Excess stomach fat is not only annoying but it is also one of the most difficult forms of fat to lose. It may be unpleasing to your eyes, the fat that is stored around your stomach. This type of fat is known as visceral fat and can increase the risk of diabetes, sleep apnea, and high blood pressure. Lower belly fat is mainly caused due to consumption of high fat, sugary food, and sedentary lifestyle. Structure, age, genetics also determine the pattern of fat accumulation in the body. Losing the fat around your stomach not only make you feel more confident about yourself but improve your overall health. You can lose lower belly fat with proper diet and exercise. By doing some routine and lifestyle changes can help to achieve your goals.
Ways to Lose Lower Belly Fat:
1.) Reduce Calorie Intake to Lose Fat
If you want to lose belly fat and want to get a flatter stomach, then you need to reduce your body fat by burning more calories than you consume. Lowering your calorie intake will cause your body to burn fat as a fuel, the fat you are seeking to eliminate. This process is very effective to lose lower belly fat.
- Simply one pound of fat equals to roughly 3,500 calories. That means you need to burn 500 more calories each day than you consume in order to lose a pound in a week, which is considered as healthy weight reduction process. This process will not harm your body like another unhealthy process.
- When you’re trying to lower your calorie intake, it’s important to count each calorie by choosing low-calorie, high nutrition foods like fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins.
2.) Protein to Lose Lower Belly Fat
Protein-based foods can help to lose weight and reduce belly fat and build lean muscle mass. Taking adequate amounts of protein will also help to keep you feeling satisfied for longer.
- You need to consume 20 to 25% protein of your daily calories if you want to lose lower belly fat. For instance, if you are taking 1200 calories per day, then you need to consume 60 to 75 gm of protein per day and if you are taking 1600 calories per day then you need to consume 80 to 100 gm of protein per day.
- Chicken breast, egg white are the lean source of protein, but you can also consume protein from turkey low-fat diary, beef, tofu, they are not lean sources but they contain enough amount of protein. These foods will provide you energy without adding unnecessary calories.
3.) Start Meal with Soup to Shed Weight
Reducing calories is not only about eating less food or crave you from hunger, it is about feeling satisfied with fewer calories without sacrificing beneficial nutrients. Soup can help you in this process.
- According to a study conducted at Penn State University says that consuming a low-calorie bowl of soup before lunch or dinner reduces overall calorie intake at that meal by some 20%. This process basically helps to fill you up before you even get to the main part of your meal.
- Choose a soup that is low in calories, sodium, and fat, and high in vegetables, lean protein, and fiber. Make sure to first check the labels if you are consuming prepared soup.
4.) Avoid Sugar to Lose Lower Belly Fat
Studies have shown that sugar is one of the main reason in excess stomach fat especially added sugar. Limit foods high in sugars.
- Added sugars are those sugar which is added by companies to a product during the manufacturing process. For example, ice cream or cookies have added sugar.
- Natural sugars are those sugar that contains naturally in foods. For example, yogurt or fruits have sugar, but they all natural sugar. Foods which contain natural sugar are much better choices than added sugar as they generally have essential nutrients.
- Make a habit of reading food labels, and beware of the hidden form of sugars in any packaged foods. Read the ingredient label to look at both the total sugar in the product and see if it’s added or natural sugar.
- If you are very fond of eating a sweet thing, choose healthy options like dark chocolate, honey, dried fruit, and greek yogurt to satisfy your cravings.
5.) Take Whole Grain to Reduce Weight
A study conducted on two group, both groups have given the same diet but different grains. People who ate all whole grains, three servings of low-fat dairy, five servings of fruits and vegetables, and two servings of lean meat, fish, or poultry lost more belly fat than another group who ate the same diet, but with all refined grains. Consumption of whole grain is very effective to lose lower belly fat.
- Grains helps to melt fat. A diet rich in whole grains changes the glucose and insulin response in your body to melting of fat, and visceral fat, that deep layer of fat, is easier for your body to burn than the subcutaneous fat under your skin.
- Food such as whole-grain corn, whole oats, popcorn, brown rice, whole rye, whole-grain barley, wild rice, buckwheat are the sources of whole grain.
- Food such as white rice, white bread, white pasta are the sources of refined grain. Avoid that type of food.
6.) Workout in the Morning to Lose Lower Belly
Some studies have shown that if you workout in the morning, before eating your first meal, you burn fat for energy instead of stored glycogen.
- You will have to get up early in the morning to do the workout. So try to set your alarm 30 minutes earlier in order to wake up.
- There are also other benefits in working out in the morning you will not see the crowd in the gym and you will be able to do exercise out-of-the-way.
7.) Get aerobic Exercise to Lose Lower Belly Fat
Cardiovascular exercises burn more calories and help to speed up your metabolism so that you can lose lower belly fat faster.
- You should perform at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise 5 days a week. It is also recommended that everyone should do at least 150 minutes aerobic exercise per week. Some experts also suggest doing up to 60 minutes of cardio each day helps to reduce stomach fat quickly.
- Exercises include walking briskly, jogging, swimming, biking, and hiking, dancing
- Try to find an exercise that you could enjoy. If your workouts will be fun, then you will be far more likely to stick with them.
8.) Incorporate Strength Training
Incorporating a few days of resistance or strength training is also important. This will help to tone and maintain lean muscle mass while you’re dieting.
- It’s recommended that you should include about 2-3 days of strength training each week. Make sure to do exercises that work on your entire body and all the major muscle groups.
- Incorporating some strength training exercises that focus on your core muscles to support the look of a toner, leaner stomach. Do exercises like crunches, plank, or v-sits.
9.) Do Interval Training to Lose Fat
Studies have shown that people who do high-intensity interval training lose fat more quickly around their abdomen as compared to regular cardiovascular exercise. It is very effective to lose lower belly fat.
- It is a type of exercise which is done for shorter periods of time, but your body works harder. For instances run as harder as you can for the first lap then jog after remaining lap. The amount of fat you will burn on the first lap will continue to burn on the other lap.
- Include 1 to 2 days of High interval training each week. This will count as your cardio exercise as well.
10.) Target Stress to Reduce Weight
Stress is responsible for increasing in cortisol, it is a hormone that causes the body to store extra fat, particularly in the midsection of your body. Stress can also cause emotional eating, or eating, for comfort even if you are not feeling hunger. You can lose lower belly fat by reducing stress.
- Try to reduce or eliminate stress-provoking things and people from your life, if it is possible.
- By better managing your time you can reduce the amount of stress and anxiety you feel on a daily basis. If you aren’t constantly rushing to meet your deadlines due to improper time management, so try to properly manage your time.
- If you are struggling with stress, take a few minutes every day to sit down, and close your eyes, focus on your breath, and clear your head from all of your thoughts and preoccupations.