September 29, 2023

7 RULES TO APPLY TO LOSE BELLY FAT

Losing abdominal fat is the challenge faced by any individual wanting to lose weight. From a scientific point of view, losing fat located on the abdominal area is impossible. On the other hand, spreading the fat to other parts of the body is quite possible. When we talk about “abdominal fat loss”, we are talking about reducing the visibility of the abdominal muscles.

There are many dietary methods for losing fat, gaining muscle, gaining weight, losing weight. . . In this article, 7 rules for losing abdominal fat are diplayed. Since each individual has his or her own health, physical condition and diet, these rules will not work for one hundred percent of individuals. However, with proper follow up and rigorous application of these rules, a remarkable change can take place on the abs.

The difference between fat loss and health

Image 1: Imagine a person who is used to eating high calorie foods: bread, pasta, sweets, fried foods, and who is not physically active. He decides to go on a diet

Image 2: Imagine an person who eats mainly unprocessed foods, eats high-calorie foods once or twice a week, and is physically active regularly.

Now imagine that the two individuals are both overweight and decide to lose fat.

The first individual will certainly have more positive than negative effects from adopting a correct and slightly low-calorie diet.

The second individual will have a small drop in fitness due to the diet, as he eats healthily all year round.

These two images have been put forward to illustrate that if you want to lose weight, you need to do the right thing.

RULES TO BE APPLIED TO LOSE WEIGHT

Rule number 1: limit carbohydrate consumption

Energy, or carbohydrates more explicitly, can be supplied in the body by two different means. First, energy supplied directly through the diet. Second, energy made by the body itself. The second option is the most suitable if you want to lose fat. All you have to do is not force yourself to eat carbohydrates. Even though it is often said that you have to eat carbohydrates to be strong, to have stamina, you should not eat more than you need, but only when the tank is empty. For example, after sport.

Rule number 2: eat vegetables to satisfy hunger

When we are hungry, we tend to eat more fat (meat, hamburgers, chips, bread, etc. ) than vegetable fibres. However, it is beneficial for people who want to lose weight to eat vegetables when they are hungry. Vegetables calm hunger and provide the body with vitamins and minerals.

Rule number 3: reduce proteins intake at mealtimes

To lose fat, it is also advisable to eat a minimum amount of proteins at each meal. You don’t necessarily have to reduce proteins intake, you just have to vary the protein-rich foods, to avoid consuming a large amount at each meal.

Rule number 4: avoid snacking between meals

To lose belly fat, it is also important not to snack between meals. Eating every 3 hours, for example, should be avoided, even if you are a bodybuilder. You can save the fuller calorie rations for after the sports session, but snacking too often is never good for the digestive system. On the other hand, it also affects your intellectual speed of thought.

Rule number 5: avoid following the mass

Following the same dietary protocol as the majority of people, especially sports people, is not at all advisable. This is because they often fail to do so, and often blame it on bad genetics. To succeed or fail in losing weight, you have to experiment with your own diet. The one that we have found to be the most beneficial to our health and our body.

Rule number 6: avoid the fear of fat

Sometimes, once we want to lose fat, we start to fear everything that is fat. This fear should be avoided. Just because you want to lose fat doesn’t mean you have to remove every single calorie in your diet. From time to time, you can eat eggs, avocados, organic virgin oils and even a little amount of animal fat.

Rule number 7: avoid stress

When you go on a diet, you tend to get stressed. When you go out to a restaurant with friends or to a professional brunch, you have a plate full of fat in front of you. In these situations, you should not stress. On the contrary, you should indulge yourself. Breaking your diet is not a killer. You can make the most of it and do some sport the next day. In the end, the result is always positive.

How to Lose Belly Fat: A Beginner’s Guide

Just a heads up, for those who have been around the block once or twice: You won’t see a single “miracle” food or device in this guide. Nor will you see any revolutionary fad diets or, really, anything that’s secret.

