You Need To Change Up Your Workout
Great youve lost weight but your tummy isnt as flat as you want it to be.
If youve been running religiously 3 times a week or youve hit the gym every other day doing the same workout for 40 minutes then you may well have reached your peak.
Your body needs to be constantly challenged.
Youve lost the weight, your body looks better, its more toned than ever before but now it can cope well with the exercise it needs a different, more challenging workout.
If you belong to a gym, speak to the trainer in charge and ask him or her to devise a different program to target belly fat .
Remember, every time youve mastered an exercise regime, its time to make it just a little bit harder.
Better Fats In Your Diet
In addition to reducing calories, you may want to incorporate monounsaturated fats into your diet. The goal is not to consume more monounsaturated fat, but rather to replace the unhealthy saturated and trans fats you currently eat. Your body needs some fat so it can absorb fat-soluble vitamins, such as vitamin A, D, E, and K, and fatty acids, essential for brain functions and controlling inflammation. Try adding avocado to your sandwich in place of mayonnaise. Use olive or canola oil instead of butter, margarine or shortening when cooking or baking. Nuts and seeds are also high in monounsaturated fats. A small amount of fat in your diet makes you feel full, or satisfied, and helps prevent overeating.
The reason aerobic exercise is so effective is because it elevates your heart rate. Doing hours of sit-ups won’t help you reduce fat rather, it will help you tone your muscles. You need to incorporate aerobic activities into your exercise routine to burn calories and see results. Change up your routine by trying biking, running, swimming or another sport. Aim to complete at least 30 minutes of exercise a minimum of five days a week. To maintain your current weight, you should get at least 150 minutes of aerobic exercise a week. To lose weight, you should participate in additional aerobic activities — 300 minutes or more per week.
How Much Can You Eat 2 Years After Gastric Bypass
After surgery, your stomach can only hold 2 to 4 tablespoons of food or drink. After about a year, it will expand to hold up to 16 tablespoons of food or drink. Because of its small size, you will need to eat and drink much less at any 1 meal than you did before surgery. You will also need to plan your meals carefully.
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You Don’t Balance Diet And Exercise
Focusing on one over the other is not a reasonable compromise, and will only slow down the process of weight loss. Think about it: eating a slice of chocolate cake after a workout is only going to add those calories you burned off back into your body. And only eating salads without working out could lead to weight loss, but your muscles aren’t getting the necessary workout they need to be strong and toned lean muscle burns more calories at rest than fat. Your body needs a balance of both diet and exercise, so make sure you’re incorporating the pair into your daily lifestyle.
Dieting And Weight Loss History
If youve lost and regained weight several times in the past, or yo-yo dieted, youve likely found it more challenging to lose weight with each subsequent attempt.
In fact, a woman with a long history of yo-yo dieting will tend to have greater difficulty losing weight than one whose weight has remained relatively constant.
Research has shown that this is mainly due to changes in fat storage that occur after periods of calorie deprivation.
Essentially, your body stores more fat when you begin eating more after a period of deprivation, so that it has a reserve available if calorie intake decreases again .
In addition, a recent animal study suggests that yo-yo dieting may cause an immune response in fat tissue that makes fat loss more difficult .
Gut bacteria may play a role too. Repeated cycles of losing and regaining weight seem to promote changes in gut bacteria that lead to increased weight gain over the long term (
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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.
Shift Focus To Optimal Health Not Weight Loss
For many women, weight loss goals have less to do with health than wanting to look better.
Perhaps you have already lost some weight, but havent been able to lose those last 1020 pounds.
Or maybe you have always been a bit larger than average, but have been trying to slim down to a smaller dress size.
Youre not alone if you feel that you have tried every diet and weight loss recommendation, yet still havent been able to achieve results, despite your best efforts.
If thats the case, it may be best to shift your focus to being as healthy, strong and vibrant as you can be.
- Focus on fitness: When it comes to health, studies have shown that being fit is more important than being thin. Whats more, working out regularly can provide many other benefits (
- 21 ).
Aside from reducing stress and frustration, shifting your focus to make optimal health your primary goal might even potentially lead to natural weight loss over time.
Summary:
If you want to lose weight to look better, but havent had success despite doing all of the right things, it may be best to shift your focus. Instead of trying to achieve a certain weight, aim to be as healthy as possible.
