Looking for some ways to remove stubborn belly fat? Belly fat is the fat that will make your jeans fit more snug, but what’s worse is that it does so much more. When white fat grows in the abdomen and nestles deep around your organs, it is getting you ready for a whole host of health troubles.
This is what is called visceral fat. This fat releases stress hormones such as cortisol and inflammatory substances known as cytokines that affect how the body produces insulin. This will end up, not only resulting in obesity but an increased risk of type 2 diabetes as well as heart disease. Let’s look at nine ways to remove stubborn belly fat.
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1. Keep on Moving
Moving is one of the best ways to remove stubborn belly fat. There is something that you should like about this visceral fat: it yields pretty easily to aerobic exercise. Swimming, running, biking, pretty much any movement that gets your heart rate up will win over strength or resistance training when it comes to removing belly fat. Duke University found that 12 miles of jogging each week can melt away belly fat.
2. Grab Some Protein
Protein is crucial to creating a slimmer figure. But do you know why? As you age, the body will make more insulin since the fat and muscle cells don’t respond to it properly. Insulin will promote the storage of fat, especially around the middle, and a diet that is high in protein could help to protect you from insulin resistance. A study found that obese women who followed an eight-week diet that was made up of 30% protein, 30% fat, and 40% carbs lost more fat than those who had a diet that consisted of 16% protein, 26% fat, and 55% carbs.
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3. Chew on Some Polyunsaturated Fats
Saturated fats will cause you to gain more visceral fat than polyunsaturated. In a Swedish study, researchers found that of the subjects who ate 750 extra calories each day for seven weeks in the form of either palm (saturated) or sunflower (polyunsaturated) oil, the former gained more belly fat and the latter gained more muscle mass and lost belly fat. You can find polyunsaturated fats in nuts, fish, and seeds.
4. Eat Plenty of Vinegar
Obese people that took a tablespoon or two of vinegar each day for a total of eight weeks found that their body fat decreased significantly, especially visceral fat. One of the main reasons may be that the acetic acid that vinegar has causes proteins that will burn fat.
5. Mellow out with Yoga
Women who were postmenopausal took up yoga for 16 weeks and found that they had a significant reduction of visceral fat. If you’re not one for some downward dog, then any type of relaxation exercise can help. The important thing is to try and lower your cortisol levels, which are linked to increased belly fat.
6. Sleep
If you routinely squeak by on five hours or less of sleep each night, then you will likely have higher visceral fat levels. Eight hours is the ideal amount of sleep you should shoot for.
7. No Sleeping in on Weekends
Women that wake up and go to bed on a consistent schedule have less body fat, according to a study at Brigham Young University. If you have chaotic sleep habits, then your internal clock is going to go haywire, which will cause your body to release more cortisol.
8. Consume More Tea
People who moderately exercise and fill up on the antioxidants found in green tea are more likely to burn more belly fat during their exercises than those that don’t drink green tea.
9. Consume More Fiber
In a study done in 2011, researchers had their subjects increase their soluble fiber intake by 10 grams each day, which is equivalent to about two small apples, a ½ cup of pinto beans, and a cup of green peas. This helped them reduce their visceral fat by 3.7% in five years.
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