What Is Stubborn Fat Anyway
While you may have fat all over different parts of your body, it isnt all the same.
As you lose weight, most people find that they tend to lose it from certain areas much more quickly than from others.
For guys, it tends to be hardest to lose lower stomach fat and lower back fat, whereas it is easier to lose fat from the arms, chest, and legs.
For women, the hardest areas tend to be around the hips, butt, and thighs.
Now, many people will try to reduce fat from these areas using targeted exercises.
So, in the case of lower stomach fat, this might involve doing lots of hanging leg raises or leg lifts.
Unfortunately, you arent going to reduce the fat in these areas by doing a whole bunch of targeted exercises
This is the myth of spot reduction, which is the mistaken idea that you can reduce fat from a specific area.
However, this simply isnt the case, as Ive
Instead, when your body loses fat, it does so in a certain order that you cant easily change.
This is because the fat in different areas of your body is actually physiologically different meaning that it is more difficult for your body to properly mobilize and burn fat from these stubborn areas.
Reduce Your Calorie Intake
Stomach side fat sometimes called love handles is subcutaneous fat, located just under the skin. However, the rounded sides of the abdomen may be partially caused by excess visceral fat pushing out against your abdominal wall. Visceral fat is the type of metabolically active fat that accumulates deep in your midsection, surrounding your organs and increasing your risk of disease. It’s impossible to lose weight from just one part of your body, so to lose stomach side fat, you’ll have to lower your body fat levels overall. That requires eating fewer calories than you burn.
Estimate your calorie needs either by consulting a nutrition professional or by using an online calculator. Then subtract 500 to 1,000 calories to get a calorie intake that will allow you to lose weight. If you cut 500 calories daily, you’ll lose 1 pound a week cut 1,000 and you’ll lose 2.
Just make sure your new calorie deficit doesn’t take your calorie intake too low: Men shouldn’t go below 1,500 calories daily, and women shouldn’t eat fewer than 1,200, according to Harvard Health Publishing. Anything less than that and you face a higher risk of nutrient deficiencies, and your body might go into “starvation mode” and lower your metabolism to hold on to fat.
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Change Your Lifestyle And Combine Different Methods
Just doing one of the items on this list wont have a big effect on its own.
If you want good results, you need to combine different methods that have been shown to be effective.
Interestingly, many of these methods are things generally associated with healthy eating and an overall healthy lifestyle.
Therefore, changing your lifestyle for the long term is the key to losing your belly fat and keeping it off.
When you have healthy habits and eat real food, fat loss tends to follow as a natural side effect.
SUMMARY
Losing weight and keeping it off is difficult unless you permanently change your dietary habits and lifestyle.
There are no magic solutions to losing belly fat.
Weight loss always requires some effort, commitment, and perseverance on your behalf.
Successfully adopting some or all of the strategies and lifestyle goals discussed in this article will definitely help you lose the extra pounds around your waist.
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How Much Body Fat Should You Have
The way in which women could and should lose belly fat is different to that of men. Women need somebelly fat to function fat cells store oestrogen, so having too little can cause your whole hormonal function to go out of whack, causing serious health issues such as irregular periods and even infertility.
To that end, striving to lose fat from your stomach with the aim of getting a six-pack, for most females, wouldn’t be healthy. Instead, aim to sit within the 21-30% body fat category. This is what’s considered a healthy body fat percentage range for women.
Think Eating Plan Not Diet
Ultimately, you need to pick a healthy eating plan you can stick to,Stewart says. The benefit of a low-carb approach is that it simply involveslearning better food choicesno calorie-counting is necessary. In general,a low-carb way of eating shifts your intake away from problem foodsthosehigh in carbs and sugar and without much fiber, like bread, bagels andsodasand toward high-fiber or high-protein choices, like vegetables, beansand healthy meats.
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Keep Your Stress Situation In Check
Stress, like that which happens as a result of sleep deprivation, might mess with your weight. Unchecked tension or anxiety can drive you to eat more, especially when it comes to high calorie comfort foods.
Research also shows that high levels of the stress hormone cortisol may encourage your body to store fat around your middle. Warne JP. . Shaping the stress response: Interplay of palatable food choices, glucocorticoids, insulin and abdominal obesity.
