Belly fat. Stubborn, annoying and seemingly
impossible to get rid of. Everyone wants to lose it but only few seem to
succeed. What's the secret? Fat burning pills? Drinking 10 cups of tea
everyday? Detox smoothies?
Nope, none of that. I'm
about to tell you the reality behind losing stubborn belly fat and if
you make these 10 changes you will lose your belly fat and the love
handles that come along with it.
During my years of
experience as a personal trainer I've noticed that all of my clients who
had trouble losing belly fat had various things in common that were
preventing them from losing the fat.
I've also noticed in
my personal experience of leaning out to a lower body fat (cutting) for
summer that there are certain things that helped me lose belly fat
really quickly while other things actually seemed to prevent it.
I'm
about to share with you my findings. I'll be providing you with 10
problems that are most likely the reasons preventing you from losing
belly fat and 10 solutions to these problems.
Pay close attention to these 10 crucial changes you need to be making in order to lose your stubborn belly fat and love handles.
1. Workout Routine
Problem: Your workout routine isn't effective for fat loss
Chances
are if you're not succeeding in burning fat then you're most likely
doing the wrong workout to lose stubborn belly fat. When it comes to fat
loss (belly fat in particular) most people seem to think that 30
minutes on the elliptical and a few ab exercises is the way to go. Well
guess what? Not only is this one of the least effective workouts you can
do for fat loss, it's also boring as hell and not very challenging!
The secret to getting abs is simple; everyone has them they're just covered in fat.
All
you have to do is get rid of the fat covering them, and sorry to burst
your bubble but hours of just ab exercises and low intensity cardio will
definitely not help with that. However, certain abdominal exercises can
help you bring your abs out a little more (more relevant to guys) by
using weighted ab exercises but if you aren't losing the fat covering
them then you will still never see them.
Another big misconception
especially for women is that weightlifting will get you bulky and too
muscular. This is full of crap! I'm glad that women are finally starting
to realize that weight training will help you lose stubborn belly fat
and boost your metabolism. Compound movements are the best exercises to
help you burn off fat because they allow you to burn a lot of calories
as well as boost your testosterone. The best compound exercises include
squats, deadlifts, rows, and presses all with heavy weight (ensure that
you're performing them correctly to avoid injury).
Simply put, you
need to change your workout routine. The best type of training routine
for fat loss is a mix of weight training and HIIT circuits. If you don't
know what HIIT circuits are, then head over to my article on my blog
explaining HIIT workouts where you can find more information and some
sample circuits you can use. If these are a little too advanced for you
then you can use my beginner workout routine also on my blog as a
replacement for your HIIT circuit.
Solution: You need to do more weight training and HIIT circuits.
Now you're probably wondering what
exactly you need to do for your workouts to lose your stubborn belly fat.
I
would recommend following a weight training routine that requires you
to weight lift for 3-5 days a week (upper/lower body splits are good to
start), and incorporate an HIIT circuit 2 times a week and slowly
progress to doing it 3-4 times a week.
For the weight lifting part
of it there are several good routines you can do so just use a basic
weight lifting split off the web.
Here's an example overall workout plan you can follow. The other two days of the week will be rest days.
Day 1 - Weight training
Day 2 - HIIT training
Day 3 - Weight training
Day 4 - HIIT training
Day 5 - Weight training
2. Food Intake
Problem: You're either eating too much or too little.
Chances are, you aren't eating the right amount of food to burn off that unwanted belly fat.
You
can either be eating too much or too little. Either way you're
preventing your body from getting into its fat burning mode and causing
it to hold on to your stubborn fat no matter what you do.
This has
to do with the energy balance equation. Everyone has a certain amount
of calories that their body burns a day and this depends on a variety of
factors such as weight, activity level and overall metabolism.
Regardless
of what workouts you're doing, if you're eating more calories than
you're burning everyday then there's no way you're going to lose weight
and burn fat!
You will either put on more fat (or muscle) depending on how much more you're eating and the types of calories you're eating.
On
the other hand, if you're eating too little this puts your body into
starvation mode which will lower your metabolism, cause a decrease in
muscle mass and ultimately prevent you from losing fat. A common
recommendation is to not eat less than 1200 calories daily, as this is
the minimum amount of calories that your body needs to get all of its
vital nutrients.
