Reasons For Upper Abdominal Weight Gain
1. You Are Eating Unhealthy Food
We all love to devour fried foods and delightful sweet treats, don’t we? From piping hot samosas, cheesy fries, butter popcorns and chicken patty burger to sugar-dipped jalebis, cheese cakes and chocolate-laden waffles, the list is never ending. Most of these foods have been termed ‘unhealthy’ because they don’t do any good to our body and have zero nutritional value, and end up adding calories in your body. Eating junk and processed foods regularly may reduce our metabolism and contribute to a larger waist size.
Eating junk and processed foods regularly may reduce our metabolism and contribute to a larger waist size.
2. You Are Doing Wrong Or No Work Out
If you think that cardio workouts alone can give you a fat tummy, then you are wrong. A daily run or yoga class are also important for a healthy heart and flat belly. A combination of weights and cardiovascular training could do the trick, in addition to specific exercises that target the upper belly. Strength training increases muscle mass, which further helps our body to burn more fat. Muscle burns more calories than fat, and therefore, we burn more calories throughout the day by having more muscle.
3. You Are Stressed
Stress causes the body to secrete cortisol that forces the liver to release excess sugar.
4. You Have An Erratic Sleep Cycle
5. You Are Getting Older
As we age, our body goes through numerous changes we experience a declining metabolic rate.
Foods To Reduce If Youre Trying To Lose Belly Fat
£29.99
Also Check: What Can I Use To Tighten My Stomach Skin
Want To Lose Your Belly Fat Quick And For Good You’ve Come To The Right Place Here’s The 4
I’m going to show you how to lose belly fat for good with a 4-week plan. A little background: research has found that there are 4 things that are key to losing fat and keeping it off. So, during each week, we’ll implement one of the 4 things – for a total of 4 weeks. Here’s what you can expect to learn:
- How to properly assess and monitor your fat loss progress
- Examples on food swaps to kickstart fat loss
- Exercises that’ll speed up the fat loss progress
- A bonus tip that’ll make all the difference
You May Like: What Helps An Upset Stomach After Drinking
Menopause And Upper Belly Fat
When women hit menopause or perimenopause, many gain weight and have fat gain too. Women gain belly fat after menopause because theyre not only getting older and their metabolism is slowing but also because of hormonal changes.
Upper belly weight gain is typical at perimenopause because women tend to eat poorly, exercise less, and start drinking alcohol in excess around this time of their lives. This causes a shift towards more abdominal fat storage instead of subcutaneous or visceral . They refer to this as the middle-age spread.
The best way for women over 45 years old who want to lose upper stomach weight and keep it off long term is by focusing on the right dieting strategy combined with cardio/weight training workout routines that build muscle mass faster than fat. A lower calorie intake and eating more fiber-rich foods help a lot. More lean body mass means youll burn calories day and night, thus your upper belly flab will better be burned off too.
Harvard Medical School found women in menopause who increased their protein intake and decreased carbohydrate consumption lost more upper ab fat than those who didnt. Women in menopause might want to try intermittent fasting to lose belly fat since the body starts burning glucose for energy instead of its stored fat. This will hlep you to build up the lean muscle mass faster with less time spent exercising by using this approach.
The Last Word
What Foods Help You Lose Belly Fat
In order to lose overall body fat, you’ll need to be in a caloric deficit, which means you burn more calories than you consume.
“It is important to reduce the consumption of foods high in trans fat, refined carbs, and highly processed foods with added sugars,” says Lapaix. However, avoiding food groups to burn belly fat is only a temporary solution caused by a caloric deficit, and the real key to keeping belly fat off in the long run is to create an individualized balanced diet that you can maintain long-term, she says.
You May Like: Where Does Your Stomach Hurt When You Have Appendicitis
Cut Your Sugar Intake And Increase The Amount Of Fiber You Eat
As you may have guessed based on the tip above, cutting sugar helps flatten your belly. In a review of 68 clinical trials and studies, New Zealand researchers reported in the British Medical Journal that increasing sugar intake meant increasing body weight while reducing sugar meant reducing body weight. Similarly, increasing fiber is another way to keep your belly lean. In a study of 1,114 people over five years, researchers reported that for every 10 grams of soluble fiber people ate, their belly fat accumulation was reduced by nearly 4 percenteven if they did nothing else to lose weight. Eat more soluble fiber with these overnight oats recipes.
Break Out Your Yoga Mat
Practicing yoga gives you more than just an excuse to wear stretchy pants all day â it’s also a great way for older individuals to shed that belly for good. Yoga is a great, low-impact exercise that’s easy on the joints, builds lean muscle mass, and can burn upwards of 300 calories an hour, even in a gentle practice. Research conducted at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in Bangalore even found that practicing yoga can help lower cortisol levels, limiting the risk of belly fat storage and reducing stress, too.
