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If you came across this article looking for tips on how to lose belly fat solely for aesthetic reasons, take a few minutes with us, as we will give you even more reasons (besides tips) to want to lose weight and shed a few inches from your belly.
Having a flat stomach or a defined abdomen can boost self-esteem, making an individual more confident to wear certain clothes or expose the abdominal area in public. However, there are much more important reasons for you to be concerned about those love handles or that protruding belly. Accumulating fat in the abdominal region is not only aesthetically undesirable but is also a significant risk factor for developing diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases.
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Being a few pounds overweight and having belly fat is extremely common. But the fact that you are not alone does not mean that accumulating belly fat is not a cause for concern. Even if you do not care about the aesthetic aspect, as some adult men do, losing belly fat is important for you to be a healthier person.
It is important to keep in mind that those “love handles” on your belly that bother you so much may not be just an aesthetic problem but also a sign that you need to take better care of your health.
Ways to Accumulate Fat in The Body
Regardless of your weight and BMI (body mass index), the way your body accumulates fat greatly influences the risk of developing diseases in the future.
When we gain weight, we accumulate fat visibly and invisibly. Visible fat accumulates under the skin in the subcutaneous tissue. Typically, the areas where the body most often stores fat are the belly, thighs, buttocks, and hips. Invisible fat accumulates more deeply around the organs and is called visceral fat.
Most people are more concerned about the fat they can see. However, hidden fat, i.e., visceral fat, is what worries doctors the most because it can occur in non-obese people.
The way your body accumulates visible fat can provide important clues about visceral fat formation. Individuals who accumulate fat predominantly in the belly while keeping their thighs and hips relatively lean are at higher risk of forming visceral fat. Women who accumulate much more fat in their thighs and hips than in their abdomen tend to have less visceral fat and lower cardiovascular risks.
Dangers of Abdominal Fat and a BMI Above 25 KG/M²
Anyone who thinks they are overweight should calculate their BMI and measure their abdominal circumference with a flexible measuring tape.
When the BMI is greater than 25 kg/m², men with a waist circumference greater than 102 cm and women with a waist circumference greater than 88 cm are at greater risk of developing obesity-related diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, and cardiovascular diseases.
In obese patients with a BMI greater than 35 kg/m², measuring abdominal circumference loses value because the fat accumulation in these cases is diffuse, and visceral fat formation is certain.
If you are obese, there is no doubt that the fat is harming you. The problem is convincing those who are merely overweight and have a slight belly (BMI between 25 and 29.9 kg/m²) that their problem goes beyond aesthetic discomfort.
As an example, over 10 years, adults with a normal BMI and no belly have a 30% lower risk of developing cardiovascular diseases compared to those with a BMI greater than 25 kg/m² and an increased abdominal circumference.
How to Lose Belly FAT
Before we get to the tips on how to lose belly fat, a few points need to be highlighted:
There are no miracles. First and foremost, you have to accept that there are no teas, special diets, formulas, recipes, pills, or any other means that will make you lose belly fat easily and quickly. Until this is understood, you will continue to give money to charlatans and accumulate frustrations. Not to mention the health risks that some “miraculous” weight loss treatments can cause.
The degree of success you will have will always be proportional to the degree of effort you are willing to make. If you want to lose weight without effort, the most you will achieve is failing without effort.
There is no way to lose belly fat without losing weight. The only exception is liposuction, which is not the recommended solution in most cases. It is no use doing crunches, buying abdominal shock devices, or applying creams on the belly, etc. Your belly fat is the body's way of storing the excess calories you consumed over the months. To lose belly fat, you need to make your body burn more calories than it can store. You need to burn those reserves; you need to burn fat.
Losing weight and belly fat necessarily involves the combination of physical exercise and calorie control. If over several days you consume more calories than you can burn, you will gain weight. On the other hand, if you can burn more calories than you consume, you will inevitably lose weight. It's that simple. There is no way around it.
Diet and Exercise to Lose Belly FAT
It is important to understand that it is much easier to lose weight by exercising than with just dieting.
Restricting calorie intake may work in the short term, but if you have a lot of weight to lose, it will only get you halfway there. Many people lose weight quickly with diets, but after a few weeks, they plateau and cannot lose any more weight. The most they can achieve, and even then with great effort, is not regaining the weight.
This happens because as we lose weight, the body's basal calorie expenditure also decreases, forcing the diet to become increasingly restrictive to be effective. Our body consumes, on average, 23 calories for each kilogram of weight.
Therefore, people weighing 100 kg have a basal calorie expenditure of 2300 calories per day, while people weighing 50 kg burn only half of that.
Example: a sedentary individual weighs 100 kg and wants to reach 70 kg. With 100 kg, their body burns about 2300 kcal per day.
- If over several days they consume, on average, 2300 kcal daily, their weight will remain the same.