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Youre Not Eating Mindfully
A technique called mindful eating may be one of the worlds most powerful weight loss tools.
It involves slowing down, eating without distraction, savoring and enjoying each bite while listening to the natural signals that tell your brain when your body has had enough.
Numerous studies have shown that mindful eating can cause significant weight loss and reduce the frequency of binge eating (
Here are some tips to eat more mindfully:
Summary
Always eat mindfully when trying to lose weight. Mindless eating is one of the main reasons people experience challenges to losing weight.
There are some medical conditions that can drive weight gain and make it much harder to lose weight.
These include hypothyroidism, polycystic ovarian syndrome , and sleep apnea.
Certain medications can also make weight loss harder or even cause weight gain.
If you think any of these apply to you, speak with your doctor about your options.
Summary
43 ).
If you feel you have a junk food addiction, simply eating less or changing your diet can seem impossible.
Summary
If you have strong food cravings or food addiction, weight loss can be challenging. Consider seeking professional help.
Do Short Intense Hiit Workouts
You’ll know that as you get older, your metabolic rate naturally decreases. “It’s important to do what you can to keep it firing effectively,” share Claire and James.
They love HIIT – that’s high intensity interval training – as it creates an oxygen debt, which can take up to 24 hours for your body to recover from. “All that time its burning energy and raising the metabolic rate, helping you burn any excess belly fat.”
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Youve Been Dieting For Too Long
It may not be a good idea to diet for too long.
If youve been losing weight for many months and youve hit a plateau, perhaps you need to take a break.
Try increasing your calorie intake by a few hundred calories per day, sleeping more, and lifting weights with the goal of getting stronger and gaining more muscle.
Aim to maintain your body fat levels for 12 months before you start trying to lose weight again.
Summary
If you have reached a weight loss plateau, you may have been dieting too long. Maybe its time to take a break.
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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Do Women Find It Harder To Shift Belly Fat Than Men
Fun fact: on average, women have 6 to 11% more body fat than men. Studies show oestrogen reduces a woman’s ability to burn energy after eating, resulting in more fat being stored around the body.
The likely reason for this, historically? To prime women for childbearing, according to our experts.
Curious as to why it’s so difficult to lose weight around our abdomens, we asked Dr Luke James from Bupa UK, nutritionist Lisa Borg of Pulse Light clinic and personal trainers Claire and James of The Midlife Mentors to explain why it’s such a struggle. Keep reading.
Your Metabolism Is Trash
If youve havent eaten a leaf of kale or seen the inside of a gym in your whole life then its going to take more time.
Years of not taking care of yourself cant be overturned in a matter of days or even weeks.
You might need to build up some lean muscle to jump-start your metabolism into fat burning mode.
The older you get the slower your metabolism is going to be.
With every decade your metabolism will slow 2-8%, which is most likely from decreased muscle mass.
The aging process can be harder for women as many women who didnt use to be heavy in the past will struggle to keep the excess weight off.
Many women gain around 5-15 pounds as they age from lowering of muscle mass and decreased physical activity.
This all contributes to a slower metabolism.
Many women also gain weight during menopause as shifts in hormones cause weight loss to be difficult.
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Not Getting Enough Sleep
If youre not getting enough hours of quality sleep per night then it could be whats holding you back from losing weight.
Your body releases fat burning hormones with enough quality sleep. If youre not getting these fat burning hormones released into your body then itll slow your metabolism.
Most adults need between 7 and 9 hours of sleep with women on average needing 20 minutes more.
Dont go to bed starving. Instead if youre hungry eat a small protein rich meal that could help your metabolism.
Or even taking a spoonful of almond butter before bed is better than going to bed hungry.
Try to not eat big meals or lots of carbs before bed as it could make it harder for your body to burn them off when you sleep.
Make sure youre not watching TV or playing with your phone in bed before sleeping.
Dim the lights and read a book to improve the sleep quality.
The less sleep you get the less willpower youll have the next day.
This means itll be harder to stick to your diet and go to the gym if you didnt get a good nights sleep.
This study found getting just 30 fewer minutes of sleep during the week can accelerate the development of insulin resistance.
See my in-depth blog post on the connection between sleep and weight loss for more on how to improve your quality of sleep so you can keep losing weight.
