Belly Fat
Excessive belly fat can be harmful to your health, self-image, and self-esteem. Belly fat is a metabolically active fat that deposits deep inside the abdominal cavity and around the stomach.
Disadvantages of Belly Fat
Belly fat doesn’t look good when you wear tight clothes that cause embarrassment. This fat makes you vulnerable to metabolic disturbances, inflammation and heart disease.
Belly fat can lead to high blood pressure, diabetes and fatty liver diseases.
What Causes Belly Fat?
There are several causes of belly fat such as weak metabolism, genetics, stress, hormonal changes, overeating, poor posture and unhealthy diet.
Causes of Belly Fat:
- Genetics
- Junk food
- Consumption of more calories
- Poor and unhealthy lifestyle
- Lack of physical activity
- Consumption of carbohydrates in large amount
How To Get Rid Of Belly Fat?
Some people try dieting to lose belly fat but this is not the feasible solution. The best ways to get rid of belly fat are the healthy diet, exercises, and some home remedies.
Best Ways to Lose Belly Fat Naturally & Fast:
1. Boost Your Metabolism
A higher metabolism means you’ll burn more calories during your day-to-day activities whatever they may be.
- Eating breakfast within an hour of waking up helps to keep your LDL cholesterol levels lower. In your breakfast, you can include beans, eggs, nuts, lean meat, peanut butter, fresh fruit, oats and green leafy vegetables. Avoid pastries, pancakes, and sugary cereal.
- Take at least 7 hours of sleep every night.
- Set your aim to take 10,000 steps in a day. Get a pedometer and increase the number of your daily steps you take. Walk for 30 minutes daily.
- Drink plenty of water throughout the day to activate your metabolism. Drinking more water helps your body to flush out toxins and improves your health. Drink at least 8 to 10 glasses of water in a day.
2. Get Enough Sleep
This isn’t just great advice for shedding unwanted pounds around the midsection. The health benefits of getting adequate rest are well-documented and can help you lose weight from several different angles. Sure, it’s easy to make excuses as to why you don’t have time for the prescribed eight hours of sleep or why you don’t really need it, but please read on!
Needless to say, not getting enough rest leaves you feeling exhausted and hinders physical performance. What you may not realize is that nervous function, hormone production, and metabolism are also crippled due to lack of quality sleep. If your nervous system can’t function at full capacity, you’re far more likely to work slower, stress more, exercise less, and eat things that you shouldn’t because you’re in a hurry. Furthermore, inadequate rest can impair the production of key hormones responsible for the metabolism of fat cells.
Remember that one complete sleep cycle for adult humans can range from 90 – 110 minutes and ideally you want to get in 7.5 to 9 hours of sleep – about five complete cycles. This will help your brain and body to function at peak performance and to burn away stubborn belly fat much more efficiently.
3. Do Some Exercise
While not everyone has time to spend two hours at the gym every day, it is still possible to get enough daily activity to help your body burn off unwanted belly fat. Try to fit in three five minute sets of vigorous exercise per day, five days out of the week.
Doing enough exercises at home will help your body to burn unwanted belly fat. Do at least 30 minutes of lighter exercises, 5 days in a week. There are some workouts that will help you to lose belly fat and will get your heart pumping:
- Run in place for five minutes.
- Jog around your office / parking lot.
- Do a few sets of chair squats.
- Skipping rope or you can do jumping jacks.
- You can do dancing and swimming.
If conditions prevent you from performing cardiovascular activities, try to clock at least thirty minutes of lighter exercises, five days per week.
Some great examples of low-impact workouts to help you lose belly fat include:
- Fast walking – Go to a local park or walk around your neighborhood. This activity is even better when shared with a friend or beloved pet.
- Swimming – If you have a local swimming pool or lake nearby, this is a great way to lose belly fat fast.
Also remember that spot exercises like sit-ups won’t reduce your belly fat and can actually make it more apparent by increasing the volume of the lean muscle underneath. No matter which muscle group is being activated by your chosen activity, your body will burn fat from all parts of your body, including your waistline!