Solution: Eat the proper amount of food according to your goals and lifestyle.
How
many calories should you eat? Well that's another tough question. This
varies for everyone, but there are a few tools that you can use to get a
rough estimate as to how much you should be eating.
You can use
the calorie calculator that's in the sidebar of my blog, or you can use
other calorie calculators online which will do a much more accurate job
since it takes into account your activity level
. These will both
give you an estimate as to how many calories you should be eating in
order to lose fat. The more activity you do everyday, the more calories
you'll need to be eating. A great mobile app that you can use to track
how many calories you're eating is MyFitnessPal. It has a food database
showing the calories of pretty much any food and packaged food you can
think of, and you can vary the portions.
Now I'm not saying that you should count your calories everyday to the tee.
What
I recommend is find out how many calories you need to lose fat
according to the calculator above, and then try to track how many
calories you're actually eating for a day. If it's above this or below
this, then make proper adjustments and try to stick around this range.
It's as simple as that and if you stay consistent then you will see
results!
NOTE: The maximum amount of weight I
recommend you lose is 2 lbs per week (1 lb per week is ideal) as you
want to maintain your muscle and keep your hormones in balance. Stick
with trying to lose 1 lb per week. If you're not losing enough you can
slightly lower your calorie intake, and if you're losing too much then
you can increase your calorie intake.
3. Processed Foods
Problem: You're eating too many processed foods.
Eating a lot of processed foods is one of the worst things you can do for your body.
It
messes up your hormones, brings your metabolism to a halt, and causes
weight gain. Processed foods don't come from nature, they come from
factories. Common processed foods include candy, beverages such as soft
drinks, potato chips, most fast food, sugary cereals (you get the
point).
You'll notice that as soon as you cut back on processed
foods and start eating more natural foods you will feel more energetic,
happier, and crave junk food less.
Some tips to help you avoid processed food include:
-
reading the ingredients label before buying anything
-
buy your bread from a local bakery
-
when selecting foods like pastas, cereals, rice and crackers always go for the whole-grain option
-
avoid store-bought products containing high-fructose corn syrup
-
visit your local farmer's market
Solution: Eat more whole, natural foods.
Now you're probably wondering what foods you should be eating.
Here's a list of whole, natural foods you should be eating courtesy of 100daysofrealfood:
-
Whole foods that are more a product of nature than a product of industry.
-
Lots of fruits and vegetables.
-
Dairy products like milk, unsweetened yogurt, eggs and cheese.
-
Whole-wheat and whole-grains.
-
Seafood
-
Locally raised meats
-
Limit beverages to water, milk, naturally sweetened coffee and tea.
-
Snacks like seeds, nuts, and fruit.
4. Sugar Intake
Problem: Your sugar intake is too high.
This problem I've seen in the majority of my clients and is honestly probably going to be the hardest thing for you to change.
But
if you take it slow and make small changes daily, I guarantee that you
can easily make this change. Let's take a look at why exactly sugar
causes weight gain and what we can do about it.
Sugar is composed
of two molecules: glucose and fructose. Fructose is not a natural part
of metabolism and in fact very few cells in the body can utilize it
except for liver cells. When we eat a lot of sugar, most of the fructose
gets metabolized by the liver. There it gets turned into fat, which is
then secreted into the blood (causing your stubborn belly fat).
Fructose
can also cause insulin resistance. Our blood glucose levels are
monitored by insulin. When our glucose levels are too high (which can be
toxic), insulin is sent out to allow glucose to be used by our cells in
order to lower our blood glucose levels.
If we didn't have
insulin or it wasn't working properly, our blood glucose would reach
toxic levels. In healthy people this mechanism works well and allows us
to eat high carbohydrate meals without our blood glucose skyrocketing.
Insulin
also has other functions, and one of them is sending signals to our fat
cells to pick up fat from the blood stream, store it and to avoid
burning the fat that they already carry (our stubborn belly fat for
example).
Excess fructose consumption is a known cause of insulin resistance and elevated insulin levels,
thus preventing us to melt off our belly fat despite all of our hard work.
