You have been working out for months now and you feel great. You can feel your body fat trickling down as sweat during those rigorous hours of workout. There has been a significant change in your lifestyle. You find yourself more active, energized and focused. But getting perfect abs is a next to impossible task. The tires and love handles still bulge out shamelessly and you just don't know where you are going wrong.
May be you are making these mistakes unknowingly and your regular workouts are going in vain:
- The Belly is Where Fat Cells Dwell: The highest concentration of fat cells in your body is in your belly. It consists of two types of fats: visceral fat and subcutaneous fat. The visceral fat surrounds the vital organs. Whereas, the subcutaneous fat lie just below your skin. All the fat derived from processed and fast foods accumulate right there.
- Moderate workouts don’t work: Belly fat is stubborn. Therefore, moderate workouts will not help you get those toned abs. Fat cells replace themselves real quick. What you need is high-intensity interval training (HIIT), strength training, cardio, and aerobics. A combination of weight training and cardio is perfect for losing belly fat fast. HIIT does not let the fat cells replenish themselves and revs up the metabolism.
- Get Hungrier with Shrinking Fat: As your body mass index (BMI) drops with intense workouts, your desire to eat increases. Shrinking of fat cells leads to the production of ghrelin, the hunger hormone and reduction of the hunger suppressing leptin hormone. As the leptin hormone cannot regulate your hunger, you will want to eat more and may even gorge on some untimely meals.
- Fasting before workouts: The notion of fasting before workouts for greater calorie loss is completely false. Your energy goes downhill, and you cannot keep up with high-intensity interval training. Moreover, you will experience bloating and fall flat with digestive problems within a week.
- Getting Used to Workouts: If you find your exercise regime smooth and easy, then you are not reaching your full workout potential. This means that the extra layer of fat around your waist is not reducing by a millimeter even if you are working out regularly. Bring some variety to your workout regime or increase the reps so that you feel the strain again around your abdomen.
- Focus too much on ab workouts: Logically, you are going to work out on those areas of your body that have not gained the desired shape. However, this approach is wrong. Spot training does not exist and, therefore, it is ineffective. Instead of breaking your head on getting your abs in shape, include strength training that provides you with an overall toned look. Workouts like strength training; cardio and swimming involve energy and build resistance that helps you reduce belly fat.
- Dairy products and red meat: Milk is good for your bones because of the calcium you derive from it. But full cream milk and dairy products contain saturated fat that sits stubbornly around your belly. The same goes for red meat. There is no doubt that red meat is rich in protein but, it is also rich in saturated fat and is even worse for the heart. Chuck these food items off of your diet today.
- Having a Low-fat diet: This may seem a little confusing after the above tip. But we are talking about mono-saturated fats here. They are the healthy fats that provide energy to your body and keep your metabolism moving. Foods like avocados, nuts, lean meat, and olive oil contain mono-saturated fats along with protein.
- You are stressed: Stress can affect fat distribution significantly, more so near your midsection. It is because of the cortisol hormone released due to chronic stress. The effect is doubled if you keep munching on fast foods and snacks during those stressful hours.
- Aging and loss of muscle mass: It seems that with age your belly fat has been promoted from just being stubborn to a full-blown rebel. It is because you lose muscles as you age and the hormones undergo a lot of changes. This makes fat and weight loss a lot more difficult. Start working out today so that your muscles retain the strength for a lifetime.
- Sleepless nights: Sleeping less than 5 hours a day affects your BMI leading to more accumulation of belly fat. The tiredness slows down metabolism, and the fat cells don’t get burned.
Belly fat is stubborn and you too need to be stubborn to shape up. Get those well toned abs with rigorous and varied exercise regimes and a proper diet.
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