4. Eat the Right Foods
Depending on who you ask, the lineup of foods that can magically burn away unwanted weight is a long one. However, many of the items included on that list are questionable at best. Here is a guide to some foods that really will help you to shed belly fat when included as part of a balanced, healthy diet:
Dark Leafy Greens
Full of fiber, iron, and zinc – dark leafy greens like spinach, kale, and collard greens can help to turn your body into a fat-burning machine.
Lean Meat
Not only do they help you to build calorie-burning muscle mass, meats like chicken or turkey breast, fish, buffalo, and other wild game actually require our bodies to work harder in order to break them down during digestion. Furthermore, lean protein sources are much less likely to be stored as fat in our bodies and far more likely to be converted into energy for immediate use.
Cayenne Pepper
If you aim to lose a lot of belly fat, cayenne pepper can help! Capsaicin – the bio-chemical that makes these little red peppers hot – increases blood flow to the stomach which improves digestion and nutrient absorption. Effectively, you’ll feel full from eating less, have more energy, and burn belly fat faster.
5. Fat-burning Beverages
As with the roster of fat-burning foods, there are countless cocktails (and some of them are downright nasty!) which are purported to burn belly fat. Here is a short list of the best ones for the job:
Matcha Green Tea
The highest quality of any green tea, Matcha is one of the most powerful beverages for melting away belly fat and improving your overall health.
Ginger Tea
Well-known for its ability to improve digestion, ginger root also increases thermo genesis in the human body. Enjoy a cup of fresh ginger tea as part of your daily routine to burn off belly fat faster!
Water
Staying hydrated is crucial to the fat-burning process. Your body needs water to break down fat cells and wash away the toxins that are released during this process.
Fruit Juices
While they won’t necessarily help with the fat burning process itself, juices may indirectly benefit your weight-loss efforts. Replace any soft drinks or other processed, sugary beverages with 100% natural, no-sugar-added juices. Vegetable, cranberry, pomegranate, and acai are some great choices that also offer a variety of auxiliary health benefits. Just remember to watch your calorie intake!
6. Avoid Artificial Sweeteners
It’s a well-known fact that simple carbohydrates like white sugar and the corn syrup found in many commercial soft drinks is a leading cause of weight-gain, particularly around the midsection. However, less known is the fact that many sugar substitutes contain chemicals that – when ingested – are stored in and preserve your fat cells (as well as a long list of other health detriments!) For an all-natural alternative to sugar, try adding Stevia to your food. This leaf extract has virtually no calories and is free of harmful chemicals found in most sugar substitutes. While refined Stevia is widely available in most grocery stores, whole leaf offers more health benefits!
7. Eat Healthy Fats
Our bodies need essential fatty-acids (EFAs) to properly synthesize the hormones responsible for metabolizing fat stores. Try some of these sources of EFAs to help you burn belly fat faster:
a. Coconut Oil
The medium chain triglyceride, Lauric acid found in coconut oil helps to increase energy, improve cholesterol, and burn fat.
b. Cold-water Fish
Salmon, tuna, sardines, and mackerel are the most well-known fish recognized for their high-concentrations of healthy fatty acids that help burn belly fat.
c. Nuts and Seeds
Walnuts, soybeans, flaxseeds, and almonds are four of the best choices to help melt away stubborn belly fat. Just remember that nuts are also very high in calories. Be sure to limit yourself to the recommended serving size – usually a small handful – of these foods so you can reap the health benefits without accidentally sabotaging your weight-loss efforts.
8. Relax
Stress causes our bodies to pump out a hormone called cortisol which causes us to build and retain belly fat. If you’ve tried every health food, trick, cheat, and exercise under the sun but you just can’t seem to lose the weight around your waist, relax. It may be the stress itself that is to blame. Instead of worrying about your weight, set aside some time each day to do something you love. Think about what makes you happy and find a way to include that in your daily routine.
9. Plan Ahead
If you lead a very busy life, it can be very difficult to include healthy, fat-burning foods as part of your daily diet. Try to form a battle plan on your days off that includes a healthy breakfast, high-protein snacks, and balanced meals. Ideally, you want to eat something about every three hours to keep your metabolism going strong. Also, remember to schedule that all-important decompression and sleep time at the end of the day to help your body recoup and burn that belly fat!