- If they consume more than 2300 kcal per day, they will gain weight.
- If they consume less than 2300 kcal per day, they will lose weight.
Therefore, if this person follows a diet with 1800 kcal daily, they will lose weight even without exercising after a few days.
The problem is that as they lose weight, their body's daily calorie expenditure decreases. A heavier body demands more energy to function. When this individual reaches 85 kg, their daily basal calorie expenditure will have dropped to around 1800 kcal. In other words, the diet that worked when they weighed 100 kg will no longer be enough for them to continue losing weight.
At this point, the person has two options: either switch to an even more intense diet with around 1300 calories per day, which is quite restrictive and difficult to maintain, or start exercising to increase their daily calorie expenditure. If their body burns 1800 kcal per day and they can burn an additional 500 calories at the gym, their daily expenditure will be 2300 kcal. Therefore, the 1800 kcal diet will continue to be effective for weight loss.
Building Muscle to Lose Belly FAT
Physical exercises have two advantages: they burn calories immediately and increase the basal calorie expenditure when we are at rest.
The ideal is always to combine aerobic exercises (running, spinning, swimming, step, etc.) with muscle-building exercises.
Muscles consume a lot of calories. Therefore, the more muscle mass you have, the higher your body's basal calorie expenditure. While a kilogram of fat burns about 4 kcal per day, a kilogram of muscle burns about 13 kcal. This means that, roughly, for every kilogram of fat you lose, your basal calorie consumption drops by 4 kcal per day. However, if you can replace that lost kilogram of fat with a kilogram of muscle, the effect will be the opposite: you will increase your basal calorie expenditure by 9 kcal.
Thus, we conclude that, unlike what happens with dieting alone, as we lose weight and gain muscle simultaneously, it becomes increasingly easier to continue losing fat and reducing belly size.
Therefore, if you want to lose your belly, do weight training. It's not exactly working out the abdomen that will make you lose belly fat, but the overall muscle gain throughout your body.
Tips to Lose Belly FAT
Understanding everything explained so far, it is easy to remember the tips I will now give:
Prefer more intense aerobic exercises to burn many extra calories in a day. A spinning class, for example, can make you lose between 500 and 800 calories in a single day. This is not to mention the cardiovascular benefits of having good aerobic resistance.
Do at least 30 minutes of physical exercises and then another 30 minutes of weight training. The ideal frequency is 4 to 5 times a week.
Aerobic exercises lasting less than 30 minutes do not help burn belly fat. In the first minutes, we only burn sugar reserves. To reach fat reserves, at least 20 to 25 minutes of aerobic exercise are needed.
If you cannot or do not want to run, walk. Walking 30 minutes daily is enough.
Weight training can be done at any age, as long as it is supervised by a qualified professional.
Swimming is an excellent exercise for losing weight because it is both aerobic and stimulates muscle development.
Doing dozens of repetitions of abdominal exercises will not make your belly disappear if you do not lose weight. You may even build abdominal muscles, but since fat is more superficial, they will remain hidden. There is no way to have that six-pack with a large layer of fat on top in the subcutaneous tissue.
Do weight training for large muscle groups, such as the chest, back, and thighs, because they are bigger muscles and easier to develop, making you lose weight faster.
Seek help from a nutritionist to prepare a diet with the ideal number of calories for you.
Avoid fad diets. Losing weight and belly fat is not a secret; it is just effort and willpower.
Avoid eating fats, fried foods, soft drinks, and sweets. They make you gain weight and increase your cholesterol levels.
Sleep at least 7 to 8 hours a day. Our body burns more calories when we are in deep sleep than when we are just lying down, whether reading or watching TV. Those who sleep little are at greater risk of forming a belly.
Be cautious with miracle formulas. Many so-called natural weight loss treatments actually contain substances such as amphetamines, anxiolytics, diuretics, or antidepressants.
At mealtime, after each bite, take a sip of water. This will make the stomach fill up faster, reducing the amount of food needed to satisfy it.
Never fill your plate. When we are hungry, we tend to put more food on the plate than we really need.
Do not feel obligated to finish your plate every time. If you are already satisfied, stop eating even if there is still food on the plate.
Do not go long periods without eating during the day. Avoid being hungry. It is better to eat 5 or 6 small meals throughout the day with a few hours in between than 2 or 3 large meals spaced out. Long intervals between meals slow down metabolism and increase insulin release when eating, two factors that prevent weight loss.
Eat very slowly, chew your food well, and take small breaks during the meal. Give your body's satiety mechanisms time to activate.
Do not eat dessert immediately after the meal. See if you really need it or if the dessert is just a habit.
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Weight Loss Disclaimer:
The information provided in this blog post is for educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or weight loss plan. Individual results may vary, and it is important to consider your own health needs and consult with a healthcare professional before starting any new diet or exercise program.