Nope, this plan is all about the behaviors that we’ve seen, time and time again, lead to dramatic and lasting weight loss. This is your complete step-by-step plan, and you can start it right now.

Step 1: Calculate How Many Calories You Need

Sure, you could just pick an arbitrary number of calories each day—say, 1,500—and then hope it’s right for you. But the truth is that we’re all different, so the number of calories we need every day differs, too. How you should eat depends on your age, your size and weight, goal, and your activity level.

You can get a good idea of how many calories you can eat each day and lose weight by using Bodybuilding.com’s Calorie Calculator.

Provide your personal stats, then select “fat loss” as your goal. Pick an activity level that matches how active you really are—be honest! If you say you’re more active than you are, the calculator will give you more calories per day than you need.

Step 2: Get Your Protein

Here’s a secret that shouldn’t be a secret at all: All diets work with about the same level of effectiveness, as long as two elements are the same. One is calories. The other is protein. Registered dietician Susan Hewlings, RD, PHD explains why this matters in the video, “How to Eat to Lose Weight.”

What does this mean for you? There’s more room than you think to customize your diet based on your tastes and preferences, as long as you know what you’re doing. And since protein can help control cravings, there’s really no downside to treating yourself to a protein shake after exercise.

To dial in your protein, use Bodybuilding.com’s Protein Calculator. Or to get your calories and protein in one, along with recommendations on carbs and fats, use the Macronutrient Calculator. You can even customize your macro ratio based on whatever type of diet you prefer: high carb, low carb, or somewhere in between. Make sure you choose “lose weight” as your goal and an appropriate activity level.

Step 3: Lift Weights

You might expect to see “do cardio” listed here first. Sure, cardio is a great way to burn calories and lose weight. But weight training can help ensure that the weight you’re losing is in the form of fat, not muscle—and plenty of research back this up.

As an added benefit, muscle tissue helps improve your insulin sensitivity. In practical terms, this means is that the more muscle you have, the better you’re setting yourself up to keep off any extra weight you lose.

Muscle is also much denser than fat, so a pound of muscle will take up a lot less room on your body than a pound of fat. You can also be more targeted about where you add it, so you can help to enhance your body’s shape, not just make it smaller.

Lift weight to burn fat.

Taking aim at belly fat in particular? Doing some targeted ab work is a great idea, but you should also do lifts for the rest of your body. Bodybuilding.com’s program The One-Month Six-Pack is a sensible, sustainable program that balances both approaches in a way that will set you up for success. Even if you don’t see your abs in one month, you’ll be on the right path.

Step 4: Use Cardio To Burn Fat

Cardiovascular exercise or “cardio” doesn’t build muscle very well, if at all, but it does help burn fat. And low-intensity cardio can actually boost recovery and decrease muscle soreness from your weights workouts.

The American Heart Association recommends a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of intense aerobic activity per week. In action, this means you should shoot for 30 minutes of moderate-to-intense cardiovascular activity 3 times a week, on top of your lifting workouts.

You can do cardio on non-training days whenever you have time, or after your lifting workouts. You could also use high-intensity interval training or “HIIT” to burn even more calories in less time.

For any cardio, make sure you start by warming up at a moderate pace for about 2-5 minutes before you begin. Once you’re warm, you can speed up to your working pace, or begin your intervals. Then, allow a 2-3-minute cool-down by moving at a slow pace at the end of your cardio workout.

The best way to slim down in the middle is to do plenty of cardiovascular exercise. Some good examples of this are:

  • Walking
  • Jogging
  • Swimming
  • Aerobics
  • Bicycling

Step 5: Find Your Workout Community

One thing we’ve learned in over 20 years of helping people change their lives is that it’s far, far easier to do—and to maintain—when you do it with the support of a community.

The best fitness community we know happens to be the one we created over a decade ago: BodySpace. It’s a fitness-focused social network that has helped millions of people on their fitness journey and remains a powerhouse of positivity where—big bonus—you can also track your progress and workouts.