Learning how to lose stomach fat is relatively simple once you have the basics down although so many people still don’t understand the correct and sensible way of losing stomach fat and keeping it off. Let me explain to you the most important points that you will need to stick to if you ever want to learn how to lose stomach fat
How to Lose Stomach Fat
Focus on your diet. If you’re serious about losing stomach fat it is vital that you concentrate on your diet. Your diet will make or break you when it comes to losing stomach fat and is without question the first thing you should look at. Cut down/eliminate all empty calories in your diet and replace them with quality calories and healthy alternatives.
Eat Quality Calories to lose stomach fat
What I mean by quality calories are foods that have some sort of nutritional value and not just a load of sugar and fat in them. These type of foods will fill you up more preventing unwanted snacking. A good example would be a lean protein source such as chicken and a complex carbohydrate such as brown rice. Both foods are classed as quality calories as they have sufficient nutrients in them that are going to help your body in some way or form.
The large quantity of protein found in chicken will help repair and build new muscle tissue whereas the brown rice will provide your body with a steady release of carbohydrates helping move protein into your muscle and giving you a steady release of energy throughout the day. A pack of cookies on the other hand has a lot of calories in them, mostly coming from sugar and fat (the unhealthy kind) and don’t benefit your body in any way or form.
Eat 5-6 meals/snacks to lose stomach fat
Now you have understood that you need to be eating clean quality calories in your diet whilst cutting out the majority of junk food to lose stomach fat, that’s talk about how many meals or snacks you should be consuming. Ideally, to keep cravings at bay and lose stomach fat, you should be eating 5 or 6 meals/snacks a day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner should be the larger of the 5/6 meals with 2 or 3 snacks scheduled in-between. This will keep your metabolism revved up throughout the day and prevent hunger pangs, increasing your chances of losing that stubborn stomach fat.
Drink water to lose stomach fat
I would encourage you all to drink 2-3 litres of water throughout the day to keep your body hydrated and help flush out any harmful toxins. Drinking water throughout the day is a great way to lower your overall daily calorie intake as water has no calories in it whatsoever. Water also has a reputation for filling you up as it takes up more space in the stomach so next time you feel a few hunger pangs, try drinking some water. Sometimes hunger pangs are a result of your body asking for more water so give it a try and keep your body hydrated throughout the day.
Keep track of the food and calories you eat to lose stomach fat
Next we will discuss calories and the type of foods to eat in your diet. This is a tricky subject as there are a number of diets out there that promise to help you lose stomach fat in the shortest amount of time possible, restricting you to eating certain foods or some none at all! Some will tell you that calories do not matter whereas others will tell you that it is vital to keep track of all your calories in order to lose stomach fat. The truth is this:
The best diet you can have, is a diet you can stick to.
If you can stick to a diet without too many problems or setbacks, then this is the diet for you. I would therefore recommend you create your own diet and stick to what works for YOU and nobody else. Losing stomach fat is achieved from your diet so here’s what I suggest you do. Firstly, weigh yourself first thing in the morning and note down your weight. Convert your weight to pounds (remember 14 pounds = 1 stone) and then times this number by 15. The resulting number is roughly how many calories your body is able to consume on a daily basis and not gain any additional weight.
Your job now is to subtract this number by 500 and there you will have the number of calories you need to be eating each day to lose weight. In my honest opinion keeping track of calories in your diet is the safest way to go about losing stomach fat. If your calculating the number of calories your eating each day and noting it down in your food journal, you will find out what works for you and what your body reacts well to.
To start your food journal, grab a piece of paper and write down and plan the time of each and every meal you are planning to consume the following day. This is going to be your food journal. Food journals are extremely useful as they can help track progress and allow you to see where you are going wrong in your diet. I know not all people are fans of calculating calories so if your against this idea, heres what I suggest you do. Stick to the 3 meals and 2/3 snacks rule and get your calories from as many nutrient dense foods as possible such as lean proteins and complex carbs.
Also remember to lower your portion sizes and be sensible with what you eat. Take the opportunity to include portions of fruit and vegetables in your meals and snacks as these are low in calories and fat and possess a variety of vitamins and minerals that are extremely important for your body. The next thing you now need to do is write down what you actually plan on eating during these time periods. My advice here is to stick with lean protein sources and complex carbohydrates with each meal. Healthy fats should also feature somewhere in your diet. Lean protein sources such as chicken and turkey are relatively low in calories and can help go a long way to trimming off that stomach fat.
The same goes for complex carbohydrates. Foods such as brown rice, whole meal pasta, sweet potatoes, jacket potatoes, vegetables and oatmeal are all great sources of complex carbs and therefore should also be consumed in your diet. The last key nutrient to mention is fat. Many people believe that eating foods rich in fat will actually make them fat. This is not true as what makes you fat is consuming more calories than your body actually needs. We therefore know that to lose stomach fat you need to take in fewer calories than your body needs.
This forces your body to burn fat as energy or sometimes even muscle if you drastically cut your daily calorie intake! Back to fats. Your body requires a certain amount of fats to carry out a number of important bodily functions. These fats are however the healthy kind and should not be coming from junk food. The Healthy fats are called monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Take a look at the following list to see the type of foods these fats are found in:
Monounsaturated: Olive oil, Peanut oil, Canola oil, Avocados, Mixed nuts
Polyunsaturated: Safflower oil, Corn oil, Sunflower oil, Soy oil, Cottonseed oil
The best way to try and implement these foods into your diet is by cooking your food in the various oils listed above and consuming small amounts of mixed nuts each day. An easier alternative to get more healthy fats into your diet would be to invest in an EFA Supplement (Essential Fatty Acids). These can be mixed with liquid or can be consumed as they are in the bottle to help boost your daily intake of fats.
Perform Cardio to lose stomach fat
If you’re the type of person who is looking to lose stomach fat as fast as possible then introduce cardio into your training regime. Weight loss pills and supplements don’t work. Cardio is far more effective at burning fat and helping you to lose weight than any form of supplement will ever be. Cardio will force your body to burn calories and will raise your body’s metabolism for a short period afterwards.
Your metabolism is the rate at which your body burns calories so raising your metabolism via the use of cardio is a great way to burn additional calories while resting. The type of cardio you perform can also help determine how much stomach fat you lose and consequently how many calories you burn. If you’ve never performed any sort of cardio before or very little, it is best to start off gradually.
Whether it’s the treadmill you are using, the stationary bike or outside running, start off easy and learn what your body can handle. You can then gradually build up your fitness to handle higher intensity and longer duration workouts. If you’re completely new to cardio or just haven’t exercised for a long period of time, I would recommend starting off with 20 minutes of cardio for 3 days a week.
Perform your cardio at a pace at which your comfortable with but at the same time make sure it is not too easy as your body needs to be challenged to enjoy the benefits of an effective cardio workout and to help lose that stomach fat. Once you get into the swing of things and feel comfortable with your cardio workouts try bumping it up to around half hour and then maybe 45 minutes depending on your fitness levels.
Be consistent to lose stomach fat
This is one of the most important things to remember when looking to lose stomach fat. Being consistent is the key to success here. Don’t give up if you have a bad week, just jump straight back onto your diet and remember why you are doing it. You’re not going to lose stomach fat overnight so you will need to be patient and consistent with both your diet and your progress. Try your best to keep motivated and you will achieve your goals!
