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.
There’s No Such Thing As A Perfect Physique
Firstly, I would like to stress that there is absolutely no such thing as a “perfect” shape. All bodies are perfect, and I urge you to try and shift your mindset away from idolizing a particular body type.
However, I realize this is easier said than done.
As a society, we place particular body shapes on a pedestal for brief periods of time before discarding it for something new.
Sure, largely thanks to the likes of Kim Kardashian, a tiny waist, large bottom, and big hips is the look of the moment. But not that long ago everyone wanted to look like Kate Moss and strived for the straight up and down skinny physique.
Trying to change your body to suit society’s standards is largely fruitless, and I’ve been there.
A post shared by Rachel Hosie May 7, 2020 at 11:01am PDT
The fact of the matter is that our body shape is largely down to genetics.;
I, for example, have resigned myself to the fact that I am never going to have an hourglass figure or Kardashian-esque curves. Instead of beating myself up and hating my body, I’ve learned to embrace my more athletic physique.
Changing how you think about your body doesn’t happen overnight, but if you start being kinder to yourself and focusing on what your body can do rather than how it looks, chances are you’ll start to love its appearance more as a result.
Eat Plenty Of Protein
The easiest change you can make to your diet to lose belly fat is to eat enough protein. There are several reasons for this. Increasing your protein intake increases satiety. In most cases, if youre not hungry, you wont eat. Therefore, increasing satiety can result in effortless weight loss.
Moreover, eating enough protein throughout the day ensures you maintain your metabolically active mass even when you eat at a calorie deficit. If you push your muscles to failure through resistance training, you can even build muscle while burning belly fat by eating enough protein. Bio-available protein sources include legumes, dairy products, game meat, eggs, and lean seafood.
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Meal Prep Your Vegan Weight
Meal prepping is generally budget-friendly. It also allows you to stick to your diet and save time during a hectic week.
Pre-cook your brown rice. Marinate your tofu.
Roast your vegetables. Make your own vegan salad dressing.
Store them in clean glass containers, and mix them when youre ready to eat.
Make sure your vegan weight-loss plan includes:
- Mineral rich foods
- A lot of vegetables and fruits
- Leafy greens
- B vitamins
Or, you can just always check in with the vegan food pyramid.
The lowest level in the hierarchy houses 3-4 servings of fruits and vegetables daily. Opt for different colors of vegetables; the green and leafy ones are good, even the starchy kinds.
The second level in the pyramid includes 5 or more servings of whole grains a day. Examples are quinoa, buckwheat, farro, brown rice, grain sprouts, and whole wheat pasta.
More leafy greens and legumes place at the third level. Have at least 2-3 servings per day.Examples are broccoli, cabbage, kale, spinach, peas, beans, and lentils.
And, the topmost level in the pyramid houses high-fat whole foods. Again, focus on the healthy sources of fats like avocados, coconut, nuts, and seeds.
Check out this video from Sunwarrior and get some tips from Jason Wrobel to help you adopt a healthy vegan lifestyle:
You cannot go wrong with plant-based nutrition when it comes to losing weight. You do need to make sure youre doing it right and are getting the proper amount of vitamins and minerals your body needs.
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Dab A Spot Of Vanilla On Your Wrists To Limit Sugar
In a study done by St George’s Hospital, volunteers who wore a vanilla-scented patch on the inside of their wrists reported reduced cravings for chocolate and other sweet foods compared to a control group. You can replicate the study with a little vanilla extract.
Taylor & Colledge vanilla bean extract, £7.05,
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Fuel Up According To Your Goals
If youre trying to lose body fat as part of your journey to get a flat stomach, then keeping an eye on all your macronutrients is a great way to make sure youre fuelling your body and goals to the best of your ability.
Simply speaking, counting and calculating your macros is the process of figuring out how much food your body needs every day to lose, maintain or gain weight. When tweaked to your goal it can be a balanced way to enjoy all foods without cutting anything out.
Gaining an understanding of your nutrition includes understanding your caloric intake vs. your energy output, says Corinne Naomi, FIIT program manager and trainer. Its also crucial to have an understanding of your macronutrient ratio getting a healthy balance of carbs, fats and protein is key.
To work out how much your body needs of each, use our wonderfully easy macro calculator below.
Psst. We’ve covered all your NTKs on how to lose body fat and how to get rid of belly fat, too.
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Stay Away From Alcohol
This might get a;BOOO! from the crowd, but its really important. Not only is alcohol full of empty calories, it also releases estrogen into the bloodstream which, in excess, can cause you to put on weight. If youre really serious about getting a flat belly for summer, keep your alcohol intake to a minimum.
Weight Training To Reduce Abdominal Fat
An even greater strategy for losing belly fat is to combine aerobic exercise with weight training. With weight training, you gain lean body weight, which makes your metabolism go up. This allows your body to burn more calories, even when you are at rest.
To get the most success, do body weight exercises that use multiple muscles at once. These help to raise the intensity of the exercise and allow you to burn more calories.
Examples of body weight exercises are: ;
- Squats
- Burpees
- Mountain climbers
You can also try the following exercises using a light set of dumbbells for a higher-intensity workout:
- Dumbbell deadlift
- Dumbbell single-arm row
- Dumbbell walking lunge
Tip: Speak to your doctor before starting any new aerobic or weight training routine, as the activity will challenge your heart. And remember to do your resistance training on alternate days to allow your muscle groups to recover between workouts.
