Many of us have a problem with the fat on our stomach. This is the most problematic place we deal with. It not only negatively affects our well-being and self judgement, but also, if not primarily, is dangerous to our health. In this article, you’ll want to focus carefully on how to lose this fat and what to do to get the effect you want.
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Nearly 26% of Brits have a problem with obesity. Walking the city streets, we pass many pedestrians with a weight problem, especially the big belly. If this trend continues, in 2045 nearly half of the population may be obese.
Types of fat on the stomach
Not every stomach fat is associated with one and the same fat, which not everyone is aware of. One of the types is subcutaneous fat, which is a delicate layer under the skin and is not dangerous. If we limit food and focus on activity, we can easily fight it. The second type is the so-called visceral fat, which is located deep in the abdomen, between the liver, stomach, kidneys and intestines. If this belly fat is too much, it affects, among others, pumping out various inflammatory substances, interfering with hormones, regulating appetite, mood or brain function, including the appropriate level of cortisol, which is responsible for stress. It can lead to type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer. And it’s with this visceral fat that you should look for the cause and fight it as soon as possible, because it’s very dangerous.
Causes of visceral fat formation
The main causes of fat formation are, of course, wrong diet as well as the lack of physical activity. They cause that we consume more calories than we need, and due to lack of exercise, we are not able to burn them. Instead of healthy fats, we focus on trans fats, which are a real killer for our body. They cause not only weight gain, and thus increase body fat, but also transfer this fat from other parts of the body to the stomach.
However, diet and exercise alone are not enough. Visceral fat also very often appears during various types of stressors, so if we are constantly tense, there are many stimuli associated with stress in our lives, and we are not able to calm down and relax ourselves, such fat loves these conditions and happily occupies bigger tummy area. When stressed, we burn a lot of calories, but when this stress subsides, we want to supplement them and we start eating very large amounts of food. Such obsessive food, and snacking between meals causes the waist size to get bigger with each subsequent week.
Another problem that affects many people is the problem with alcohol. In fact, alcohol is not very caloric, but when it reaches the body, it transforms into acetate, which our body cannot store. Alcohol becomes a source of our energy at a given moment, and all the proteins, fats and carbohydrates that we ate accumulate in this time in adipose tissue.
The next problem is bacteria in the gut. While the good ones are the basis for the proper functioning of the intestines, the bad ones can cause many serious consequences for health. The useful ones produce hormones, regulate the immune system, and digest food, control our appetite, mood and weight. If there are fewer of them in the intestines, in favour of these pathogenic bacteria, all of these processes will be disturbed.
So what can you do to lose that belly fat?
It’s not about not eating anything or sitting in the gym for a few hours a day. That’s not the way. You should focus primarily on the right approach to life, consistency and rational thinking, and to do this apply some tips that we provide below to achieve the dream effect.
• Accelerate metabolism
The higher our metabolism works, the better, because then it burns more fat. By properly turning up the metabolism, we can increase lean body mass, we can avoid hunger, have more strength and energy.
• Care for a balanced diet
It’s very important that we look at what we have on the plate, because in 70% our diet is responsible for what we look like. So we should focus on lean protein, including beef, turkey, eggs, chicken or tofu. We should focus on healthy fats, which are necessary for the body, but which do not cause weight gain. And of course it’s impossible not to remember about carbohydrates, which are the main source of energy, but those that are complex, because they are the healthiest for us. Add a lot of vegetables with huge amounts of fibre, fruits, seeds and nuts. And when it comes to portions and seasons of food, we should not focus on fasting because they can give us the opposite effect to what we expected. It’s best to eat 4 – 5 meals a day at regular intervals in such a quantity as to eat, but not overeat.
• Focus on cardio and strength activity
It’s definitely worth exercising, because physical activity is extremely important when it comes to weight loss process, especially the fight with extra fat in the abdominal area. It’s worth betting on cardio training, where an increased heart rate allows us to burn calories faster. It’s good to introduce intervals, so classic exercises interspersed with very intense series lasting several seconds. Thanks to such trainings, the body burns calories long after finishing the exercises. And in addition to cardio training, you should also put on strength training, because increasing muscle mass is beneficial for fat. The more muscles, the faster fat is burned. The combination of cardio and strength training is the best you can do.
• Reduce stress to a minimum
Each of us knows that stress is a real enemy. Therefore, you should try to live in such a way as to limit or eliminate it as much as possible. If a situation or person is stressful on us, the cause of our stress should be eliminated from life, because this is the main path to health, happiness and perfect appearance.
• Focus on healthy sleep
And the last of the elements that are extremely important when it comes to health, well-being and the fight against obesity, including abdominal, is healthy sleep. A person should have 8 hours of sleep a day, because then the body works as it should. Not enough sleep means that the metabolism does not work as it should. We are not rested, we have little energy, and basic life functions are slowed down.
So, as you can see, many factors affect abdominal obesity. If we do not take care of ourselves sufficiently, this effect around our belly is guaranteed. However, by following these tips, you can certainly fight this fat, but you need to be consistent and stubborn on the way to achieve the desired goal.
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