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Naturally Lose Belly Fat Using These 14 Tips.
Our bodies are wired to store fat around our center of mass which happens to be the belly, love handles and hips. If you’re looking at how to lose belly fat fast without too much fuss, you’re not alone. Excessive belly fat isn’t just ugly but can be very harmful to your overall health.
But before we share the fourteen tips on how to lose belly fat fast, it’s quite important to briefly understand the biological reason behind why fat is stored in the body. There’s a very good reason for this. Storing pounds of fat on more distal areas like your hands and your feet would require a lot more energy to carry around.
We would not be able to do the things that we need to do on a daily basis to survive and this defeats the whole biological purpose of storing fat to begin with. Essentially your body tries to stock up on energy in the form of body fat in case of a future famine. During a famine there’s a shortage of food or in other words a shortage of energy.
In sports like wrestling and judo we can see that our center of mass gives us the leverage we need to carry heavy weight loads without expending a ton of energy. Your body already naturally knows this so that’s why one of the first areas to gain fat when you overeat is your belly.
Your body sees this an very efficient way of storing the excess food. And this is what causes belly fat in males and females. Unfortunately, not only is the stomach area the last spot that most people want to gain fat but it’s also very unhealthy to carry large amounts of fat around your midsection. And many people try every trick in the book on how to lose belly quickly.
Even though your body is quick to store fat around your stomach it’s very hesitant to get rid of this belly fat and that is why it is hard to lose belly fat. You need to reduce your overall body fat percentage low enough to allow your body to burn the fat everywhere else before it starts pulling energy from the fat stored in your belly.
This is done mostly through diet so a lot of times many people follow a strict diet which becomes more and more difficult the longer you try to stick to it.
How to Lose Belly Fat Quickly and Without Self Torture
With that out of the way, today I want to give you guys 14 quick guidelines on how to lose belly fat that you could use to start burning excess body and belly fat as soon as possible. You do not need to torture yourself in the process with diets you cannot stick to.
#1. Limit the amount of high sugar foods.
The very first extremely effective thing that you can do is limit the amount of high sugar foods that you eat. Here’s the problem with sugar. It doesn’t only taste good in the moment but it makes you crave more sugar in the future.
When you habitually (please note the word ‘habitually’ because it’s important) eat things like cookies, ice cream and cake, you actually wind up decreasing the sensitivity of your palate. This makes natural healthy sources of sugar like fruit taste much less sweet and satisfying.
There are also studies that show a direct link between having a high sugar intake and having higher levels of abdominal fat. This due to the fact that sugar spikes insulin which is a fat storage hormone and also decreases insulin sensitivity. This doesn’t mean that you can never have any sweets.
You can reward yourself with something like ice cream, cookies or cake at the end of the week. However, this shouldn’t be a staple part of your diet throughout the week. Instead you should do your best to stick to fruit to satisfy your sweet tooth.
#2. Don’t go to the grocery store hungry.
And also when you go shopping you’re gonna want to stick to the outside perimeter of the grocery store and avoid the inner aisles for the most part. This includes your produce department, your seafood, meat, eggs and some dairy.
This is because the inner aisles are usually where you’ll find all the processed food that ends up raising your insulin levels, increasing your daily calorie count and of course contributing to the storage of fat around your stomach.
However, other than high sugar cereals, chips and cookies, there are some things in the inner aisles like rice, quinoa and nuts that can actually fill up your stomach and help you reduce belly and body fat.
One fat burning trick is also making sure you eat a healthy meal before going to the grocery. When you’re hungry you’re more likely to just pick anything that is full of sugar and eat it.
When you do go into the inner aisles you want to follow our next tip on how to lose belly fat.
#3. Pick mostly single ingredient foods.
These are foods that have a low calorie density which means that for the amount of space that they take up in your stomach they’ll only add a relatively low amount of calories to your daily total. A perfect example of this is comparing Oreos to something like broccoli.
Just one Oreo will have 40 calories mostly in the form of sugar. For the same amount of calories you can fill your stomach with a whole cup of broccoli.