Natural Intakes For Losing Belly Fat Fast:
10. Lemon Water
Lemon water is very helpful and effective to detoxify the liver. Lemon water will increase the enzymes that help to detoxify the liver.
Steps to Use Lemon Water:
- Make a glass of lemon water by extracting the lemon juice from a lemon and mix it with warm water.
- Drink this lemon water on an empty stomach.
- Don’t drink or eat anything for about 30 minutes after consuming.
- Drink this lemon water daily for better results.
11. Ginger Tea
Ginger is one of the best home remedies that increase the body temperature and helps to burn fat easily. Ginger also suppresses the production of cortisol. It is a steroid hormone that is necessary for the energy regulation.
Steps to Use Ginger Tea:
- Boil 4 cups of water and now add 1 to 2 inch of ginger to it.
- Simmer it for 5 to 10 minutes and then add 1 tsp of lemon juice and honey to it.
- Mix it well and then drink it in the morning or you can drink 2 to 3 cups throughout the day.
12. Garlic
The anti-obesity properties in garlic help to lose belly fat. It will increase the blood cholesterol and reduce the diastolic blood pressure and triglycerides.
Steps to Use Garlic:
- In a cup of water, add 1 tsp lemon juice and stir it well.
- Now chew raw garlic cloves and then drink this lemon water on an empty stomach.
- Repeat it every morning to see the change within two weeks.
13. Chia Seeds
Chia seeds contain antioxidants, iron, calcium, omega-3 fatty acids and other dietary fibre that will make you feel fuller for a long time. Take 4 to 8 tbsp of chia seeds during the day will control your hunger.
Steps to Use Chia Seeds:
- Take some chia seeds and add them to your smoothies, soups, yogurt, salads or breakfast cereals.
- Mix it well and have it regularly to get rid of belly fat.
14. Cranberry Juice
Cranberry juice is the best way to losing belly fat. Cranberries contain organic acids such as quinic acid, malic acid and citric acid that work as digestive enzymes. This will work as emulsifying agents on your stubborn belly fat.
Steps to Use Cranberry Juice:
- Take a cup of cranberry juice and 7 cups of water.
- Mix them well and drink 1 cup of this juice in the morning or throughout the day.
15. Fish Oil
Fish oil has omega-3, fatty acids like docosahexaenoic acid, icosapentaenoic acid and linolenic acid that will help to break down the fat. Eating only fish is very effective and efficient.
Steps to Use Fish Oil:
- Consume 6 grams of fish oil daily.
- You can also eat fish 2 times a week.
16. Green Tea
Drinking 4 cups of green tea daily will help to reduce more than 6 pounds of weight and fat within eight weeks. Green tea also helps to boost your metabolism.
Steps to Make Green Tea:
- Take 1 to 2 tsp of green tea leaves and 5 mint or basil leaves.
- Add them to a cup of hot water and mix it well.
- Cover the solution and allow it to steep for 10 minutes.
- Strain the tea and mix lemon juice and honey in it.
- Consume it 3 to 4 times a day. Prefer to take it after meals.
17. Apple
An apple a day keeps your belly fat away!
Apples contain a natural compound known as pectin that effectively helps in losing weight. When you eat an apple, a gel-like substance is formed in the belly that traps the fat content and dietary cholesterol in the body. Apples are high in phytosterol, dietary fibre, and flavonoids that make you feel full and avoid overeating. To lose body fat or belly fat, eat an apple daily.
Additional Tips to Prevent Belly Fat:
- Don’t take the stress.
- Avoid eating sugary supplements and white rice.
- Avoid eating junk foods and red meat.
- Walk at least 1 km regularly.
- Reduce the amount of sodium intake.
- Skipping rope is the best exercise to lose belly fat.
- Include dairy foods like curd, low-fat milk etc. that plays an important role in cutting down few inches from your waistline.
- Always have a heavy breakfast, a moderate lunch and a light dinner as it will help to maintain your overall health.