Your plan: Seek out stress management techniques that work for your lifestyle.
If you dont have an hour to meditate or do yoga, thats totally fine. There are plenty of short-term, effective strategies for feeling calmer, such as journaling, connecting with friends, or just watching a funny YouTube video.
Want To Lose Some Fat From Your Waistline And Build Better Abs Here’s How
You want a trimmer waistline. You want to lose a few pounds of belly fat in a relatively short period of time. Shoot, you’d even love a set of six-pack abs.
That’s great, because when you reduce your percentage of body fat , you reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, and if you do it the right way, you improve your overall health and fitness. So while losing some belly fat will help you look better, it will also make you healthier.
Can’t beat that.
Reducing your body fat percentage isn’t easy, though. If it was, everyone would look like this. But if you follow the right program, you can. Stick to the following plan and reducing your body fat percentage — and losing some pounds of belly fat — is almost assured.
But, first, let’s get a couple of things out of the way.
One, it’s impossible to “spot reduce.” While you can target certain areas of your body in terms of building up the muscles in that area, you can’t decide to just lose weight in your stomach, or your thighs, or your rear. It doesn’t work that way. You can’t remove subcutaneous body fat from specific areas of the body by doing exercises that target those areas. Doing hundreds of crunches will certainly strengthen your abs, but that won’t reduce the amount of fat stored in your torso.
Want to lose pounds of belly fat? You’ll have to lose pounds of weight. Some will come from your stomach. Some will come from the rest of your body.
1. Follow an intermittent fasting eating routine.
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How To Burn Side Stomach Fat
Carrying a few extra pounds on your midsection is common more than half of Americans have a waist size that’s larger than normal, according to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in Sept. 2014. That doesn’t mean you’re stuck with side stomach fat forever, though. Lowering your calorie intake, making a few diet tweaks and getting more active will help you burn that fat and get the physique you want.
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Tip
Burning excess side fat, AKA “love handles,” depends on your willingness to choose healthy, nutrient-rich foods and exercise enough so that your body has to burn stored fat as fuel.
Effective Tips To Lose Belly Fat
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Belly fat is more than a nuisance that makes your clothes feel tight.
Its seriously harmful.
One type of belly fat referred to as visceral fat is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other conditions .
Many health organizations use body mass index to classify weight and predict the risk of metabolic disease.
However, this is misleading, as people with excess belly fat are at an increased risk even if they look thin .
Though losing fat from this area can be difficult, there are several things you can do to reduce excess abdominal fat.
Here are 19 effective tips to lose belly fat, backed by scientific studies.
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Getting Rid Of Belly Fat With Exercise
You’re Drinking Too Much Alcohol
As a qualified nutritionist, this is one Clarissa sees all the time. “While having a glass of red wine has been shown to have some health benefits, it is widely known that consuming excess alcohol can impact your health and your waistline.”
Why? Well, when you consume alcohol, the liver burns alcohol instead of fat, which over a long period of time can lead to fat accumulation. “Additionally, alcohol can increase your appetite, potentially leading to an increased consumption of calories. Try to stay below the 14 units of alcohol per week that is recommended by the NHS and opt for a few nights alcohol free,” she recommends.
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Why Lower Stomach Fat Is So Hard To Get Rid Of
When it comes to losing fat, there are certain areas that can seem particularly tough to eradicate.
And for many men, one of the most challenging areas is their lower stomach fat. For women, the hardest areas tend to be around the hips, butt, and thighs. So, what causes these areas of fat to be so stubborn and hard to eradicate?
In this article, Im going to reveal why fat from certain areas of your body, like your lower stomach, hips, butt, and thighs, can seem tougher to lose than others, and some of the most effective tactics that you can use to lose it.
The Best Diet To Lose Belly Fat
You can’t out-exercise a bad diet. Fact. To lose belly fat , you need to be in a calorie deficit. This means consuming fewer calories than you’re expending through exercise and general living.
