How to lose belly fat?

Abdominal fat is a particularly harmful type. Research suggests strong links with diseases like type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

For this reason, losing this fat can have significant benefits for your health and well-being.

You can measure your abdominal fat by measuring the circumference around your waist with a tape measure. Measures of above 40 inches (102 cm) in men and 35 inches (88 cm) in women are known as abdominal obesity.

Certain weight loss strategies can target the fat in the belly area more than other areas of the body.

Advantages of reducing belly fat –

1. Lower Rates Of Heart Disease
The CDC reports that every 40 seconds, someone in America experiences a heart attack—that’s over 790,000 people per year. And it turns out that who it happens to is hardly just the luck of the draw. According to a 2015 study, people with significant excess belly fat died twice as frequently from heart disease compared to people that had overall obesity, but no disproportionate abdominal obesity.

2. Better Blood Pressure
According to the CDC, 360,000 deaths per year are attributed to high blood pressure as a primary or contributing cause, and there is a profound link between belly fat and hypertension. In fact, a study by the Mayo Clinic revealed that carrying around just five extra pounds of fat around your middle can increase your likelihood of the condition.

3. Decreased Risk Of Colorectal Cancer
Obesity has long been a known risk factor for several kinds of cancer, but studies show that belly fat in particular—as opposed to overall obesity—increases your risk of colorectal cancer. According to one particular study, being in or above the 67th percentile for abdominal visceral fat puts you at the most significant risk.

4. Fewer Joint Problems
Weight problems and joint problems go hand in hand. According to Harvard Health Publishing, as you walk, your knees experience pressure at a rate of one and a half times your body weight, meaning a 200-pound person is putting 300 pounds of pressure on their knees with each step!

5. Better Sleep
If you’ve ever woken up in the middle of the night gasping for air from sleep apnea, you know that it’s a serious health concern. Research concludes that being generally overweight and having centralized belly fat are both major risks for sleep apnea, because they can–either anatomically or through poor neuromuscular control‒collapse parts of your upper airway.

6. Decreased Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes
The link between abdominal fat and diabetes is no secret. Studies show that eating sugary foods in excess and carrying significant extra weight around your middle can lead to insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, and more.

7. Lower Rates Of Respiratory Illness
Obesity in general has been linked to several chronic respiratory illnesses, but recent studies have concluded that in many cases, abdominal fat is specifically responsible. Because of this, waist circumference is now considered the better way to measure risk, over the more generalized BMI measurement. Extra belly fat can lead to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypoventilation syndrome, and asthma, among others.

8. Pancreatic Cancer
The link between belly fat and cancer is widely recognized, but the statistics surrounding pancreatic cancer are particularly startling. A nearly-eight year study published in the British Journal of Cancer indicates that women in the top 25 percent for waist-to-hip ratios were 70 percent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer than women in the bottom 25 percent.

9. Decreased Likelihood Of Breast Cancer
Studies have recently shown that obesity has overtaken smoking as the number one preventable cause for certain types of cancer. Breast cancer in particular is affected by belly fat, because it generates cell growth and enables cancerous development by releasing a protein called “fibroblast growth factor 2.” Though scientists hope to one day harness this discovery for more effective treatment, the best thing you can do to minimize this particular risk factor is to keep your belly fat at bay.

10. Improved Mental Health
Depression often leads to an increase of visceral belly fat because the stress associated with mental health issues can cause cortisol levels to rise, leading to excess fat deposits around your middle. But studies also show that obesity can be the cause of depression, with a 25 percent increased likelihood of a mood disorder among the severely overweight.

How to lose belly fat?

It may seem difficult for you to reduce that fat on your belly but you can reduce it by following these steps –

1. Avoid sugar and sugar-sweetened drinks

Foods with added sugars are bad for your health. Eating a lot of these types of food can cause weight gain.

Studies show that added sugar has uniquely harmful effects on metabolic health.

Numerous studies have indicated that excess sugar, mostly due to the large amounts of fructose, can lead to fat building up around your abdomen and liver.

Sugar is half glucose and half fructose. When you eat a lot of added sugar, the liver gets overloaded with fructose and is forced to turn it into fat.

Some believe that this is the main process behind sugar’s harmful effects on health. It increases abdominal fat and liver fat, which leads to insulin resistance and various metabolic problems.

Liquid sugar is worse in this regard. The brain doesn’t seem to register liquid calories in the same way as solid calories, so when you drink sugar-sweetened beverages, you end up eating more total calories.

A study observed that children were 60% more likely to develop obesity with each additional daily serving of sugar-sweetened beverages.

Try minimising the amount of sugar in your diet and consider completely eliminating sugary drinks. This includes sugar-sweetened beverages, sugary sodas, fruit juices, and various high sugar sports drinks.

Read the labels to make sure products do not contain refined sugars. Even foods marketed as health foods can contain significant amounts of sugar.

