Last Updated on 24th September 2021 by Charlie Walsh
Belly fat is the most difficult thing to get rid of, the so-called spare tyre seems to stick around no matter what you do. The point is when summer comes around we can spend too much time in the pub beer garden, have one too many barbecues due to the amazing weather whilst blissfully forgetting about our gym schedule and diet. The most significant thing to understand is that diet is almost 80% of the battle when it comes to having a well-shaped body, whilst 20% is spending time on exercising and health driven motivation.
To be honest, who doesn’t want a healthier body? Now you need to focus on your body and your mental health – a sound mind, a sound body. Christmas is approaching so think about that dress/suit you want to wear for the office Christmas party – Your friends at Bathmate are here to help, read on if you really wanna blitz that belly!!!
How to lose belly fat in 4 easy steps:
1.CUT OUT SUGAR
Most of us blame carbohydrates for weight gain – this is partly wrong. Good carbohydrates give you the strength and drive to exercise so look into adding the following foods to your diet – buckwheat, porridge, vegetables and whole wheat products. Avoid products like white bread, sweet drinks, sweets, cakes and fast foods as they are just empty calories that do not contribute to the process of nourishment. Insulin and glucagon are two hormones responsible for fat burning and storage. Insulin controls the level of sugar in the blood. Glucagon has an antagonistic effect to insulin – when there is too little glucose in the blood, glucagon is supposed to provide it.
The glycaemic index is an indicator of the effect of a given product on blood sugar up to three hours after ingestion. So it means that eating a high GI product like chocolate or a cheeseburger can cause a sharp increase in blood sugar levels, which in turn is a signal for insulin to lower this level. If our bodies are not able to consume the glucose that we provide it, it starts to store it in the form of triglycerides or in short belly-fat. That is why getting rid of sugar is the key step for you to get rid of your belly fat. Instead of sugar add some of the foods form the list below to your diet:
• Milk
• Chilli pepper
• Brown rice
• Porridge
• Chicken/Turkey
• Almonds
• Coffee (no sugar)
• Cinnamon
• Natural yoghurt
• Green tea (no sugar)
• Eggs
• Fish
Also remember to drink a lot of water with lemon or green tea – both drinks boost your metabolism! You should drink 8 glasses of water per day, when you work out you need even more
2.SPORT
It is not just about going to the gym – you do not even have to go out if you want to burn belly fat! You can’t just burn fat from one part of your body, normally fat is burnt from every part but belly fat is a little trickier. Start with the following exercises – plank, burpees, jumping jacks, reverse crunches and crunches and spend 30 minutes every day doing them if possible. Then add some cardio in to your daily schedule. The most incredible kind of cardio that helps torch belly fat is HIIT and TABATA– high intensity interval training. HIIT is to push your body to work out to the maximum level and then take rests to partially recover before pushing hard once again – something like 30 seconds of sprinting and 1 minute of fast walking x 10.
Tabata training lasts only four minutes and the structure of the program is as follows:
• work out hard for 20 seconds
• rest for 10 seconds
• complete 8 rounds
You can choose from the following – jumping jacks (4 minutes), squats (4 minutes), burpees (4 minutes) and mountain climbers (4 minutes)
Start with jumping jacks for 20 seconds at a high-intensity and then rest for 10 seconds, and then go back to doing squats for 20 seconds and once again rest for 10 seconds. Once you complete eight sets of jumping jacks, rest for one minute. So the first benefit is that your training is short. HIIT and TABATA’s successes lie in EPOC – Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption what means that up to 36 hours after training your body is still burning your belly fat! Another benefit of cardio HIIT and TABATA training is that you can do it anywhere and it is great for not only for the body but also the mind.
3.MOVE MORE
Instead of getting everywhere by car, start walking more – for example to the shop, or to visit your friends. Think about riding a bike or maybe rollerblading. Choose the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator. Moreover, have you ever wondered how many calories per hour you are able to burn while vacuuming or doing the household chores? Gardening burns 169 calories, mowing the lawn burns 162 calories, washing the car burns 153 calories, cleaning windows – 153 calories, vacuuming and mopping 255 and even dusting burns 280! What is also worth mentioning is the fact that sex burns a lot of calories too – wink wink!
4.RELAX
WHY? Your body and mind will be thankful. When you are too stressed your body produces cortisol – a hormone which slows down your metabolism. Try to relax, read a book, have a nap or have a warm bath – your muscles will regenerate. Even if you are totally focused losing belly fat you have to allow your body to have time to rest and regenerate and then your body and mind will be ready to appreciate your effort and get used to a new weight. As well as sleeping – you should sleep almost 7-8 hours to feel well and you may also burn calories at night.
With these four easy tips on how to lose belly fat you can achieve success very quickly. Just remember it is not only about your body but also about your mental health. Taking care of yourself will also boost your confidence and self-esteem.