Recommended Reading: What To Take When You Have Gas In Your Stomach
Drink Coffee Or Green Tea
Unsweetened coffee and green tea are among the healthiest beverages in the world.
Drinking coffee has been shown to increase the number of calories you burn by about 311% (
160 ).
One study suggested that fidgeting, walking and standing could burn up to 2,000 extra calories per day, depending on your weight and activity level .
Make it your goal to walk around while talking on the phone, stand up regularly, work at a standing desk or take the stairs whenever possible.
Bottom Line:
Increasing the amount of non-exercise activity you do may significantly increase the number of calories you burn on a daily basis.
Bonus Round: Losing Belly Fat After Having A Baby
Its totally normal for your belly to feel loose or jiggly in the early days and weeks after giving birth. In addition to pregnancy weight gain, your abdominal muscles were stretched to the max to accommodate your growing bundle of joy.
Losing belly fat postpartum starts with the same strategies youd use to lose belly fat at any other time: Eat a little less and exercise more.
It may not happen overnight, but its reasonable to be back to your prepregnancy weight by the time your baby reaches their first birthday.
Does that mean your lower belly will look the same as it did before you got pregnant? Not necessarily. For some women, pregnancy causes the abdominal muscles to separate and create a noticeable bulge, even after theyve fully recovered from giving birth.
This condition, called diastasis recti, is fixable with abdominal exercises. A physical therapist can help you get the hang of them. Just ask your healthcare provider for a recommendation they can point you in the right direction.
Don’t Miss: What Foods Help Neutralize Stomach Acid
Eat More Fiber And Avoid Refined Flour
Foods made with white flour like white bread, white pasta, and white rice are relatively low in fiber and may cause you to get a little, uh, backed up. Instead, opt for whole-grain varieties. A simple switch from white bread to whole wheat or from white rice to brown will keep things moving along smoothly.
High fiber foods that are free of indigestible fibers mentioned before include:
- Whole grain bread
Don’t Be Afraid To Instagram Your Meals
Your friends and family may roll their eyes when you whip out your phone to Instagram your meals, but what they see as an annoying habit might actually be improving your health. An analysis of “attentive eating” studies in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found those who recall their last meal as being filling and satisfying tended to eat less at their next meal, thus keeping their bellies flatter. So if you have trouble remembering what you had for dinner last night, try Instagramming your meals in an effort to feel content the next time you sit down to break bread.
Read Also: How To Get Relief From Stomach Ulcer
Swap Carbs For Proteins
Although there is no magic cure for getting rid of belly fat, eating adequate protein and cutting down on refined high glycemic carbs can help, says , a New York City-based registered dietitian. Protein helps keep you feeling full longer and the body burns more calories breaking them down compared with carbs and fat. Lastly, protein doesnt cause insulin spikes like refined carbs do. High levels of insulin have been linked to more belly fatand this is especially true as we get older, says McKittrick. Swap white toast for greens or fruit salad at brunch, pick Greek yogurt over a bagel for breakfast when youre dining out, and opt for grilled chicken or fish instead of a pasta dish.
Long Term Strategy For Losing Belly Fat
No one strategy will be effective on its own. You need to adopt a combination of the different methods above to maintain a flat stomach.
Theyre all associated with an overall healthy lifestyle and healthy eating, so itll be more than just your waistline that improves.
Changing your lifestyle in the long term is the best way of losing belly fat – and keeping it off.
What is visceral fat?
Most fat is stored underneath the skin .
Whereas visceral fat is stored deep within the abdominal cavity, wrapped around important organs like the liver, kidneys and intestines.
Why is abdominal fat so dangerous to your health?
Too much of any type of fat is bad for your health. But excess fat around your waist hurts your health in a way that the fat underneath your skin doesnt.
This visceral fat raises your risk of serious health issues like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke and high cholesterol.
Researchers believe that visceral fat pumps out substances that inflame your bodys tissues and organs, and interfere with the hormones that regulate weight, mood and brain function increasing your stress levels.
Also Check: Where Is My Baby At 17 Weeks In My Stomach
Why Is My Upper Stomach Bigger Than My Lower
Most people have trouble getting rid of their stubborn lower belly fat rather than their upper stomach fat. But in some their upper ab fat can be harder to burn off than their lower.
The reason for this is primarily due to genetics. We all have a particular shape to our body its what makes us uniquely different from one another. For example, some people might be predisposed to having an apple shaped figure, whereas others are more likely to be pear or hourglass-shaped.
Here are all the possible reasons why your upper stomach continues to bulge out:
- genetics
- bloating
- water retention
So there are quite a few factors that could be causing the excess fat to build upon your upper abdomen. If your goal is to lose higher belly fat, then its going to be critical to make sure you address all if not most of the above list.