Now on top of that single ingredient foods require more calories to digest. The Oreo will quickly and easily be broken down into simple sugar without much effort. Meanwhile the broccoli will need more energy to be broken down reducing the net amount of calories that you ultimately take in.
We can see this again and again when comparing many other foods such as white bread to brown rice for example.
So generally a great rule of thumb is to stick to a whole, unprocessed, natural single ingredient foods that either have a short shelf-life, are frozen or need to be boiled in order to eat them. These are foods that help you burn fat fast.
#4. Avoid added sugar.
The next tip on how to lose belly fat is you want to watch out for added sugar. Even in the outside perimeter of your grocery store you’ll notice things that appear to be healthy like smoothies and juices. In reality they’re only going to help you store body fat rather than lose it.
That’s because when you take a closer look at these foods and beverages that are marketed as healthy, you’ll see that they’re full of a ton of ingredients to help preserve the products. They are especially full of added sugar to make them more palatable.
If you want something like a natural smoothie you’re much better off making it fresh on your own. Simply throw some fruits, vegetables and water into a blender. Not only is this nutritious but it’ll actually help you drink more water throughout the day which is actually the
#5. Drink more water often and regularly.
I know you’ve heard this before that one of the fastest way to burn fat is to drink water. Now the majority of people trying to burn fat think that water can be used to enhance weight loss and fat loss. They try to drink tons of water throughout the day.
Many of these same people will still continue heavily snacking throughout the day on high sugar fat foods like trail mix. But they’ll still make sure that they get their are 8 ounce glasses of water in for the day.
The truth is that there is no magical property of water that significantly enhances fat loss. It will slightly speed up your metabolism but this will only save you around 50 calories per day. Maybe closer to a hundred if you only drink cold water.
However sticking exclusively to only drinking water is a great tip for those of you that have juices and sodas throughout the day. This can save you from consuming literally hundreds of extra calories in the form of sugar.
Water is also one of the healthiest beverages you can drink because it helps carry nutrients from the food that you eat throughout your body.
#6. Increase your protein intake.
Another important tip if you want to know how to lose belly fat quickly is to up your protein intake if it’s currently low. Studies have shown that protein helps fill you up and reduces hunger. Another benefit that we get from fat loss is that protein requires significantly more energy to digest than carbs and fats.
So it will increase your metabolism if you have a higher protein diet sometimes helping you burn even hundreds of extra calories per day. On top of that it’s also great for building muscle.
However eating too much protein won’t necessarily give you any extra benefits. According to the research maximum muscle building effects are achieved at around 0.70 – 0.80 eight grams of protein per pound of body weight.
So even though having more than that won’t necessarily hurt your fat loss efforts, it could make your nutrition plan more difficult to stick to because it will reduce the number of in fact that you can eat per day so I recommend sticking to around point eight grams of protein per pound of body weight per day and having the rest of your calories in the form of carbs or fats.
As I mentioned earlier, before you’re able to burn belly fat it’s gonna take some time for your body to first burn off fat from other places. So you need to be consistent for some time before you start seeing the stubborn belly fat reducing. Consistency is key here.
#7. Make healthy food taste great.
To stay consistent it’s very important that you follow the next simple rule of making healthy food taste great. Any diet that requires you to eat food you hate or to cook them in a bland tasteless way is destined for failure.
Don’t be afraid to add enough olive oil, seasonings and spices to your meals to make them taste great. Being the type of person that pours one droplet of oil on the frying pan may save you some calories in the short run but ultimately heavily restricting will lead to a binge and failure in the long run.
#8. Allow yourself an occasional cheat meal.
Similar to making healthy food taste great is to allow yourself an occasional cheat meal but only after you fill up your stomach you can do this.
Before you go to a restaurant or before you have a cheat meal even at home, if you have a small high protein, high vegetable meal before eating the things that you’re craving, it’ll help take the edge off your hunger. You will also save a lot of calories without you having to use much willpower. Willpower can only take you so far when it comes to reducing belly fat.
Even if you don’t have time to make a whole meal simply throwing some fruits and vegetables into a blender and having that before you have your cheat meal will go a long way to help your fat loss cause.
