One of the most common weight-loss goals is reducing belly fat. As people get older, it’s not at all uncommon to experience an increase in belly fat around the waistline. Normally, this is caused by a reduction of muscle mass, and an increase in abdominal fat.
Not only does belly fat make it difficult to fit into your clothing, it can make you feel self-conscious about your appearance. Understand that there are two major types of fat in our bodies. Subcutaneous fat and Visceral fat. Subcutaneous fat is that jiggly fat right below your skin. So if you pinch your belly or sides and can grab a fair amount of fat, that is subcutaneous fat.
Subcutaneous fat generally isn’t harmful. However, an excess of subcutaneous can increase the risk of conditions like cardiovascular disease or high blood pressure and diabetes.
Visceral fat, however, is far more dangerous than subcutaneous fat. Visceral fat is the fat that wraps around your abdominal organs. Unlike subcutaneous fat, you can’t always see or feel it. It’s possible to have a flat stomach and still have have visceral fat. Visceral fat increases your risk of health conditions including:
- High blood pressure
- Heart disease
- Type II diabetes
- Stroke
- And even certain cancers
So, yes, visceral fat is seriously harmful.
The Effective Belly Fat Plan Plan
Your plan consists of 3 major components : Setting your goals, your diet/nutrition regimen, and your exercise routine
Setting Your Goals… and Your Expectations
This is important. Without exception, the most important factor in being successful is managing your expectations. If you’ve been searching for solutions to your challenges with belly fat , you’ve probably seen numerous articles and guides with titles that include the words, “Fast”, “Easy”, “Quick”, etc. Let’s be clear. Making significant changes or improvements to your body won’t be fast or easy.
If you went to bed one night with a flat, toned tummy and woke up the next morning with an excess of belly fat, then a case might be made for finding a solution that could reverse that over the course of a day or two. For most people, however, that build-up of fat around your midsection occurred over the course of months or years.
It’s important, therefore, that we manage our expectations and understand that it will take some time, and commitment, to reduce the inches in our midsection. Having unrealistic expectations normally result in disappointment, frustration, and eventually, abandoning your effort to achieve your goal. Unfortunately, many people repeat this cycle over and over.
Here is a good planning chart that will help you set your goals, monitor your progress, and create a plan for trimming those inches.
One other thing we need to keep in mind is that even when we’re able to reduce the size of our belly, whether it happens relatively quickly or not, unless we change the lifestyle habits that led to our expanded midsection, we will find ourselves exactly where we were in the beginning.
Chances are you’ve hear many people’s frustration in losing weight by adopting some exercise program or a specialized diet, but gaining all the weight back over time. This is all because a diet or an exercise regimen only addresses the current issues in our body. If we don’t change the habits that got us to that place, we will revert to square one and begin the process all over again.
Diet and Nutrition
Without question, the factor that will have the greatest positive impact on taking control of your belly fat is your diet. Now, some of these might be a bit intuitive, but consistently following these guidelines in conjunction with an effective exercise plan will dramatically help you lose belly fat.
Minimize or Avoid Trans Fats
Not only have trans fats been linked to inflammation, heart disease, and insulin resistance, they are also a cause for increased abdominal fat gain.
As much as possible, stay away from foods that contain trans fats. Some of these are common and enjoyable, but the price you pay is an increase in abdominal fat.
Some examples of some relatively popular foods that contain fair amounts of trans fat include:
- Microwave popcorn
- Stick margarine
- Frozen pizza
- Non-dairy coffee creamer
- Potato and corn chips
- Fried foods like fried chicken, french fries (ouch!), and donuts
Eat more healthy fats
While dietary fat was typically avoided in the past, we now know that some fats, healthy fats, can have several benefits.
Actually, some full-fat foods are important in a healthy diet. Consuming healthy fats instead can help reduce overall body fat, including belly fat. Some healthy high-fat foods include:
- Eggs
- Chia seeds
- Olives
- Fatty fish
- Nuts
- Avocados
- Dark chocolate
Eat a High-Protein Diet
Including more protein in your diet is a great way to promote weight loss in a number of ways. When combined with your exercise regimen.