As registered dietitians and certified personal trainers specializing in weight loss for over 15 years, if you’re like our clients, you want to know what makes it so hard to lose stubborn belly fat…
So today we’re sharing the cause of that stubborn belly fat, why it’s so hard to lose – what you can do about it and 7 tips to start losing it.
So what is the cause of that stubborn belly fat??
Here’s the deal:
There is never just ONE cause of Stubborn belly fat. ,
—> READ it again.
If you lose some belly fat and then it won’t budge, that usually means it’s not just your subcutaneous (or superficial) belly fat, but your visceral fat, which is the fat that surrounds your organs.
This fat is very frustrating because it makes you feel like your efforts aren’t paying off, but it’s also dangerous because visceral fat becomes an organ within itself that wreaks havoc on your metabolic system.
This means that while being in a calorie deficit (NOT a starvation or low-calorie diet!) is important, it’s also about changing the metabolic activity in your body.
Simply cutting calories alone won’t work.
Why is it so complicated to get rid of stubborn belly fat?
This stubborn visceral fat generally results from problems with your insulin sensitivity. You non you have to have diabetes for this to happen!
Normally, insulin, which is a hormone made in your pancreas, transports sugar in the blood to the cells to be used, because when sugar builds up in the blood it becomes inflammatory and harmful.
But if you’ve been sedentary and/or gained body fat, insulin becomes less effective and can’t do its job. So your pancreas pumps out more and more insulin to try to get the sugar into the cells, and soon your pancreas is overwhelmed.
So your liver steps in to support your pancreas and try to remove sugar from the blood. The liver does this by turning sugar into triglycerides—also known as fats—and that becomes white, “storage” fat—and that’s how you get that stubborn visceral fat.
This visceral fat basically becomes an organ in itself and secretes hormones and chemicals that affect your weight.
This fat secretes leptin which controls appetite and adiponectin which controls blood sugar and cytokines which cause this inflammation – which we all know is very harmful and which makes fat loss even more difficult and fat gain even more easy. It also constricts blood vessels causing blood pressure to rise and more!
THE REASON THIS PARTICULAR BELLY FAT IS SO STUPID IS BECAUSE VISCERAL FAT IS FULL OF TOXINS AND THE BODY WANTS TO PROTECT ITSELF. FOR THIS REASON, IT DISCHARGES THESE TOXINS TO PREVENT DAMAGE TO THE BODY AND ORGANS.
In other words, this fat becomes a dumping ground for toxins, as the body uses it to remove toxins so they don’t harm the body, ick! This is why cutting calories alone will not get rid of this fat! If you just cut calories, it doesn’t deal with that fat which is full of toxins, hormones and inflammation.
Tips to start shedding stubborn belly fat FOR GOOD
So the goal is to start mobilizing that fat and using it for energy while getting rid of all the toxins and inflammation. There are usually a few important things you need to address to get rid of that stubborn belly fat –
- Blood sugar imbalances
- Intestinal dysbiosis
- Dietary and lifestyle factors
- Insufficient nutrients
- An underactive thyroid
- Inflammation (from stress, toxins, pollution, alcohol, pro-inflammatory foods, etc.)
- and/or many others.
Here are a FEW TIPS to START shedding some of these root causes of belly fat (guilty!) so you can start REDUCING your belly fat.
• Drink holy basil tea.
This will help you naturally manage stress and reduce cortisol (aka the belly fat hormone).
• Eat your salad or vegetables first.
Eating high-fiber foods before the rest of your meal will reduce blood sugar spikes.
• Stay away from foods that irritate your stomach or cause bloating.
Foods that bloat your gut reduce your ability to activate your body’s natural Ozempic.
• Eat a small healthy meal before going out to eat, such as a small handful of nuts or a can of sardines
This will curb your appetite and help prevent blood sugar spikes.
• Add organic psyllium fiber to your smoothies or your morning lemon water
This will keep you full, stabilize blood sugar and feed bacteria that are good for your metabolism.
• Drink 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar mixed in 8 ounces of water before dinner.
This will help your muscles take more glucose from the blood so it doesn’t spike your blood sugar. You can also exercise right before you eat dinner.
• Relax in the sauna.
It will improve your cell’s sensitivity to insulin so you can keep your blood sugar on an even keel and protect against spikes and crashes that cause belly fat. It will also help you flush out toxins that contribute to inflammation and resistance to fat loss.
• Eat high carb foods like potatoes lately.
This will blunt the effect of carbs on the blood sugar dips that cause cravings.
We have more tips to speed up the process in your body. Check out our blog post 5 Habits That Slow Your Metabolism And Create Belly Fat and let us know which ones you try and how it goes!
There’s more to losing fat – Improve your overall health and make it easier to get rid of stubborn belly fat!
If you want to transform your body to the next level and achieve sustainable weight loss, we can help!
Imagine…
waking up in the morning and easily slips into the first outfit you try on, LOVE THE WAY YOU ARE & feeling.
If that excites you, let’s chat!–
We will understand very well what is going on for you and see how we can best help you with our 1:1 coaching.
When we work together, we help you IDENTIFY the causes of YOUR stubborn belly fat, and THEN ACCOMPLISH your goals (be it inflammation, gut dysbiosis, diet and lifestyle factors, inadequate nutrients, underactive thyroid and/or more)…
We help you LOSE FAT FOR GOOD.
All while enjoying your favorite foods and learning how to eat for optimal health and longevity.
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Coming soon: “11 sneaky things that can add fat to your belly”!
