Stubborn belly fat – sometimes it refuses to leave you alone. No matter which way you look at it, saying goodbye to belly fat is a hard task. But it’s not an impossible one.
On top of regular exercise and a healthy lifestyle, there are a few life hacks that’ll help you get rid of that stubborn fat for good!
Go To Bed Early
Think back to your primary school days, when going to bed at 8:30 was the rule! Getting at least 8 hours of sleep is crucial, allowing your body to rest properly and preventing your BMI from going up.
Your metabolism needs a break too, so make sure you allow your body to fully recover from your day.
Wake Up Earlier
If you follow tip #1 then this one shouldn’t be too hard to follow. Hitting the snooze button and getting more and more time in bed after your 8 hours is not as beneficial as you may think it is.
You will actually wake up feeling less rested. Plus, getting sunlight in the morning is better for your metabolism, giving you more energy and balance. So get up for that morning jog!
Drink Water (Or Soup) Before Each Meal
By now you probably know that having two liters of water per day is the minimum intake your body needs to stay properly hydrated, but water also can make us feel full.
About 30 to 15 minutes before each big meal (lunch and dinner) try drinking 500 ml of water, or consider having a delicious warm soup. Liquid will give you that feeling of satisfaction, and you are likely to eat 20% less that you usually do.
Drink Green Tea
Water is good, but green tea is even better. This low-calorie drink has fat-melting properties and is high in antioxidants, which encourage the breakdown of fat cells.
Obviously this is not a magic potion, but replacing this with your morning coffee will be just what your belly needs to be leaner.
Add Vitamins To Your Diet
Having vitamins every day can help break down fats easily, thus transforming it into energy for your body to use. While Vitamin D can help with your workout performance, multivitamins and calcium can help to lower your BMI.
Make sure to cater your diet to vitamin intake and take full advantage of them.
Prepare Your Own Food
It’s always better to know exactly what you’re eating and how it’s made. Stop thinking about buying lunch everyday or getting home delivery. It’s always better to get off the couch and cook your weekly meals.
If time is a bit tight during the week, you can always cook in bulk on Sunday and freeze daily portions. Use lots of veggies and greens, and try to combine either proteins with veggies or carbs with veggies, never just proteins and carbs.
Don’t Shop On An Empty Stomach
This is a simple but golden rule. Don’t do your grocery shopping when you’re hungry. This is to help you avoid temptations that will undo all your hard work so far.
When you’re shopping on an empty stomach, that frozen meat pie will look far more appealing than something you need to prepare yourself.
Avoid temptation altogether and shop after your healthy meal, which will encourage you to continue your healthy buying habits.
Don’t Rush When Eating
Don’t just swallow, chew your food! An easy way to do this is by taking a breath in between each bite. This will stop you from getting into the bad habit of shovelling food in your mouth.
Take the time to enjoy your meal and rest assured that eating slower and chewing your food can help you ingest 12% less calories than what you would ingest when you chew less. Remember, slow and steady wins the race.
Control Your Portions
Portion control can also help with weight loss. Obviously, the less you serve yourself, the less you’ll eat, but forget about second portions! Try to stick to the specific portion size you selected. Switching plate sizes is the easiest way to do this.
It’s all about tricking the brain to make the small portion look big because it’s sitting on a smaller plate, and over time you will be used to your new, healthier portions.
Control Your Expectations
This last hack is important. As much as portion and meal control are integral for losing belly fat, knowing what to expect is too. Losing stubborn body fat is a gradual process. As you lose overall body fat you will continue to lose belly fat at the same time.
Just keep in mind that it will take a bit longer to see the desired results. Stay patient, stay focused and whatever you do, don’t over-diet.
About Your Workout
Exercising is something you need to incorporate in your daily routine in order to have a healthy lifestyle, and will help you to maintain your ideal weight or lose some unwanted fat. Some of the best workouts to add to your routine that target belly fat are:
Running
You can do it anywhere and without equipment, and running at an average pace for an hour can burn up to 600 calories.
You can do an interval routine consisting of running, jogging or even power walking. Remember that the more calories you burn, the more belly fat you’ll be eliminating.
HIIT
High intensity interval training is great to lose stubborn fat, because you burn lots of calories in a short amount of time, so you don’t need to spend too long at the gym in order to get fit.
Because of the physically intense nature of burpees, box jumps and sprints, HIIT will have your body burning calories long after the workout is finished!
Cycling
Get ready to get those legs spinning. Cycling is a great exercise to lose fat, and the pack-mentality while performing the exercise in classes or with friends will make you push yourself further and work harder.
While there’s no magic trick to get that flat belly you’ve always wanted, it is a completely achievable goal.
Eating healthy and exercising are a good start, and if you combine that with these 10 hacks you’ll be able to get rid of that stubborn fat for good sooner than you thought.
You can find much more information on living a holistic lifestyle in these free magazines and on our YouTube channel.
Ben is a freelance journalist and copywriter with a passion for nutrition, fitness, wellness and all the things that keep us healthy, happy and around for a long time. You can follow Ben on Twitter.
I read a personal review about The 3 Week Diet, and it seemed like the person had great success using the product so I gave it a try. I couldn’t have been more excited about the results, as I am now 50 pounds lighter than when I first started using it. The article was very helpful to me — if you want to check it out yourself
Thanks for the feedback I am sure many others will look into this way of eating.