Why your stubborn belly fat can crush your weight loss dream
Raise your hands if you are struggling to lose that dunce belly fat. Don’t feel happier if your biceps and glutes are toning up instead. Carrying those extra pounds in the abdominal region can not only cause aesthetic mess but create health hazards too. You work harder on your crunches, but that belly fat refuses to budge. Painful Scenario.
Sadly, researchers say that fat around your abdomen can be harder to burn than fat on other areas of your body. Why?
The stubborn belly fat occurs when you eat excess of what is required by the body. The excess energy gets stored as fat reserves. There are two types of fat cells called Alpha and Beta. The villain stands out to be Beta. The beta cells prominently scattered around waistline are stubborn. On the contrary, when you are actively trying to lose fat, you may see changes on your legs, face, and arms first because these areas are filled with more alpha cells and they respond favourably to weight loss regime.
For women, zipping their jeans become even more difficult when belly fat grows. On average, women have 10-11% more body fat than men. Bad news. A few hormones in women like high estrogen levels slow down fat burning resulting in further accumulation of fat around the waistline. An expanding waistline in the older women is often considered a tag of advancing age. It’s difficult to shed belly fat as it has higher fat cells that don’t respond easily to the fat-breakdown process called lipolysis.
Risk Measurements for waistline
MEN- Depending upon the built- anything above 39 inches comes in high-risk zone.
WOMEN- above 35 inches signals unhealthy amount of belly fat.
The trouble with belly fat is that it’s not limited to the layer of padding just below the skin. That’s called subcutaneous fat. Belly fat also includes deep visceral fat coating organs. And that lies deep inside the abdomen and surrounds the internal heart, intestines and liver. Regardless of a person’s overall weight, having a large amount of belly fat raises the risk of:
- High blood pressure.
- Sleep Apnea.
- Heart disease.
- High blood sugar and Type II diabetes.
- Certain cancers.
- Fatty liver.
How should we start discussing about the ways to tackle belly fat?
BLAME IT ON GENES – Easy!
To cut short the discussion, certain genetic variants are more common in obese people than to non-obese people. It’s surprising that a bunch of gifted people can devour what they like quite contrary to a few who gain weight with a drop of hat.
Your weight depends on the number of calories you consume daily, how many of those calories you store, and how many you burn up on regular basis. But each of these factors is influenced by a combination of genes and environment.
- If your parents have obesity issues
- You remained an overweight child
- Your obesity roots deep despite your exercise regimes
STRESS IS stressful- Blame it on lifestyle
The stress causes hormone cortisol to increase, which is linked to storing fat, especially around the mid-section. An unhealthy connection. Levels of the stress-hormone, cortisol, rise during tension times leading to overeating into a habit. Additionally, elevated cortisol levels lead to cravings for sweet, fatty and salty foods. This means you’re more likely to indulge in french fries and a milkshake than you are a well-balanced meal.
DIET Dilemma- Up, Down & Yo-Yo dieting
It goes something like this: “Summer & Sweat! Time to slim down.” Winter crawled in: “Desserts! Life is so much fun.” Followed by, “I can’t fit in my pants! God save me. Gotta cut back.” This is yo-yo dieting. You dieting plays hide and seek according to seasons or mood. It catches men and women, the young and the old. It’s not your waistline that takes a hit but long-term health issues arise too.
It’s harder to shed those pockets of fat that result from chronic intake of excess calories. For the yo-yo dieters, fat tends to be held onto more readily because the body has experienced episodes of ‘famine’ too many times, and sparing these deposits is therefore pro-survival.
You’re eating too many processed foods
Refined grains like white bread, fries, chips, refined sugars in syrup filled drinks and desserts increase inflammation. Belly fat is related to inflammation, so eating too many processed foods will hinder your ability to lose belly fat. Natural foods like fruits, vegetables and whole grains are full of antioxidants, which have anti-inflammatory properties and in process prevent belly fat.
PROTEINS comes to the rescue
Fat vs Muscle. As you age, muscle depletes fast. Muscle is the hub of high metabolism. The more you shake your waist, the trimmer you become. Protein comes to the rescue. Sprouts, beans, nuts, tofu, millets and low meat like chicken go a long way.
Good digestive health helps with nutrition and metabolism. Some stomach-friendly foods-
Beans- One-half cup of beans contains as much plant-based protein as an ounce of broiled steak. Plus, these nutritious nuggets are inexpensive and loaded with fiber to keep you feeling full for hours.
Probiotics- A few functions of probiotics, includes:
- Promoting the health and maintenance of our digestive tract’s cell lining
- Supporting immunity
- Managing inflammation
Stay hydrated with plenty of water.
SLEEP is one of the culprits
When we’re lacking in sleep, our body’s hormones get befuddled which can impact our hunger levels the next day. We all have two hormones that affect our appetite: ghrelin and leptin. When we don’t get enough sleep, our ghrelin levels (the hormone that makes us feel hungry) rise, and our leptin levels (the hormone that makes us feel full) drop. Better you stick to your bed on time.
You may have a slow metabolism cycle
One final thing—naturally, women do have a lower metabolic rate than men. This means women’s bodies use fewer calories to fuel normal body functions, and store the leftover calories as fat. Warning. Exercise helps a lot and shedding that coat of lethargy goes a long way.
Track your progress daily, weekly, and monthly. It can serve as an encouraging reminder that what you are doing as health regime is working. There are some great apps and wearable tech devices available that make it easier to stick to your plan. They can help you monitor your goals, your food intake and the calories burned during exercise.
SPOT REDUCTION EXERCISES- My favourite
Lastly, the most important piece of advice for belly fat reduction. You must target specific area for specific problem. Walking is an activity that will help with overall metabolism. But you need some specific remedies for a local issue. Spot reduction exercises are targeted to burn fat in specific body areas. Nothing works in silos. You have to take a holistic approach of weight reduction approach through workouts, diet and nutrition balance followed by yoga, meditation and mindfulness exercises to reduce stubborn belly fat.
Yoga postures-
- Naukasana- boat posture
- Badhakonasana- butterfly pose
- Salabhasana -locust pose
- Halasana- Plow pose
Other targeted exercises
- Burpees
- Push-ups
- Planks
- Spot jogging
With the right approach, you can flatten your belly to a healthy flat.