Everybody has some stomach fat, even individuals who have flat abs. should try some kind of supplement.
That’s regular. Too much stubborn belly fat can impact your health in a method that other fat does not.
A few of your fat is right under your skin. Other fat is much deeper inside, around your heart, lungs, liver, and other organs.
It’s that much deeper fat– called “visceral” fat– that might be the larger issue, even for thin individuals.
Even thin individuals can have excess tummy fat. It’s more about how active you are than your trouser size.
1. Probiotic
A probiotic is one supplement that will greatly help with digestion, which, therefore, will help flatten the tummy and increase your chance of losing the last bit of body fat.
And increasing fiber, in general, is a great way to improve digestion. The good news is that the healthy mummy smoothies are high in fiber – you can also read more on fiber here.
2. Fish oil
Fish oil is another great tool in speeding up fat loss as it is thought to positively influence metabolism, meaning that you’ll digest your food more quickly, to activate enzymes in your body that are responsible for burning fat, which also means that your body burns fat more easily, and also helps to reduce insulin resistance.
Studies have shown that taking fish oil supplements in conjunction with doing regular aerobic exercise can help you to burn off up to 26% more calories per day and more body fat than if you didn’t take any fish oil supplements.
3. Cut out dairy and gluten and drink Smoothie
If you are still finding it hard to lose tummy fat, try cutting dairy and gluten from your diet (The Healthy Mummy smoothies are free from dairy and gluten).
These two groups of food cause a lot of bloating and fluid retention and could be just the thing you need to get rid of those last few kilos.
Try using almond, soy, or lite coconut milk instead of regular cow’s milk and gluten-free wraps instead of regular bread. You will not miss them after a week or two, so give it a try.
4. Have a blood test to rule out any deficiencies
Pregnancy and childbirth can also deplete women with various nutrients such as iron and iodine. So it may be worth getting a blood test or complete thyroid panel to rule out any supplements deficiencies if you are getting stuck with your weight loss efforts.
A great natural medicine practitioner can also check for genetic irregularities that your GP may not test for, such as the modern-day ‘Fat Gene’. It is a simple and affordable DNA test that can greatly help in difficult cases.
Reasons you may NOT be losing belly fat
If you are trying and failing to lose belly fat, we can help!
There are many medical, environmental, and genetic reasons why we find it hard to lose weight. Although science tells us it’s calories in vs energy out. For most that have struggled with eating a good diet and exercising profusely, you know it can’t be true.
People with excess visceral belly fat are more prone to heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
If you’re having a difficult time getting rid of your belly fat, it could be for a variety of reasons. Here are a few things that might be preventing you from losing fat.
1. Your age
Without supplements. With age, your body changes how it gains and loses weight.
This is due to hormonal changes and the aging process. Pre-menopause and menopause also affect belly fat. You may find the changes in your body overwhelming. This isn’t easy to deal with, especially if you’ve been fit your entire life. As we age, we lose muscle, and if we do not exercise, it is a matter of using it or losing it.
We experience a declining metabolic rate or the number of calories the body needs to function normally as we age. On top of that, we have menopause as well, which makes it difficult to lose kilos.
Menopause.
“If women gain weight after menopause, it’s more likely to be in their bellies,” says Michael Jensen, MD, professor of medicine in the Mayo Clinic’s endocrinology division.
We also hold on to excess body weight as we age. Often for Individuels, this becomes the doughnut around your middle, the dreaded belly fat.
Hormonal changes in the natural aging process slow down the resting metabolic rate. When your metabolism slows down you burn fewer calories.
So how can you lose belly fat? You replace fat with muscle. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn – lose fat and maintain muscle. So resistance training, as well as a cardiovascular workout is a great way to start.
2. You’re eating the wrong foods
If you’re eating junk food regularly, it will impact your health in many ways, especially around your belly as too much salt, sugar, and refined carbohydrates contribute to fat storage.
Refined grains like white bread, crackers, and chips, as well as refined sugars in sweetened drinks and desserts, increase inflammation in our bodies. Belly fat is associated with inflammation.
Ditch the takeaways, lollies, and soft drinks, and try incorporating foods like green leafy vegetables into your diet and drinking a lot more water.
There are lots of healthy foods that can be added to your daily meals to increase your fat-burning potential and the ability to lose stomach fat. These homemade baked beans (pictured above) are a delicious, healthy, and budget-friendly recipe that will help to trim your tummy fat!
3. Too much stress
Not only does stress lead you to reach for those junk foods. It also triggers the release of cortisol, a stress hormone. When stress becomes unrelenting, the omentum attempts to control cortisol flow by sucking it out of the bloodstream.
