lose belly fat effectively? Say goodbye to your belly fat – with abdominal exercises for more muscles, healthy sleep, and the right foods.
You should lose belly fat not only for visual reasons. Your health plays a bigger role when it comes to belly fat. Your health will be affected if too much fat accumulates in the middle of your body.
That means we’re not talking about a six-pack when it comes to belly fat loss programs. We’re talking about an abdominal girth that is unhealthy, where your abdominal muscles are almost non-existent, and that gets in the way of proper fat burning.
Your blood sugar levels and carbohydrates have a lot to do with that.
This is what causes too much fat storage in the abdomen
With the excess weight, a neat cushion around the middle of the body can develop, which is to a certain extent harmful to your health. Here, however, it is necessary to distinguish which fat storage is involved.
Subcutaneous fat is the classic belly fat, which can be annoying, but in moderation even has positive properties: it stores energy and keeps your body center warm.
Visceral fat, on the other hand, is located in the abdominal cavity and is deposited on the internal organs. This fat damages the human body when too much of it is accumulated. This abdominal fat causes unhealthy fatty acids to be released, pro-inflammatory substances, and a great many hormones. It also causes the feeling of satiety to be suspended.
This belly fat can cause inflammation and lead to diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia, and a host of others.
This is how belly fat develops
Dangerous belly fat doesn’t just develop in overweight people. Even slim people can carry too much visceral belly fat. It develops mainly because:
- unhealthy diet
- little exercise
- too many carbohydrates
- insufficient sleep
- too much stress
As you can see, an unhealthy lifestyle contributes to an increase in belly fat – whether you are slim or overweight. So the solution is simple: with a healthy lifestyle, you can lose belly fat and do something good for your health!
What can this look like? If you follow these 10 tips, you’ll be on the right track to effectively reduce your belly fat:
10 tips to lose belly fat
- measure abdominal circumference to determine belly fat
According to a study by Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, abdominal circumference is more important than BMI. And unlike waist fat, which at least still traps unhealthy fatty acids, belly fat is just plain unhealthy.
So before you declare war on your belly fat, it’s time to take your measurements. Stand up straight in the morning before breakfast. Place a tape measure around your body at the level of your belly button and read off the number. Be honest!
A waist circumference of 88 centimeters for women and 102 centimeters for men is considered dangerous to health.
But even if you are hopefully far from that, the unhealthy visceral fat can accumulate.
It wraps around the internal organs under the abdominal muscles, interferes with metabolism, drives up blood sugar levels, and can promote the development of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.
In men, a fat belly also puts pressure on erectile function. Loss of potency is imminent – and that’s no fun.
- take in enough magnesium
Our body needs magnesium – around 300 processes and chemical reactions in the human body do not run smoothly without it.
Magnesium regulates heartbeat and blood sugar levels, and it can also help with weight loss. Researchers found that more magnesium lowers fasting glucose and insulin levels. It also makes pounds fall off.
To get more magnesium, increase your intake of leafy green vegetables, nuts, and beans.
Dietary supplements may also be useful – ask your doctor if this applies to you.
- Strengthen your muscles with abdominal training
Every kilogram of muscle mass increases your basal metabolic rate by an average of 100 calories. So if you want to lose belly fat, you’d be well advised to do strength training. As your muscles grow, you burn more and more energy. Your body helps itself from the fat reserves – and that even in the resting state.
We show you the most effective abdominal exercises for beginners and advanced users in our abdominal training guide.
Important: Don’t limit yourself to abdominal exercises. Every kilo of muscle mass burns energy – so it makes much more sense to strengthen the muscles throughout the body. Because the six-pack is only a comparatively small muscle group.
- Burn off belly fat with HIT, HIIT, and Functional Training
Many weight loss enthusiasts rely on pure cardio workouts and kilometer-long jogging tours – the more sweaty, the better. At first, the increased calorie consumption causes the pounds to fall off, but soon the body adapts to our new habits.
Experts consider HIIT, High-Intensity Interval Training, to be the best way to work on body weight in the long term. The great thing about it: is lots of variety – because you can combine running, swimming, and cycling with various full-body workouts.
Swimming can also be HIT. Belly fat away with freestyle – a great alternative especially in summer.
- strong legs against belly fat
Maybe it might sound a little strange – but leg fitness has a lot to do with the belly.
Researchers at Tokushima University in Japan studied the connection between belly fat and leg muscles. They found that subjects with strong legs had a significantly lower percentage of abdominal fat than subjects with weak legs.
Study leader Michio Shimabukuro sees the reason in the fact that the muscle groups on the legs are particularly large and therefore consume significantly more energy.
Thus, thanks to strong legs, fat is already burned before it can turn into visceral abdominal fat.
- eat more proteins and healthy fats
A study by the University of Texas Health Science Center, along with the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, showed:
Those who paid more attention to a varied diet lost the least amount of belly fat. Conversely, this means that you should focus on the essentials of your diet:
Protein is your No. 1 food list from here on out. They boost your metabolism and keep you full longer.
This is mainly due to the fact that the body has to expend much more energy to break down proteins into amino acids. We already burn calories during our digestion. So almost a quarter of the food energy of proteins goes to waste without landing on our hips.
Furthermore, proteins are needed for muscle building, which in turn has a positive effect on fat burning. It’s best to choose a mix of plant-based (tofu, lentils, soy flakes, pumpkin seeds, etc.) and animal-based protein sources.
Did you know that your daily food intake should be 30 percent healthy fats?
So, don’t demonize fat in your diet. Reach for avocado, flax oil, almonds, walnuts, olive oil, flaxseed, and salmon, for example. Instead, avoid trans fats – the so-called bad fat. It is found in cookies, chips, potato chips, and crackers – in other words, in everything that has been baked or deep-fried for a very long time.
- ban soft drinks and light products and reduce body fat
Are you addicted to cola and lemonade? Even if you reach for a version without calories, it’s bad for your waistline. Sugar-free fizzy drinks are at least as harmful as the calorie bombs in the long run. That’s because of the sweeteners that replace sugar.
Our bodies won’t be fooled – they like to taste sweet, and they demand it. Those who consume light drinks often suffer all the more from ravenous appetites.
The result: rising BMI, higher body fat percentage, goodbye waistline. Get used to your vices and drink rather water and unsweetened teas and now and then a coffee.
- lose belly fat while you sleep
A study published in the ‘American Journal of Epidemiology’ came to a startling conclusion: women who regularly sleep five hours or even less are significantly more likely to suffer from weight gain and obesity.
Another study, which examined women with only four hours of sleep, found that they ate 300 calories more per day than test participants who slept more.
Lack of sleep stimulates the production of the hormone ghrelin, which stimulates appetite – preferentially for fatty foods.
Therefore, try to get the recommended eight to nine hours of sleep, which the body uses to regenerate and repair itself – slim while you sleep.
- stimulate metabolism and drink hot lemon water
After a night’s sleep, even if we wake up in between and drink a few sips of water, we are usually completely dehydrated.
That’s why it’s a good idea to drink a large glass of lukewarm lemon water right after waking up – it directly boosts fat metabolism, provides us with important vitamin C, and makes us just as awake as coffee.
- eat less salt
Have you ever noticed that you feel bloated after a particularly salty meal? Too much salt consumption draws water from the blood and stores it in the skin.
If you eat too much salt on a permanent basis, you will therefore look slightly puffy. 2.3 grams a day is enough.
Try to cook as much as possible yourself and avoid using ready-made products. Because they usually contain a lot of sodium.
Season with herbs rather than salt. You can discover a new variety of tastes and soon you won’t miss salt anymore.