‘When it comes to knowing how to lose belly fat, the best way to start is to watch what you eat,’ Belalij says. ‘When you digest large amounts of calories, your body allocates some of these to functional systems which work to keep you alive ,’ says Belalij. ‘It also uses it to fill up energy stores. Any excess is then stored in fat cells around the body typically being those of the belly.’
But like we’ve said, learning how to get rid of belly fat shouldn’t come at the expense of your health, so you want to make sure you’re not cutting back too much. To calculate your ideal calorie deficit, check out our handy guide below. It’ll help you work out how many calories you need to eat a day to hit your goals, without going too far.
Worried about the price of healthy eating? Stock up on cheap healthy snacks. By having healthier food in the house you’re less likely to face-plant the sugary stuff when hunger strikes.
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You’re Expecting A Quick Fix
Dr Luke explains that it’s easy to become impatient and frustrated when you’re trying to lose weight and haven’t seen the results yet. “But be realistic,” he encourages. “You won’t see results overnight. Your brain’s wiring plays a huge part in resisting changes in lifestyle, and it takes time to establish new habits up to 12 weeks. Stick with it for at least eight weeks and you should notice a change.”
Emily agrees, further emphasising that progress takes time. Disappointed that your progress looks a little different to someone else’s? Remember, one of the biggest misconceptions when trying to lose lower stomach fat is that a flat stomach, or ab definition of any kind, looks the same on everyone.
“Major spoiler they don’t! Id try to avoid chasing the perfect set of abs and instead focus on striving towards a strong core whatever that looks and feels like for you. Remember, even if we all trained the same, we wouldnt all look the same,” she points out.
Why Belly Fat Is So Hard To Lose
Ask anybody who has stubborn fat and theyll tell you the belly fat is the worst. Belly fat is incredibly stubborn to lose and most people never end up losing it. The last of the abdominal fat will hang on for dear life despite your best efforts at dieting and exercising. And there are a few physiological reasons why its so hard to lose.
Your genetics play a big role in your ability to lose stubborn fat . Some people are genetically wired to store fat more easily and have a harder time burning it off . Ask any man with an apple-shaped body or a woman with a pear-shaped body just how hard it is to slim down these areas . And we all know those naturally skinny people who seem to be able to eat whatever they want and not gain any weight. But when you eat a slice of cake it goes right to your belly and love handles.
But just because your genetics have an impact on your stubborn fat it doesnt mean youre doomed forever. As long as youre willing to make some changes and push yourself harder you can lose this stubborn fat despite your genetics. Youre going to have to approach it with a different strategy. Doing the same diet and exercise plan isnt going to end up losing the last of the stubborn fat on your belly. Instead, youre going to have to approach it from multiple angles.
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Getting Rid Of Lower Stomach Fat
First, throw out the idea that you can spot treat areas of fat on your body. You can do thousands of reps of toning exercises to tighten your waistline and not see fat loss.
Exercises like cardio, yoga, and crunches may tone your muscles and strengthen your lower abs, but they wont erase fat deposits.
The only way to lose fat on your lower stomach is to lose fat overall. A calorie deficit helps with this.
How To Lose Belly Fat Fast
Right, by “fast”, we’re going to have to assume you are looking for answers to how to lose belly fat efficiently and safely. That’s the only way we know how to do things at WH and the only way we plan on doing things, too.
One way to make sure you’re as dialled into your belly fat loss journey as possible is to get more granular with your nutrition. Now, ifyou’re already familiar with counting calories, listen up this is how to fine-tune your fat loss efforts to focus on how to lose belly fat in particular. It’s known as learning how to count and calculate your macros.
“Counting macros” is a diet technique to make sure you’re eating the right amounts of each macronutrient protein, fat and carbohydrates. By tweaking the volume of each you can make your fat loss efforts more efficient.
How? Well, each macronutrient plays a different role in keeping our bodies ticking over. In broad strokes: protein helps to build and maintain muscle tissue, carbohydrates provide fast and slow-release energy and healthy fats support hormone function.
Tweaking the volumes you eat can help build muscle and lose body fat more efficiently, as well as allowing you to re-incorporate some of your favourite foods. Because you’re looking at what makes up what you eat, foods that are less nutrient-dense can be incorporated . All you’ll need to do is work out how that impacts the rest of your day.
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