Otherwise, itll be hard to get rid of the excess fat in your higher belly region under the boobs. And with more weight gain, the more likely you are to keep building onto the upper stomach fat.
Keep Whole Grains In Your Diet
You don’t have to go low-carb to ditch those extra pounds around your waist in a short period of time.
To get rid of belly fat, ditch refined grains like white bread and white rice, and eat more whole grains such as:
- Oatmeal
- Barley
- Farro
In fact, opting for more whole grains might just get you there faster. Researchers at Tufts University have linked eating three or more daily servings of whole grains to as much as a 10 percent reduction in visceral body fat, the kind that ups your risk for chronic diseases, like diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure.
You May Like: Do Stomach Ulcers Go Away
Ways To Lose Belly Fat Fast And Keep It Off For Good
Its pretty common for men to pack some extra poundage around their midsection. In fact, the average man is about 24lbs heavier today than men in 1960, according to stats from The State of Obesityand the figures are rising. Weve seen slimmer days, but dont think this is a grim sentence, dooming you to eternal chubbiness. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of ways for you to burn belly fatfast.
The fact of the matter is battling the bulge takes different strategies and approaches depending upon your genetics, your metabolism, your willpower, etc. What works for your buddy wont necessarily be your be-all and end-all solution. To simplify things, we compiled plenty of tips to help rev your metabolism, lose your love handles, and unsheathe your abs. Youll have to do some trial and error to deduce which ones work best for you . But if you put in the work , youll be well on your way to a smaller waistline. Who said your glory days were in the past?
Make Room For Tyrosine
It’s quite possible you’ve never heard of the amino acid tyrosinea building block of proteinbut it’s an important one to know if you want to get rid of a bulging belly. Tyrosine has been shown to prevent belly-bloating sugar cravings by encouraging the brain to release dopamine and another neurotransmitter, norepinephrine. In other words, eating more tyrosine helps fend off those harmful sugar cravings that make your belly fat.
Recommended Reading: How To Get Rid Of Stomach Fat Without Exercise
Okay Now You Can Do Some Crunches
Although you cant spot reduce fat, you can target building lean muscle tissue, which in turn helps burn fat. There are literally dozens of muscles between your shoulders and your hips that are involved in every movement you do, says DiVecchio. The fastest way to create a lean midsection begins with choosing the right moves.
Aim to do ab work three or four times a week on non-consecutive days with at least 24 hours of rest in between sessions, says Gagliardi. During those sessions, you can start with simpler moves like crunches, bicycle crunches, and planks. Even though you may only be directly targeting your abs three or four times a week, you should still be activating your core in every workout you do, says Gagliardi.
There are tons of different ab workouts you can do right in your home. Once youre comfortable in an ab routine, work your way up to more complex ab exercises, like side-to-side med ball slams and weighted Russian twists, says DiVecchio.
Focus On The Way Your Clothes Fit More Than Reading A Scale
As you add muscle mass and lose fat, the reading on your bathroom scale maynot change much, but your pants will be looser. Thats a better mark ofprogress. Measured around, your waistline should be less than 35 inches ifyoure a woman or less than 40 inches if youre a man to reduce heart anddiabetes risks.
Recommended Reading: What Does Probiotics Do For The Stomach
Mix Up Your Movements
When you lift, perform supersets in which you alternate between sets of lower-body exercises and upper-body exercises. That way your lower body rests while your upper body is working. This allows you to work your muscles maximally with very little downtime between sets for a faster, more effective workout, says Craig Ballantyne, C.S.C.S.
Getting Rid Of Belly Fat
New York fitness trainer Matt Griffin works at a gym where the clientele is mostly men. He says that getting a lean body requires a combination of cardiovascular training and lifting weights.
The mix of weight training and cardio keeps the body guessing and reacting to the stresses being put on it. Griffin says that high-intensity interval training is particularly effective for burning fat and targeting the gut.
So, does this mean you should ignore those popular abdominal curls? Not exactly, says Griffin. Getting great abs is about more than just doing a bunch of situps. He says that abdominal training should engage the whole body. He recommends functional training to his clients. Core training that incorporates movement of the entire body is more relevant to everyday life, he says. He specifically prefers Pilates and Gyrotonic training for men who want to get flatter abs.
If you don’t have access to the gym, there are other exercises that can help trim your tummy, and many of them can be done at home.
“Plank exercises are an effective way to strengthen all of the muscles in your core,” says football trainer Brian Martin, CSCS. Martin has trained numerous pro players and says that “the plank works dozens of muscles all at once. It is a much more complete exercise than abdominal crunches or situp.”
Read Also: What Can Cause Chronic Stomach Pain