Do you feel uncomfortable in your #body? Do you feel like you must do something about your #belly, especially?
Some people, most especially women, have issues with their weight. Almost all the parts of the body pose one challenge or another but the part that worries most is the belly. Generally speaking, having a healthy diet, sufficient exercise, enough sleep and good stress management strategy should help to reduce belly #fat.
I conducted a research on this issue and found out the following facts.
- Exercise is very important.
It is recommended to have 30 minutes of exercise everyday or at least 5 times a week. For an effective result, this type of exercise must be vigorous enough to make one sweat and breathe harder so that the heart can race faster than normal. Depending on preference, one can go jogging or walking provided that one walks briskly and faster than normal.
- Your diet is also very important.
Unfortunately, there is no specific diet designed to reduce belly fat. Research shows that when you watch your diet and lose weight, the belly fat also goes away. Having a healthy diet (i.e. food rich in fibre) helps a lot.
- Sleep is another important factor.
Getting enough sleep helps to reduce belly fat. It might not be the main factor but research shows that getting 6 to 7 hours (no more, no less) of sleep per night is ideal.
- Another factor is stress management.
The way people handle stress matters a lot. Stress can be managed and reduced by exercising, meditating, getting counselling and relaxing with friends and family.
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If all these activities combined together do not help you, then your hormones, your age and other genetic factors may be the reason. Naturally, when people get old, their bodies change how it gains and losses weight. The metabolic rate or the number of calories the body needs to function normally decline in both male and female. If this is the case, do not feel terrible because you can do something to help yourself - just check what you are doing!
- Are you doing the wrong workout?
Cardio workouts like daily run or Spin class is great for your heart, but will not do much for your waist. Research shows that you need to do a combination of weights and cardiovascular training.
- Are you eating too many processed foods?
Research shows that eating too many processed foods hinders your ability to lose belly fat. Refined grains like white bread, crackers and chips as well as refined sugars in sweetened drinks and desserts should be avoided. Natural foods like fruits, vegetables and whole grains are good.
- Are you eating the wrong fats?
The body doesn't react to all fats in the same way. According to research, high intake of saturated fat (the kind in meat and dairy) is not healthy. But the intake of monounsaturated fats (the kind in olive oil and avocados) and specific types of polyunsaturated fats (mainly omega-3s, found in walnuts, sunflower seeds and fatty fish like salmon) is very good to the body.
- Is your workout challenging enough?
In order to get rid of your belly fat, you have to ramp up your workouts. That is, increase the momentum.
- Are you doing the wrong exercises?
Make sure that you are doing functional exercises that use the muscles in your core—abdominals, back, pelvic, oblique—as well as other body parts. In that way you are more likely to burn more calorie in one session.
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