Losing weight can be a real challenge. Especially as we get older it seems that much harder to keep the weight off, yet so easy to put it on. Of all the places that seems the hardest to get rid of, it is always the stomach that is one of the toughest.
In this newsletter I would like to share with you where stubborn belly fat comes from and 5 strategies to get rid of it.
Where does it come from?
Belly fat comes from a combination of things. High stress being one of the biggest factors, poor eating patterns and a lack of sleep. Each of these overlap with one another and contribute to the build up of something called visceral fat.
Visceral fat is fat that builds up deep between the organs and at healthy levels is used to cushion the organs to avoid bruising. We can develop unhealthy levels of visceral fat whether we are relatively thin or a little overweight. A few of the consequences of unhealthy visceral fat levels are insulin resistance, high blood pressure and cardiac dysfunction. Women tend to have less visceral fat than men
One of the reasons why belly fat can be particularly stubborn is because we do not see the subcutaneous fat disappear first, so we think nothing is happening and give up. Visceral fat takes time to break down and as it took a long time to develop it will take a long time to leave too.
So now that we have an idea of what Visceral fat is, we can move onto what strategies we can use to remove it.
1. Keeping our blood sugar levels stable
Probably one of the most important of the 5 and also one of the most challenging. One of the reasons a lot of coaches bang on about eating every 3-4 hours is to keep their clients blood sugar levels stable. When our blood sugar levels drop our stress hormone (cortisol) starts to creep up and we also start to crave sweet foods. This is our body sending us a message to re fuel and in our modern world of convenience this usually means the sweetest tasting thing closest to us.
Solution- Pay attention to your bodies signals and eat when hungry. Having food with you or having a place with healthier options nearby will help you with this. avoid relying on stimulants such as coffee to get you through the day as this will elevate your cortisol levels and contribute to yet more unwanted visceral fat.
If you can afford it and want someone to do the preparation for you to claw back time Fresh Fitness Food.
2- Weight Train
Weight training has been proven to mobilize fat around the body as well as burn more calories in a workout than most other forms of training.
Solution- Aim to do 3-4 full body weight training sessions a week. If you can add on another one or two hours of something unrelated to weights such as walking, cycling or playing a sport this will help burn additional calories.
3- Reduce Stress Levels
Managing stress in today's world is a real challenge. We have so many different stressors from our work, family, relationships, mindset, food and even chemicals in our environment that it can get a bit much.
Solution- Book in Quiet time for yourself. Block a couple of hours a week to be kind to yourself or spend time alone. I am a huge fan of things like massages, walks in the park/ nature and practices such as yoga that help calm your mind. Book them in your diary and protect them. Be kind to yourself and your body and mind will repay you 10x what you invest.
4- Get enough sleep
Very similar to managing stress, our quality of sleep will greatly determine our mindset and mood the following day. We are heavily sleep deprived nowadays and consider it a norm.
Solution- Aim to get to bed in time to give you 7-8 hours of rested, deep sleep. Ideally before 12am if possible. Avoid technology 60 minutes before bed as it will wind you up. (If you have to work on a laptop at night try this app to reduce the lights that excite the nervous system https://justgetflux.com/). You can read more tips on how to get a good nights sleep on http://www.leaner-uk.com/blog/2014/7/19/top-5-tips-for-the-best-nights-sleep-ever.
5- Use cardio at the right times
Cardio can be a great fat burner, but cardio on its own won't cut it. As mentioned earlier, weight training will help to mobilize fat, but it is the cardio that will help burn and eliminate the fat.
Solution- If you have plenty of time Low Intensity Steady State (LISS) is very good. Try a steady walk for 40 minutes each day either first thing in the morning or after training. If you have less time then High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), is the way to go. It is more intense but you can get a really good workout in 15-20 minutes. Try Rowing Machine sprints where you work for 20 seconds at 90-100% intensity and then go slowly/ rest for 40 seconds. Try that for 10-15 sets.To learn a little bit more read my article on cardio vs weights.
Most importantly be patient. It takes people a while to get out of shape and can take longer than you think to get back into shape. Focus on the power of habit stacking to build a sustainable approach to losing stubborn belly fat.
Yours in Health
Patrick Fallis