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How to Lose Belly Fat - Get a Flat Stomach
Knowing how to lose belly fat is the first step in gaining that flat stomach that so many people aspire to. Once the belly fat is lost, then you are only one step away from attaining the ultimate dream, the six pack.
If you are looking for advice on how to lose belly fat then following these tips and tricks will help you to lose that gut. Not everyone wants a washboard abs but if you just want to trim down some inches around the waist and get a flatter stomach, these tips can help you.
Belly fat seems to be a huge problem for lots of people, especially men. Naturally, men tend to hold more fat around their waist line, which we call love handles (or beer belly, pot belly). Besides the biological nature of men, modern lifestyle also has a huge impact on this. Work, stress, entertaining clients and lack of exercise contribute to the accumulation of belly fat. Belly fat is usually very stubborn fat, in that it requires a lot of work to reduce it. Losing the beer belly and getting a flat stomach can be a painfully slow experience, but it is certainly worth the efforts. The rewards are not only a better looking, sexier body, but also improved long term health. Recent research has shown that people with pot bellies are more prone to heart disease. If you are serious about losing weight to improve your looks and your health, then you need to take this advice seriously, and work hard to achive your weight loss goals.
Well, lets not get into the cause of obesity and weight gain but rather focus on some solutions that you can take to lose belly fat. We have broken the process of losing belly fat down into five simple rules:
How to Lose Belly Fat - Rule One - Junk Food
To lose belly fat you have to throw out the junk food! You are what you eat, so don't eat junk. Do not keep junk food like cookies, chips, sweets and other similar products in your house. If you do not have these bad foods lying around, you will not think about it and after sometime, you will break the bad eating habits. But, why is junk food so bad? Mostly it is due the the high sugar content of junk food. Most junk food consists of refined carbs and sugar, which when eaten quickly raise blood sugar levels, leading to reduction in fat burning and increase in apetite.
How to Lose Belly Fat - Rule Two - Carbohydrates
Consumption of carbs is essential, but there are good carbs and bad carbs. Refined flours and the foods that they create, such as white bread, pasta, donuts, cakes and biscuits should be avoided. They can cause bloating, poor digestion, and lead to accumulation of fat. "Good carbs", such as fresh fruits and vegetables, should be eaten instead. A diet that takes most of its carbs from fruits and vegetables, as opposed to flours, is healthier. Ideally granary or wholemeal bread should be eaten instead of white bread, and biscuits and cakes should be avoided. Consuming too much carbohydrate can bump up your insulin level which can slow down your metabolism. Your body cannot metabolize too much carbohydrate at once because the body doesn't need so much energy at once. The excess sugar will just turn into belly fat. Slow release carbs are also beneficial, such as oats, brown rice, some pulses and sweet potato.
Much research has shown that adopting the Atkins Nutritional Approach, i.e. a high fat/protein diet, is the way ahead. Avoiding carbs increases fat burning metabolism (lipolysis) which helps to reduce stomach fat.
Combine your meals with a good combination of protein, carbohydrate and vegetables. Your source of protein should be in a size of a deck of cards; the carbohydrates in a size of your palm and the major bulk of your meals should come from vegetables.
How to Lose Belly Fat - Rule Three - Late Night Snacks
Try not to have late night snacks. The main problem with late night snacking is that there is not much activity done afterwards. People go straight to bed right after the late night meal because they are tired. So, this will cause high sugar levels in the blood stream and no energy spent after that. The excess sugar will just turn into fat. Losing belly fat requires a strict diet.
Try to consume you last meal around 2-3 hours before your bedtime. If you are hungry during late nights, consume a small meal.
How to Lose Belly Fat - Rule Four - Alcohol
Decrease that alcohol consumption. I am sure that most people know that alcohol can cause weight gain, but I am certain that they do not know the degree of impact that alcohol can cause. Excess alcohol consumption can really give you that belly. Have you seen people that are slim all over but have a beer belly sticking out? Well, that is effect of excess alcohol consumption. One gram of alcohol, which is can be calculated as one ml of alcohol contains 7 calories. Even thought the amount of calories is lesser than of fat, alcohol calories are completely useless. Alcohol does not contain any nutrients at all. So, the entire amount of calories consumed through alcohol will be stored as fat!
Alcohol is also in the form of liquid. That means, you can really consume a lot at one sitting! I am not saying that you should avoid alcohol totally, just go for moderation. Do not drink everyday and limit your self to one glass of wine or one bottle of beer.
How to Lose Belly Fat - Rule Five - Exercise
Exercise, exercise, exercise! Get your lazy backside off the couch, put down the beer and head on to the gym. Have I got your attention? Good! If you do not know how to get started, hire a personal trainer to kick off your new healthy lifestyle. If you want to exercise by yourself, get some books on weight loss and exercise to help you start off the right track. We have a growning selection of advice and articles to help you get fit here at Motley Health.
Workout with weights at least twice per week and do your cardio at least three times a week. Each weight training session is around 45 minutes and each cardio session is around 30 mins. So, actually, you can just workout three times a week. Two days you will combine weights and cardio and on one day you just do your cardio. Learning how the celebrities get fit can give you inspiration, and we have workouts and diet tips from some of our favourite celebs to help you.
Losing belly fat and getting a flat stomach is a long term goal for most people, so persevere, stick to te plan, don't give up. In addition to these tips, look to enhance your fitness training by following specific routines and schedules. Organising your weekly routine makes it much easiey for you to follow. After a while it will become second nature to get out and exercise. If you do not have to think about what you are going to do, then that saves precious time. To keep a diary, write up your training goals and progress in an exercise log, and just do it!
One of the best ways to help yourself lose your belly fat is to educate yourself on how the body works, and how to exercise it properly.
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