2. Eat more protein

Protein may be the most important macronutrient for weight loss.

Research shows it can reduce cravings by 60%, boost metabolism by 80–100 calories per day, and help you eat up to 441 fewer calories per day.

If weight loss is your goal, adding protein may be the single most effective change you can make to your diet.

Not only can protein help you to lose weight, but it may also help you to avoid regaining weight.

Protein may be particularly effective in reducing abdominal fat. One study showed that people who ate more and better protein had much less abdominal fat.

3. Eat fiber-rich foods

Dietary fiber is mostly indigestible plant matter.

Eating plenty of fiber can help with weight loss. However, the type of fiber is important.

It appears that mostly the soluble and viscous fibers have an effect on your weight. These are fibers that bind water and form a thick gel that “sits” in your gut.

4. Exercise regularly

Exercise is among the best things you can do to increase your chances of living a long, healthy life and avoiding disease.

Helping to reduce abdominal fat is among the amazing health benefits of exercise.

This doesn’t mean doing abdominal exercises, as spot reduction — losing fat in one spot — is not possible. In one study, 6 weeks of training just the abdominal muscles had no measurable effect on waist circumference or the amount of fat in the abdominal cavity.

5. Track your food intake

Most people know that what you eat is important, but many don’t know specifically what they’re eating.

A person might think they’re eating a high protein or low carb diet, but without keeping track, it’s easy to overestimate or underestimate food intake.

Tracking food intake doesn’t mean you need to weigh and measure everything you eat. Tracking intake every now and then for a few days in a row can help you realise the most important areas for change.

Simple exercises to lose belly fat –

1. Crunches

Nothing burns stomach fat easier than crunches. Crunches, according to some fitness experts, occupy the top rank among fat-burning exercises. It is high time you start including abs-crunching exercises to your daily routine.

Start by lying down flat with your knees bent and your feet on the ground. Lift your hands and then place them behind the head. You can also keep them crossed on the chest. Inhale deeply. As you lift the upper torso off the floor, you should exhale. Again inhale when you get back down and then exhale as you come up.

If you are a beginner, start doing crunches 10 times per set. Each day, you must accomplish two to three sets of crunches. Check out the video above for a detailed guide on how to do crunches.

2. Twist Crunches

Once you are familiar with regular crunches, you can modify the basic crunch to have a more effective and results-oriented tummy exercise.

Twist crunches are like your regular crunches. But in twist crunches, you have to lift the right shoulder towards your left, keeping the left torso on the ground.

When you are starting out, start doing twist crunches 10 times per set. You should aim for two to three sets of twist crunches in your daily routine. Check out the video above for more details on how to do twist crunches.

3. Reverse Crunches

You would notice that losing belly fat involves a lot of crunches and crunch variations. Now it is high time you do reverse crunches. Like the other crunch exercises, reverse crunches are another good exercise to lose belly fat, especially for women.

This is like the twist crunch exercise. Tilt the legs behind simultaneously with the shoulders. It is considered one of the best abdominal exercises for targeting the lower belly fat.

4. Bicycle exercise

Even if you do not have a bicycle, you can still do this exercise. Lie on the mat or on the floor and keep your hands either behind your head or by your side as you do in crunches. Lift both the legs off the ground and then bend them at the knees. Bring the right knee close to the chest, keeping the left leg out. Then take the right leg out and bring the left leg close to the chest. Alternate bending the knees as if you are using a bicycle.

5. Rolling Plank Exercise

The rolling plank trains your body muscles around the abdomen, hip and lower back. Position yourself on the mat or on the floor with the knees as well as elbows resting on the ground. Keep the neck aligned with the spine. Look forward. Then lift the knees up and support the legs on the toes. Contract the knees and keep your breathing normally. This is what you call the plank pose. Stay in this position for 30 seconds. Now, begin moving to and fro for about 30 seconds. This is what you call the rolling plank exercise.

6. Walking

Cardio is one of the best ways to burn your calories and lose unwanted flab from the body. Walking is one of the first cardio exercises you should have as it is a good and effective method to burn away that belly fat. If you implement a healthy diet plus walking at a good steady pace for about 30-45 minutes four to five days every week or more, you will soon witness a change in the weight. This low-impact exercise can increase your metabolism and heart rate. It has a decreased risk of injuries and is regarded to be an efficient workout for beginners.

7. Running

You have to prevent the body from getting used to workout routines that are fixed. Hence, you may need to switch occasionally. How about running? It is a good effective way of keeping your heart rate up, lose calories, and reduce belly fat.

Your body has to go through a complex process of converting triglycerides to energy and then burning it, you can’t target a specific area for loss. Although crunches help build muscle, they don’t burn a lot of calories. It’s nearly impossible to lose weight or belly fat using crunches alone.

This doesn’t mean you should banish all abdominal exercises from your fat loss plan — when you do drop belly fat, you’ll reveal strong, taut muscles.