You’re Stressed Or Exercising Too Much
“Cortisol directly affects fat storage and weight gain in stressed or adrenal-fatigued people, and fat can be stored around the midsection as visceral and subcutaneous fat tissue,” Tuck said.
But it’s not just work, family life or money problems which can cause stress in the body. Excessive exercise can be quite stressful, causing excess cortisol production, which often causes weight gain.
Solution: manage stress levels and reduce stimulants.
“Cut down on stimulants , particularly coffee and caffeine,” Tuck said.
“Aim for one coffee a day and avoid drinking caffeine after 12pm. Increase herbal teas such as chamomile, lavender, ashwagandha and ginseng to support the nervous system.
“Look at ways to manage stress if stress levels are high. For example, try mindfulness, meditation, yoga and walks.”
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Does Peanut Butter Make You Fat
Due to its high fat content, peanut butter is calorie-dense. This is concerning for some, since excess calories may lead to weight gain over time. However, some research suggests that peanut butter may boost weight loss when eaten in moderation . This article examines how eating peanut butter affects body weight.
Not Working Hard Enough
I know it might seem like youre working really hard, but more times than not Ive noticed its not enough.
If youre having trouble losing weight then itll be a good time to see if youre really doing whats necessary to get results.
Are you being 100% honest with your diet and exercise?
Losing weight can require a lot more disciple than you think. Eating a cupcake might seem harmless but it could derail your metabolism.
Ive had people come up to me in the gym asking why they cant get results even though theyre working out hard.
Then when I see them working out in the gym they do one light set of bicep curls then play around on their phone for a few minutes.
Others Ive noticed are Chatty Cathys in the gym. Its not hard to imagine why theyre not losing weight.
Do you have a case of Portion Distortion?
Over the years portion sizes have grown in the Western diet.
Its become common and far to easy to overeat with larger portion sizes today.
Use small plates and if you absolutely have to eat that cookie than make sure its a small one.
If youre being lazy about meal prepping and youre not doing the hard workouts then you cant expect to lose the weight you want.
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Create A Calorie Deficit
If you want to target belly fat, combining diet and exercise can help create a calorie deficit. Exercise burns more calories throughout the day and increases metabolism. Adding a healthy, low-calorie eating plan can give you more bang for your buck, helping you lose weight everywhereincluding your belly.
This was the conclusion from one study, in which participants either dieted, exercised, or did both. The group that dieted and exercised reduced their body mass the most while also “significantly” reducing their abdominal fat.
Even small changes to your diet can make a difference when trying to lose weight, so don’t feel like you have to follow a strict regimen or cut out entire food groups. For instance, you could cook healthy meals at home more often and eat out less.
Not a fan of exercise? You may just not have found something you enjoy. Start simple and easy with walking, swimming, stretching, yoga, or basic strength training. Or think outside the box and consider climbing, boxing, basketball, or jumping rope.
Your ‘healthy’ Protein Shake Is Making You Put On Weight
There’s something that feels ever so virtuous about sipping on a protein shake post-workout to supercharge your efforts, but it could be doing you more harm than good.
“Protein powders that contain added sugars can drastically increase your daily calorie intake without you even realising,” warns Shivraj Bassi, founder of supplement brand Innermost. Look at the sugar content in your protein powder to make sure it’s not a secret saboteur.
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Your Expectations Are Unrealistic
Weight loss is generally a slow process. Many people lose patience before reaching their goal.
Although it is often possible to lose weight fast in the beginning, few people can continue to lose weight at a rate of more than 12 pounds per week.
Another challenge can be having unrealistic expectations of what is achievable with a nutrient-dense diet and exercise.
The truth is, not everyone will be able to look like a fitness model or bodybuilder, and thats OK. The photos you see in magazines and other places are often enhanced.
If you have already lost some weight, but the scale doesnt seem to want to budge any further, perhaps trying to redirect your focus to accepting your body the way it is your next goal.
At some point, your weight will reach a set point where your body feels comfortable. Trying to go beyond that may not be worth the effort or realistic, and may even have potentially negative effects on your health.
Summary
Peoples expectations are sometimes unrealistic when it comes to weight loss. Keep in mind that losing weight takes time and not everyone will look like a fitness model. Focus on developing an individualized weight loss plan and goal based on your needs.