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The Best Diet Plan To Lose Belly Fat
So are belly fat and its attendant health problems inescapable side effects of aging? The answer is a qualified no. It’s never too late to lose belly fat,” says;Jackie Keller, author of;Body After Baby. But there’s no easy fix.” However, while, sure there are some health risks associated with belly fat, there is a large problem with the way society is talking about belly fat in general, Natalie Rizzo, M.S., R.D. previously told Shape.
The best way to lose belly fat is and to shrink fat cells overall is to lose weight. But make no mistake: belly fat is not easy to get rid of. Start by figuring out your current daily calorie intake. Then cut that number by one quarter. Researchers from Columbia University found that simply reducing daily calories can shrink fat cells by up to 18 percent, particularly those in subcutaneous fat. Health bonus? Fat shrinkage also improves the body’s ability to use insulin, thereby guarding against diabetes.
Beyond counting calories, you can try the following strategies on how to lose belly fat and weight all at once.
Diet To Get Rid Of Excess Belly Fat
Consuming more calories than you burn can make you more likely to develop visceral fat. It sometimes accumulates around the abdomen.
Eating the right foods may help aid weight loss. Avoid or limit foods that are highly processed and high in refined sugars and bleached grains. Theyve been linked to blood sugar instability and inflammation in the digestive tract.
Instead, focus on adding healthy protein and fiber sources to your diet. Cruciferous veggies may help keep you full for longer and contain many nutrients. These include:
- broccoli
- kale
- cauliflower
Protein can boost your stamina and energy without adding a lot of calories to your daily calorie needs. Some protein sources include:
- hard-boiled eggs
- beans and legumes
- nuts and seeds
Avoid or limit artificially sweetened drinks, including energy drinks and diet sodas. Stick to anti-inflammatory beverages, such as unsweetened green tea and water.
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What Is Belly Fat
Essentially, abdominal fat takes two major forms: subcutaneous fat and visceral fat . Though the first kind of fat is easier to see, the latter kind poses the far greater health riskand as a result is more important in your overall quest to lose belly fat. Weirdly, this fat is not always evident. Even if you’re not overweight, you still could be packing a lot of visceral fat.
Hidden or not, visceral fat does a real number on your health because of where it sits in the body. With fat, it’s all about location, and each fat depot has a highly specialized function. We used to think all fat was created equal, that it was just a storage bin for excess calories,” says Elizabeth Ricanati, M.D., a consultant to the Wellness Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. But that’s not true.
Fat, like muscle, is now known to be metabolically active; it produces dozens of chemicals, including hormones that signal to the brain that someone is hungry or satisfied. Indeed, we now think of fat tissue depots as endocrine organs,” says diabetes researcher;Philipp Scherer, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Texas.
Dont Cut All The Fat Or Carbs
Your brain runs on carbs and is made of mostly fat. You need both for your metabolism to run well and your body to function properly.
Nuts, chia seeds, grains, nut butters, avocados, coconut oil, and starchy vegetables all have their place in your diet but should be used moderately. Toasted nuts, specifically, are a good source of vegan protein or plant-based protein, while the raw kind is rich in digestive enzymes.
You should still avoid the refined and processed carbs and fats though.
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Be Patient And Stick With It
Achieving a flat stomach takes time. Go in with a long-term outlook.;”Going for the immediately perfect result is unrealistic and, when you fail, you will likely quit,” says Quebbemann.;
Instead, commit to these lifestyle changes for a period of several weeks or months and enlist the support of a friend who can help hold you accountable.
Watch Your Stress Levels
There are so many factors to consider such as your cortisol levels and your sleep patterns, says Naomi. Everything you do exercising, socialising, working, living all contribute to how much stress your body is under.
Whether youre doing a burpee or the weekly call to your in-laws, your clever clogs body cant actually differentiate the stress. Ever wondered why when youre snowed under at work, youre exhausted by end of the day even though you havent got close to doing a workout? Well, thats why.
So, rather than push through because you feel like your body needs it managing your stress and switching up your routine could do you a world of favours, instead. Not least because too much cortisol can actually inhibit your bodys ability to burn fat and make your fat loss and toned tummy goals that bit harder to attain.
Sainsburys says “every little helps” and when it comes to offsetting and minimising stress, thats exactly the approach to go for.
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Using High Intensity Interval Training
Avoid Swallowing Air And Gases
The biggest source of gas in the diet is carbonated beverages such as soda.
The bubbles in it contain carbon dioxide, which is released from the liquid in your stomach. This may cause stomach distention or bloating.
This can also happen when you chew gum, drink through a straw or talk while eating.
Eating in silence, drinking from a glass and swapping carbonated drinks out for water may help you achieve a flatter stomach.
Bottom Line:
Carbonated drinks and gum may both cause stomach distention and bloating in some people.
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Avoid Eating After Dinner
Stop treating your kitchen like an all-night diner and you’ll stop seeing those unwanted pounds piling onto your frame, too. The results of a study published in Cell Metabolism found that mice who only had access to food during an eight-hour period stayed slim over the course of the study, while those who ate the same number of calories over a 16-hour period gained significantly more weight, particularly around their middle. When you’re finished with dinner at night, shut the fridge and don’t look back until morning your belly will thank you. When you do head back to the kitchen in the A.M., make sure;the best;healthy kitchen staples for cooking;are there waiting for you.
Eat This, Not That!