Solution: Limit your sugar intake.
The
Heart and Stroke Foundation recommends that you decrease consumption of
added sugar to no more than 10 percent of your total daily calories.
This doesn't include sugar that occurs naturally in fruit, vegetables, milk, grains and other foods.
To
put this in perspective, for an average 2,000 calorie a day diet this
would mean that you shouldn't have more than 48 grams, or 12 teaspoons
of sugar.
One can of pop already contains about 85% of the daily added sugar limit!
A
tip if you're struggling is to use natural sugar replacements (my
favourite is Stevia) which may taste a little different at first but are
definitely worth the change.
Some other tips are to cook at home
more often, choose cereals low in sugar, stay away form sugary
lattes/coffees, and naturally flavour your water with fruits instead of
drinking sugary soft drinks.
5. Protein Intake
Problem: Your protein intake is too low.
Usually
when women (and sometimes men) think of weight loss, they immediately
think of reducing their calories mainly from their carbohydrate intake.
Although
you should slightly lower you carbohydrate intake for fat loss, you
also need to make sure that you're protein intake is adequate.
Many
think that adding more protein to their diet will just lead to more
weight gain. However, according to new research, increasing your protein
intake can help you lose weight while maintaining your fat-burning
muscle along with keeping you full for longer.
Although
the main factor regarding weight gain and weight loss is your calorie
intake, the type of calories you take in will affect what type of weight
you are gaining or losing.
Higher protein diets seem to
be more effective at burning fat while maintaining or even gaining
muscle (which is exactly what you want!) than low protein diets.
Solution: Eat more protein!!
So how much protein should you be eating? Well, the answer depends on many factors.
Here's
a great table courtesy of a calorie counter showing you how much
protein you should be eating daily depending on your goal.
Person, Situation & Goals
Ideal Daily Protein Intake
Average
healthy sedentary adult (male or female) that does NOT work out or have
any related goals. This is just what I consider to be a good minimum
daily protein intake for general health/function.
0.5-0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight.
Average
healthy adult (male or female) that IS doing some form of exercise
regularly or IS trying to improve their body (lose fat, build muscle,
etc.). This is the minimum I'd recommend in this case.
0.8-1 grams of protein per pound of body weight.
Average
healthy adult FEMALE whose primary goal is building muscle, getting
"toned," maintaining muscle while losing fat, increasing strength or
improving performance.
1-1.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight.
Average
healthy adult MALE whose primary goal is building muscle, getting
"toned," maintaining muscle while losing fat, increasing strength or
improving performance.
1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight.
If you're not sure where you fit in, then you can use the general fitness recommendation of 1 gram per pound of body weight.
And if you're a little confused, here's a sample calculation:
Let's
say I'm a 140lb woman looking to lose fat while maintaining or building
muscle. She would very simply multiply 140 by 1-1.2 and get a daily
protein intake of between 140-168 grams per day.
Some foods high
in protein and low in saturated fat include chicken breast, turkey,
extra lean beef, fish, tofu, whey protein, and many more.
NOTE:
In the case of people who are obese or very overweight, your ideal
protein intake should be calculated using your target body weight since
it will be otherwise be overestimated due to the excessive amount of fat
on your body. For example, a 300lb man looking to get down to 200lbs
would use 200lbs as their weight when calculating how much protein they
should eat per day.
6. Carb Intake
Problem: Your carb intake is too high for fat loss
For
the past couple decades health authorities have recommended that we eat
a calorie restricted, low-fat diet. The problem with this diet is that
it
simply doesn't work.
Studies show that low-carb
diets reduce your appetite and make you eat less calories which makes
you lose weight pretty much effortlessly, as long as you manage to keep
the carbs down.
Diets low in carbohydrates have been
proven to be superior for fat loss. It's common for people to lose 5-10
pounds in the first week of a low-carb diet due to losing a lot of water
weight. After this, weight loss will slow down but this time the fat
will be coming from your fat stores.
However, you're body still
needs carbohydrates everyday for energy and to keep it in it's
fat-burning state. Eat too little carbohydrates and you'll notice that
you won't have any energy to workout!
