Belly fat does more than make our jeans too tight. Too much abdominal fat can lead to future health problems. In fact, excess belly fat is often symptomatic of impending health problems caused by poor diet and bad lifestyle choices. Here are some effective tips to help you burn belly fat in no time. Read on.
What is Belly Fat
Many older people gain extra weight around their midsection. This is caused by the changes in hormone levels that happen at midlife for both men and women. As growth hormone production slows, cortisol levels rise. This change causes excess weight to develop around the belly and muscle tone to slowly degrade.
Rather than targeting the fat around your midsection, target the problems that are causing it to pile up. Although there’s not much we can do about growing older, there isn’t any reason to allow it happen any faster than it has to.
Try the following five tips to improve your body composition and reduce the excess fat around your midsection:
5 Tips To Burn Belly Fat In No Time
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1. Eat More Protein
Many people have been restricting protein from their diets thanks to some misinformation promoted back in the 1970 and 1980s. New research has shown that adding protein is one of the easiest ways to lose excess belly fat. Eating adequate protein reduces cravings for the sugary foods that do add excess fat. Protein can reduce cravings, according to a 2011 study from the University of Missouri. The University of Arizona showed that protein also increases your metabolism.
Protein also preserves muscle mass when you’re dieting. The problem with a lot of “weight loss” diets is that calorie restriction means that your body can burn muscle just as much as it burns fat. Muscles atrophy during calorie restriction. Since muscles use up much of the calories you eat. it becomes a downward spiral.
2. Avoid Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates provide quick energy when you have intense physical activity in your future. They also provide a lot of micronutrients in the form of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. Unfortunately, many of them also provide a lot of sugar. Unless you’re planning to do a 5k run, you should avoid high carbohydrate foods. Even grains are quickly converted to sugar during digestion. Stick to low sugar vegetables for your micronutrient needs.
Ditch the starches and sugars completely.
A constant intake of carbohydrate foods means the constant production of insulin in response. After years of flooding your body with insulin, you get something called insulin resistance. This means your body can’t even properly process the good carbohydrates you eat. A 2004 Study published in the Journal of Nutrition & Metabolism also showed a distinct advantage in low-carbohydrate diet when it came to reducing belly fat, particularly in men.
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3. Exercise Your Core
Something wonderful happens when you increase your core strength: Your posture gets better, your belly gets nipped, and you become a fat-burning machine. So, not only will you look slimmer, you’ll be less likely to gain back excess belly fat. It also reduces backaches and fatigue.
Your core is the network of muscles that surround your abdomen and spine, stabilizing your back, hips, and pelvis. Working these muscle increases their density, and these muscles love to burn calories. And the best thing of all, you don’t have to sweat and exhaust yourself to increase your core density.
The simple act of sitting up straight with good posture increases the density of these muscles. Proper walking stride, with your shoulders square over your pelvis, increases your core strength. Get a balance ball for working at your desk or watching TV. Stand with good posture when you’re cooking dinner or taking a shower. Every thoughtful movement or position that engages your core increases the muscle density and makes that belly fat disappear.
SEE ALSO:- 5 Killer Ways To Get Rock Hard Abs
4. Play
It’s no surprise to scientists that stress causes increased belly fat. By “play,” we mean do something active and enjoyable that reduces the cortisol in your body. Some of the increase in cortisol is age-related, but even those in their 50s and 60s can reduce cortisol by making sure that stress doesn’t get the better of them. Activity and exercise is important, but what may be most important of all is that you’re doing active things that make you happy. Even if your only aerobic exercise all day is grocery shopping, have fun, relax, and maybe walk a little brisker through that cookie aisle. So, if you are wondering how to get rid of belly fat easily, you should know that exercise is very important for that. Another way to reduce stress and foster a good feeling is by taking up a physical activity that you enjoy. A score of fun exercises can build your core strength. You could choose from gymnastics, cycling, volleyball, or skateboarding. If you are more of an adventurous kind, you could even invest in a pair of rollerblades. Even something recreational, like belly dancing or bowling, increases core strength. Make sure that end your day by getting plenty of sleep. And eat adequate protein to feed those muscles.
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5. Improve Your Sleep Habits
Your sleep has a very strong influence on your health. Sleep is when you recover from all that stress. A 2010 study from the University of Chicago showed that dieters who got adequate sleep lost more fat with each pound, rather than muscle tissue. When their sleep was restricted, only a quarter of their weight loss was actual fat.
You can reduce belly fat by changing the bad habits that increase cortisol. Sugar and starchy carbohydrates can cause insulin resistance, so eat them sparingly.
Featured Image: CC by 0 Petr Kratochvil via Public Domain Pictures.
