How to lose belly fat? Our 10 tips

 

The belly is a part of the body that is often overlooked. Consequences: it swells, grows, stores fat when you would like it to be flat. But how to lose abdominal fat? What are the things that need to be put in place to achieve this faster and easier? Here are our 10 tips for getting a flat stomach.

Summary

• Basic information
• Lose belly fat, yes, but …
• How to determine if you have too much belly fat?
• How do you get a flat stomach?
• Losing abdominal fat: our 10 tips for achieving this goal
• Tip 1: Prepare yourself a high protein breakfast
• Tip 2: Avoid cereals in the morning
• Tip 3: Eat good fat
• Tip 4: Forget about refined carbohydrates in the evening
• Tip 5: Drink to lose belly fat
• Tip 6: limit the consumption of fruit juices
• Tip 7: Follow a sports training session
• Tip 8: Relax
• Tip 9: Think about the cold
• Tip # 10: Give yourself a cheat meal
• Allowed and forbidden food to lose abdominal fat
• Authorized foods
• Forbidden foods

Basic information

Before we discover our tips for losing belly fat, here is some essential information to consider.

Lose belly fat, yes, but …

Note that it is impossible to remove fat from a specific part of the body. In fact, you can’t lose weight only on your stomach, thighs, or legs, you lose weight from all areas and not from one in particular.

How to determine if you have too much belly fat?

To find out if you should lose belly fat or not, measure your waist circumference:

• For a woman, the waist circumference should be less than 80cm (besides that, you have abdominal fat).
• For a man, the waist circumference should be less than 94 cm (if you go over it, you have abdominal fat).

How do you get a flat stomach?

For men and women, the methods for getting a flat, firm stomach are the same. The only difference is that it is more difficult for women to have visible muscles.

Losing abdominal fat: our 10 tips for achieving this goal

Tip 1: Prepare yourself a high protein breakfast

Eating a high protein breakfast increases the feeling of satiety; a sensation that has several benefits:

• You eat less because you don’t think about it.
• Fewer calories are consumed during the day.
• You don’t feel the need to have a snack in the morning.

Consequences: abdominal fat is lost.

In the morning, prepare eggs, meat, or tuna!

What about carbohydrates?

It is not recommended to eat processed carbohydrates in the morning because:

• They lead to an increase in insulin production, an increase that promotes fat storage.
• Carbohydrates have a high absorption rate.
• The body stops burning fat and starts using its sugar stores as soon as you start consuming carbohydrates.

Note: Processed (or refined) carbohydrates are sweets, cookies, and all other non-nature derived carbohydrates.

Tip 2: Avoid cereals in the morning

Do you like cereals for breakfast? Be aware that these are high in sugar and therefore bad if you want to lose weight from the stomach.

If you can’t say “no” to this food, choose oatmeal. In fact, they are rich in protein and have a satiating effect that allows you to eat less.

Tip 3: Eat good fat

Have you thought that in order to lose belly fat, fat should be put aside? Not always! You lose weight if you consume good fats and limit your carbohydrate intake.

This is not about completely banning carbohydrates from your diet, but about choosing the right sources such as vegetables, fruit …

As for the good fats, they are those containing fatty acids such as omega-3s. The latter has the following advantages:

• They reduce cortisol levels and therefore stress (the higher the cortisol level, the more fat is stored in the abdominal area).
• They promote the burning of lipids and therefore reduce the level of fat.
• They suppress the sense of hunger.

But where can omega-3s be found? Most are fatty fish such as herring, tuna, mackerel, sardines, and salmon. For a good supply of omega-3s, remember to eat fatty fish 2 or 3 times a week. Forget the frying, sunflower oil, and margarine, but prefer butter and coconut oil. In addition, coconut oil promotes fat burning and stimulates metabolism.

Tip 4: Forget about refined carbohydrates in the evening

As soon as processed carbohydrates are consumed, they are quickly transformed into sugar. Consequences: they cause blood sugar spikes and therefore a greater accumulation of abdominal fat. In the evening, forget about refined carbohydrates!

As for fruit, it contains sugar, but also fiber which slows down the rise in blood sugar levels.

To lose belly fat, it is, therefore, advisable to ban refined carbohydrates in the evening, because your body will not be able to burn what you just ate and if you have already eaten your three daily meals, you may exceed your daily calorie requirement.

Also, don’t eat after 8 pm. But if you are still a little hungry in the evening, choose foods with as few calories as possible (soup, for example).

Tip 5: Drink to lose belly fat

When you want to lose your belly, you need good hydration! In fact, water increases the feeling of satiety and accelerates metabolism. Thanks to these effects, you will limit overeating and burn more fat.

