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Are you looking for ways to lose stubborn belly fat? If so, then you’re not alone. Belly fat is one of the most common weight-loss-related issues that many people struggle with, and it can be difficult to get rid of.
Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to lose stubborn belly fat and achieve your desired weight-loss goals. In this article, we’ll cover five things you need to know about how to slim down and lose weight.
From your diet and exercise routines to lifestyle changes that can help you reach your goals, we’ll go over the important details that will make it easier for you to reach your goals.
Let's get to it!
How to Lose Stubborn Belly Fat
1.) Be honest with yourself
The very first thing you need to do when it comes to losing stubborn belly fat is to get clear on your goals and be honest with yourself about what you're willing to do to reach them. A lot of people tell themselves that they're struggling with stubborn belly fat, but in reality, they are struggling to make consistent changes in their lives.
In order to trim down your waistline, you are going to have to change your habits. Your diet and your exercise routine will have to look different than it does now.
So before you do anything else, you'll need to be honest with yourself about your willingness to make those changes. Your level of commitment and consistency will directly impact your results.
2.) Reduce Your Alcohol Intake
Now that you've fully gotten on board with making a change, the next step to losing stubborn belly fat is to start looking at how many drinks you have a week. Consuming too much alcohol will slow down and even prevent your body from losing weight.
Not only is alcohol empty calories, meaning it provides no nutritional value, but it interrupts the fat-burning process. According to Healthline, "When alcohol is consumed, it’s burned first as a fuel source before your body uses anything else. This includes glucose from carbohydrates or lipids from fats."
So if you want to lose stubborn belly fat, you'll want to start limiting how many drinks you have a week. A good goal is to have no more than 4-6 drinks a week.
If you typically only drink once or twice a week, that might be 2-3 drinks at a time. If you drink 3 or more times a week, you'll want to stop at just one drink.
Drinking any more than that will make it very hard to keep your body in fat-burning mode.
3.) Create a caloric deficit
The next thing you want to look at when trying to lose stubborn belly fat is your diet. In order to lose weight you need to be in a caloric deficit.
That means you need to be taking in fewer calories than you are burning. And the more of a deficit you create, the more weight you will lose.
You can do this by either reducing your caloric intake or increasing your activity levels. The important part is to make sure that you're doing it responsibly.
That means no crash diets and no drastically reducing your calorie intake. It might sound like it will speed up the process, but not only is it unsustainable, but it can also majorly slow down your metabolism.
Which will make it even harder to lose weight. Instead, aim to reduce your calorie intake by 200-500 calories per day.
Consistency
On top of that, you'll also want to make sure that you focus on eating mainly healthy foods with good portion sizes. When it comes to your diet, consistency plays a major role.
Your nutrition is the most important part of losing fat, so you can't just do it when you feel like it.
In order to really see results, you need to be consistent and make sure that you are sticking with your plan. That means eating clean most days of the week and limiting your cheat meals to one a week.
If you're eating more than 1 cheat meal a week or even making it a cheat day each week, it's going to be really hard to lose that stubborn belly fat.
4.) Training
The next piece of the puzzle when it comes to losing stubborn belly fat is your training. After your diet, it's the most important part.
What your training routine will look like, will depend on where you're at in your goals. If your body fat percentage is over 15% for men and 25% for women, then strength training is your main priority.
Strength training, not cardio, will have the biggest impact on your weight loss at this point. Certified strength and conditioning specialist K. Aleisha Fetters, M.S., C.S.C.S. notes that "through a targeted total-body strength-training program, it’s possible to not only prevent muscle loss, but actually increase your muscle mass (and keep your metabolism up) throughout your life."
The more muscle mass your body has, the higher your metabolism and the more calories you'll burn, even at rest. So until you get down to a certain fat percentage, strength training should be the focus.
Aim for 3-5 strength training sessions a week and add complexes to your weight training routine 2-3 times a week. Complexes refer to a series of exercises that you do in a row without rest.
For example, instead of doing regular bicep curls, you might do a complex that includes bicep curls, shoulder presses, and tricep kickbacks in one set. This way you're getting more bang for your buck, and moving several different muscles in less time.
Once you get down to less than 15% body fat for men and 25% body fat for women, you can start to include more cardio into your routine. Once you start adding in cardio, plan to do 2-4 cardio sessions a week.
5.) Ab Training
The last thing you want to focus on when it comes to losing stubborn belly fat is your ab training. Yes, it's important to train your entire body when trying to lose weight, but you also want to make sure you're training your abs specifically.
Your entire core needs to be treated as a separate focus. That means training not just your abdominals and obliques, but also the muscles in your back as well.
Try to train your abs for 5-10 minutes a day at least 3 days a week and even up to daily if you can. Not only will it help strengthen and build up the muscles in your core, but it will also help build motivation and momentum with your overall weight loss.
Training your abs consistently will help strengthen the muscles in your core. They'll start to get stronger and more defined.
Being able to actually see the changes in your body can be that extra boost you need to stay consistent and focused with your training and nutrition.
Even if it takes a while to see the results, just knowing that you're doing something positive for your body is often enough motivation to keep going. So don't neglect the importance of ab training when trying to lose belly fat!
Conclusion to How to Lose Stubborn Belly Fat
These are the main things you should focus on when trying to lose that stubborn belly fat. Remember, it won't happen overnight and it will take some time and effort on your part, but if you stick with it, you will definitely see progress.
Focus on these tips and make sure that your diet and training routine are dialed in, then you will be on the right path to success. Good luck!