#9. Don’t overdo with alcohol.
Our tip on ways to burn fat is to not overdo it with alcohol. Being moderate with your alcohol intake will help trim your belly fat quickly. Since fat is metabolized in the liver you’re gonna want your liver to be available for the breakdown of fat. Instead of it being busy digesting alcohol let be available to metabolize fat.
But that’s exactly what happens when you drink alcohol. Your body drastically slows the breakdown of fat to prioritize getting the alcohol out of your system. On top of that certain alcoholic beverages will hurt your body fat loss efforts.
For example drinking beer and wine in excess can add just as much sugar to your diet as drinking soda. If you’re gonna drink alcohol, go for unflavored liquors like vodka, rum and tequila. Also if you want to make a mixed drink or use a chaise make sure to use a calorie free beverage.
#10. Eat more soluble fiber.
Moving on with the tips on how to lose belly fat fast is to eat more soluble fiber. Soluble fiber helps reduce hunger. It does this by slowing down the digestion of the food that you eat helping you feel fuller for longer.
Great sources of soluble fiber include oats, avocados and Brussels sprouts.
For those of you that are afraid of adding even healthy carbs like oats, remember that feeling full and satisfied on a day to day basis is a lot more likely to lead to a successfully get rid of belly fat in the long run. You’ll be reducing your calorie intake naturally due to increasing your satiety rather than forcing restrictions.
#11. Engage in the right type of exercise.
Now even though the majority of your belly fat will be burnt via diet, the right type of exercise can really help speed things up. It can help you maintain your results when you’re done.
Weight training in particular will allow you to burn more calories, build more muscle, which will increase your metabolism and it’ll increase your insulin sensitivity. Insulin sensitivity is great for fat loss.
Also weight training will deplete your body’s glycogen stores. You’ll have more room to eat carbohydrates since your body will need those carbs to replenish the glycogen in your muscles and liver rather than your fat cells.
#12. Get adequate sleep.
Another really important thing to do is to make sure that you get enough sleep. Sleep is crucial for your muscles to recover after a workout or exercise. It’s when you rest and sleep that your muscles grow. Getting enough sleep helps balance your hormones whereas not getting enough will increase cortisol and decrease testosterone.
This will promote fat gain and muscle loss. Do your best to get at least 6 to 7 hours of sleep per night to ensure that your body is primed for not just belly fat loss but muscle growth.
#13. High Intensity Interval Training.
Once you have your diet and weight training in check you can add some high-intensity interval training to boost fat loss a little. Further this should only be done when you hit plateaus and your diet and weightlifting is not enough on its own.
If you don’t want to adjust your diet and you want to keep eating the same amount that you’ve been eating, you can burn some extra calories by throwing in one 15-minute high-intensity interval training session per week at a time.
This session should include full body exercises that get your heart rate up like burpees, squat, jumps and rope slams. The goal is to work as hard as you can for a short duration like 45 to 60 seconds. Then follow that up with a short break round where you take 30 to 60 seconds off then repeat again and again for 15 minutes.
These full-body aerobic workouts are a great way to burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time without promoting muscle loss.
#14. Set up your diet to help you lose belly fat.
Finally the last tip on how to lose belly fat quickly for today is to set up your diet in a way that helps you eat less without you feeling hungry or deprived. For some of you this may mean that you fast for the majority of the day and have a couple large meals.
Intermittent fasting can be very effective for fat loss without having to eat all day long and without having to limit the size of your meals all that much. The downside however is that you do have to go for at least 16 hours per day without food. So while this may work for some it won’t work for others.
Others may do a lot better by controlling their hunger with small meals throughout the day. Remember that the amount of meals you eat per day doesn’t really determine how much fat you will lose. Choose the plan that is best for you.
Conclusion
Those are the 14 tips on how to lose belly fat quickly. You can use to start losing belly fat without crazy restrictions by following these simple suggestions. You will be able to stick to a healthy eating plan for longer which will allow you to tap into the fat stores around your stomach over time.