Advanced Tips For Losing and Preventing Belly Fat

Do you have excessive fat around your belly? Changing your diet, tweaking your cardio routine, and reducing stress will help you lose the stubborn pounds from around your stomach.

Change your diet:

Reduce sugar, specifically in the form of alcohol and refined white high-GI grains (white baked products, pasta and flour). These cause blood glucose levels to rise rapidly, which triggers the release of insulin. Insulin takes the extra glucose out of the bloodstream and stores it as fat. Balance your blood glucose levels by eating foods with a low glycemic index (GI). These foods that take more time for the body to digest and therefore slow down the amount of glucose entering your bloodstream. Eat lots of vegetables and protein, which helps balance blood sugar levels. Always drink plenty of water.

Rethink your exercise:

Keep cardio sessions under 40 minutes and try short and sharp interval sessions, to help tap into those fat stores while preserving lean muscle tissue. For example, you could do 10 sets of 30-second sprints followed by 90 seconds rest. Longer workouts can put stress on the body, causing cortisol and insulin levels to rise. This, in turn, leads to excess fat storage.

Don’t forget your weekly rest day!

You wouldn’t think it, but rest is important for reducing fat around your stomach. The stress hormone cortisol, responsible for fat storage around your middle, decreases the more you rest and sleep. Therefore, it’s a good idea to change up your workouts and, once a month, add in a fun or soothing workout, such as yoga. Of course, get good sleep nightly.