Solution: Keep your carb intake at around 10-30% total intake
A good guideline is to keep your carb intake at around 10-30% of your total caloric intake.
Use
the number of calories you calculated in point 2 for your total caloric
intake. For example, let's say I need to eat 2000 calories a day to
lose weight. This means that 10-30% of this should come from
carbohydrates, which would be 200-600 calories. If you're more active
then stay at the higher range of this and if you're less active then
towards the lower end of this range.
I recommend that you
eat almost all of your carbohydrates during your post-workout meal as this is when your body needs it the most.
You can save a little bit of your carbohydrates for a pre-workout meal
for energy but keep the majority of it for after your workout. On your
rest days you can lower your carbohydrate intake even more since your
body won't need them for recovery.
Unfortunately, after
several weeks or months of a low carb diet your body will start to
understand what you're trying to do and lower its metabolism to
counteract this.
What you can do if it seems as if you've
plateaued and can't lose anymore fat is start doing refeed days. These
are days where you bump up your carbohydrate intake substantially and
eat back at your caloric maintenance level or even a little over this.
On these days, lower your fat intake and increase your carbohydrate
intake. You can start by having one reseed day every two weeks once
you've plateaued and eventually do them once a week. Refeed days will
help you reset your metabolism and is one of the secrets to losing that
last bit of stubborn belly fat that won't come off.
Carb cycling
is another option you can use which consists of low carb days and high
carb days to keep your metabolism revved up and your body in fat burning
mode.
7. Alcohol
Problem: You're getting hammered too often
Unlike
carbohydrates, proteins and fats, alcohol is what nutritionists refer
to as empty calories: calories without any nutritional value.
To
make matters worse, it is the first fuel to be used when combined with
carbohydrates, fats or proteins which means that food you eat while
drinking alcohol will have a greater tendency to be stored as fat.
Alcohol also contains 7 calories/gram, which makes it more calorie dense
than carbohydrates and proteins (both at 4 calories/gram) and only 2
calories/gram less than fat (at 9 calories/gram).
Alcohol also
damages the stomach, kidneys, and the liver and has been proven to lower
testosterone which is one of the main hormones for fat loss and lean
muscle mass.
To put it in perspective:
-
a one ounce shot of vodka (40% alcohol) contains around 64 calories
-
one glass of red wine contains around 123 calories
-
one can of regular 4-5% alcohol beer contains 153 calories.
Plain and simple, binge drinking is a recipe for weight gain!
Solution: Drink wisely
I'm
not going to tell you to stop drinking - it's fun and I believe in
moderation. Here are some tips you can use during your night outs:
-
Drink alcohol with a lower caloric value, and a higher alcohol
percentage (vodka for example). Less will be consumed, meaning lower
overall calorie consumption.
- Avoid high-calorie liqueurs. These
are extremely deceptive (they taste so good) and will add enormously to
overall caloric content.
- Try not to binge eat junk food while
drinking. As mentioned, drinking will relax the inhibitions and cause
one to compromise their nutritional habits.
- If drinking beer,
try a lower calorie alternative. Also, drink diet sodas with various
spirits to significantly lower the calorie content of these drinks.
-
Drink water between alcoholic drinks. This will increase feelings of
fullness and may help to prevent over consumption of alcohol.
- If using chase, try and use less sugary options or carbonated water instead of soda drinks
8. Sodium Intake
Problem: Your sodium intake is too high.
Although
sodium doesn't case weight gain directly, too much sodium intake can
cause bloating and water retention which will make your stomach look
bigger than it really is (and full of gas).
Not only can
it cause bloating, it also contributes to hypertension (high blood
pressure). Common foods that are high in sodium include processed meats,
many canned foods, cheeses, breads, cereals, sauces, pickled foods and
most pre-packaged foods.
Solution: Keep your sodium intake below the recommended limit.
According
to Health Canada, people should eat at least 1,500 mg of sodium a day
and not exceed 2,300 mg. You'll probably notice that as soon as you keep
your sodium intake within the recommended limit that your stomach will
look a little flatter and less bloated.
There are some low-sodium alternatives that you can use to lower your overall sodium intake.