If you want to vary your taste, you can also drink green tea, a fat burner that stimulates the metabolism and reduces the desire for food. To lose belly, green tea is therefore effective!

Tip 6: limit the consumption of fruit juices

If sodas aren’t recommended when you want to lose weight, fruit juices aren’t. The reason? Because the fruit juices available in supermarkets are high in sugar and low in fiber. The result: blood sugar levels rise.

If you like fruit juices, then it is best to make homemade juices (smoothies are also a good alternative).

Tip 7: Follow a sports training session

To lose the extra pounds and have an ideal weight, sport is essential! But if you thought intense sports training was the best way to lose belly fat, think again! Splitting physical activity will allow you to lose more abdominal fat. This method consists of two phases: a high-intensity sports phase and a recovery phase.

Here is an example of a diagram to follow for a split workout:

• 3-minute warm-up.
• 8 sets of 20-second sports (sprinting, brisk walking, exercises, for example)
• take a 1-minute break every 3 series.
• Recovery time: 2 minutes.

And for a flat stomach, abs exercises are also effective!

Tip 8: Relax

When you are stressed, cortisol is produced, an anti-stress hormone that stimulates the feeling of hunger and increases the storage of fat in the abdomen. Additionally, when cortisol levels rise, blood sugar levels also rise and metabolism slows down. Consequence: fat burning is blocked.

To limit a feeling of prolonged stress (also called chronic stress), find an activity that relaxes you: watching television, yoga classes, meditation, sleeping ….

Tip 9: Think about the cold

Looking for the cold is a trick you don’t necessarily think about. However, this has real benefits! In fact, exposure to cold activates the production of testosterone, thus promoting fat burning. Being cold will also force your body to produce heat; a phenomenon that will lead you to burn more calories and therefore to lose weight from the stomach.

To expose yourself to the cold, you have several options: take a cold bath or swim in cold water. But be careful! While staying cold is effective in losing belly fat, don’t expose yourself to intense cold for more than 5 minutes. You will risk hypothermia!

Tip # 10: Give yourself a cheat meal

All men have limited will. This is why following a healthy and balanced diet over time is difficult enough for many of us. If you want to lose belly fat, then treat yourself to a cheat meal. During this “cheat meal”, you can eat whatever you want and have fun. But what are the positive effects of a cheat meal on weight loss?

In fact, a “cheat meal” can boost metabolism, increase the secretion of leptin (the satiety hormone that sends a signal to the brain to burn more belly fat), and reduce the amount of ghrelin, a hormone that makes people feel hungry.

Setting a cheat meal once a week will therefore help you maintain your diet to lose belly fat. But before implementing it, don’t forget the rules of conduct for a good “cheat meal”:

• Choose a fixed day per week.
• Don’t eat double what you usually eat.

Allowed and forbidden food to lose abdominal fat

After the tips for losing abdominal fat, here are the authorized and prohibited foods to lose weight effectively.

Authorized foods

Vegetables, fruits, seeds, grains, white meats, fish … are all foods to choose from when you want to lose weight. Vegetables provide the body with essential nutrients, and fruits contain enzymes that help the body break down nutrients. So eat as much fruit and vegetables as you like! Do you want to add an extra flavor to your dishes? Choose coconut oil, an oil-rich in fiber, minerals, and vitamins that increase the body’s energy expenditure and helps burn fat.

Also, consider drinking plenty of water to aid digestion. Water removes toxins and supplies the body with vital minerals. Another effective weight loss drink is green tea, which helps fight bloating, water retention, and excess fat. Green tea also contains theine, a substance that increases the body’s energy expenditure.

Here is a summary of the authorized foods:

• Proteins: poultry, white meat, eggs, seafood, and fatty fish (salmon, mackerel, sardines, tuna….)
• Carbohydrates: vegetables, fruit, brown rice, millet, barley, buckwheat, oat flakes, quinoa.
• Fats: coconut oil, nuts, seeds (e.g. flax seeds), butter, olive oil (cold-pressed), avocado, dark chocolate.

Forbidden foods

To lose abdominal fat, it is, therefore, necessary to adopt good eating habits. This involves the elimination of sweet and fatty foods such as french fries, pastries, cookies, cold cuts, and alcohol.

Among other prohibited foods, you can find:

• Alcohol-free drinks.
• Candies.
• Chips.
• Muesli and cornflakes.
• Fast food.
• Desserts.

By implementing these tips and a healthy and balanced diet, you will be able to lose belly fat! Start now and be sure of yourself!