Instead
of your traditional table salt, you can use potassium chloride (a
popular salt substitute) which tastes remarkably similar to salt.
However, potassium chloride-based salt substitutes aren't recommended
for people with kidney problems. Low-sodium soy sauce, unsalted butter
and low sodium seasonings (Flavour God, Mrs. Dash, etc.) are some other
alternatives that you can use to lower your sodium intake.
Some other ways to reduce water retention and bloating besides reducing your sodium intake include drinking more water,
eating more fibre and drinking certain teas such as peppermint tea or green tea.
9. Sodium Intake
Problem: You're not getting enough sleep
Many of us (especially students) take sleep for granted.
But
watch out, all of your all-nighters and late night cramming for school
can actually cause weight gain and contribute to your stubborn belly
fat.
When you haven't had enough sleep, it's easy to
count on a large sugary latte to get you moving and you may even be
tempted to skip exercise and get some takeout for dinner. However the
relationship between sleep and weight gain goes beyond this. Experts
agree that getting enough sleep is just as important to health,
well-being and weight loss as diet and exercise.
Here's Why:
In
simple terms, skimping on sleep encourages your brain to make bad
decisions. It actually dulls the frontal lobe activity in your brain
which is responsible for decision-making and impulse control. This is
what causes you to make bad decisions.
Also, when you're overtired
your brain's reward enters rev up to look for something that feels
good. You may have been able to say no to your food cravings when you
were well-rested, but you may have some trouble squashing these cravings
with a sleep-deprived brain.
According to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,
people tended to eat more late-night snacks and were more likely to choose high-carb snacks when they were deprived of sleep.
A
second study showed that sleeping too little prompts people to eat
bigger portions of food which ultimately leads to weight gain. And in a
review of 18 studies, researchers actually found that a lack of sleep
led to increased cravings for energy-dense, high-carbohydrate foods.
Basically, a sleepy brain appears to crave junk food with the lack of control to say no. A perfect recipe for weight gain!
Think
of sleep as nutrition for the brain. Majority of people need between
7-9 hours every night. Any less than that, and your body can react in
ways that lead even the most strict dieter straight to a tub of ice
cream.
Sleep has also been proven to make you less hungry,
decrease daytime stress levels, increase the body's ability to burn
calories and actually increase muscle mass.
Solution: Get some damn sleep!
Now
that you know all the benefits of sleep and how it can help you lose
fat, I hope that you hit the sack tonight and get your 7-9 hours of
beauty sleep.
Some tips that can help you fall asleep faster
include turning off all your electronics, keep your room dark,
read/write before bed and reduce unwanted noise.
Oh, and no late night energy drinks and coffee would help too!
10. Patience
Problem: You're not being patient enough.
There's
a reason why belly fat is the hardest place for you to lose fat. Your
body tends to lose fat in the last place you gained it.
Why
exactly is stubborn belly fat so stubborn? Well typically people will
gain fat first in their stomach and then throughout the rest of your
body. This means that in order for you to lose that belly fat, you'll
first have to lose the fat on your face/arms/shoulders/chest and
everywhere else before the fat you lose starts to come from your belly.
When you start burning fat off your belly, it will come off from the top of your abs first and then slowly towards the bottom.
This is why the lower part of your abs is the most difficult place to lose fat.
Solution: Be patient and stay consistent.
It
may be hard to stay motivated when you're not losing too much off of
your belly at first. But consistency and being persistent is key! It
takes a lot of time and a lot of hard work but it's definitely wroth it.
Once you start seeing fat coming off of your neck and arms it'll only
motivate you more to stay consistent so that it starts coming off your
stubborn belly!
There's no set timeline as to how long it
takes for you to lose your belly fat, but if you stay consistent with
these 10 changes then eventually you will succeed!
Take Action and Lose that Stubborn Belly Fat!
Now
that I've shown you exactly how to lose stubborn belly fat with these
10 changes, put them into action and you'll see amazing results!
The key points I want you to remember is push yourself in your
workouts, eat good whole foods, eat the right amount of food, and allow
yourself to rest and recover. It will take a lot of hard work but you'll
feel so much better and look so much better that you'll totally forget
about all the blood, sweat and tears.