When we’re stressed, the stress hormone cortisol is chronically elevated, and this turns our bodies into fat-storing machines.
This is because elevated cortisol levels increase the activity of the major fat-storing enzyme – lipoprotein lipase (LPL).
Cortisol also makes the body more insulin resistant. This means the body will need to release more insulin to get the job done. This can lead to greater fat storage, and the slowed release of fat will also be worsened.
Try clearing your mind with a walk, a bit of yoga or just having some downtime with our Mind, Body, and Breath sessions on the 28-Day Weight Loss Challenge.
4. Lack of sleep
A 16-year study of almost 70,000 women found that those who slept five hours or less a night were 30% more likely to gain 30 or more pounds than those who slept 7 hours.
Sleepless nights don’t just ruin your mood the next day! They could also be ruining your waistline. Sleep loss also causes our bodies to release more ghrelin, another hormone that signals hunger, and less leptin, the hormone that tells your stomach that it’s full.
With your hormones off-kilter, your body wants more food and lacks the ability to know when to stop eating. Not to mention that being awake for more hours gives you more time to snack!
5. Medical issues
These are more serious, but certain medical conditions may mean you’re more likely to develop a bit of weight around the middle. Certain medical conditions like PCOS, Cushing’s disease, and Liver disease mean you’re more likely to develop a bit of weight around the middle. Similarly, people with Type 2 diabetes are also more susceptible.
Be sure to chat with your doctor if you are struggling to lose weight through diet changes and exercise. They may be able to make further suggestions to make losing stomach fat easier.
6. Hormones
As we get older, our estrogen levels change, and the fat tends to move to our stomachs.
While some stomach fat is fairly common, a lot may indicate a hormonal imbalance.
There are a few hormones that can affect weight loss including:
Leptin –
A protein that acts as a hormone in helping to prevent obesity by regulating appetite. Very few people are deficient in this hormone.
Ghrelin –
A protein secreted by stomach cells promotes positive energy balance by stimulating appetite and promoting efficient energy storage. In a condition called ‘Prader-Willi syndrome’ – ghrelin levels stay high after eating, which promotes an excessive appetite. People with this syndrome would find it difficult to lose weight.
A lack of sleep can also increase ghrelin levels and decrease leptin – therefore increasing appetite and decreasing satiety levels. This may explain correlations made between lack of sleep and a high BMI (Body Mass Index).
A common disorder is polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) which can cause weight gain because the body struggles more when using insulin. This insulin resistance means that glucose and sugar can build up in the bloodstream, not only resulting in weight gain around the tummy but also making it virtually impossible to get rid of that stomach fat.
7. Too much alcohol
Alcohol intake is often associated with having a bigger waist because when you drink, the liver burns alcohol instead of fat stores. Plus, when you drink a lot, it makes you want to reach for unhealthy food choices that complement it, such as snacks, burgers, and pizza.
If you want to drink alcohol, try to have one glass of water between each alcoholic beverage to limit your intake and eat something with lots of fresh veggies beforehand to fill you up.
8. The wrong type of exercise
If you really want to get rid of belly fat, you need to work the whole body and lose fat everywhere.
Work on multiple muscle groups with full-body, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts. That way you’ll get toned arms and legs too (and not just tummy fat loss)!
All these exercises and more are included in the 28-Day Weight Loss Challenge.
9. You have a higher number of fat cells
You can shrink fat cells through healthy eating and exercise – but fat cells in actual fact don’t die. Therefore if you have been heavier in the past, it is easier for you to regain the weight. It basically means that you must be more vigilant in leading a healthy lifestyle with the main focus being on what you eat.
Reduce belly fat with PCOS
10. You have an underactive thyroid or iodine deficiency
According to researchers, iodine consumption has dropped in Australia. This affects the level of thyroid hormone and can lead to a slower basal metabolic rate (BMR).
Iodine is essential in making thyroid hormones and during pregnancy, we transfer iodine to the fetus for adequate development.
The National Health and Medical Research Council recommends iodine supplementation during pregnancy.
For non-pregnant women, iodized salt can be used (as long as there is no high blood pressure or salt restriction) along with fortified bread, (not including organic). Seaweeds are also high in iodine as are marine foods, including regular fish (e.g. tinned salmon) and shellfish (e.g. oysters). Please note, that women with pre-existing thyroid conditions should not take iodine supplements until they have checked with their doctor.
11. You have adipose/visceral fat
Adipose fat is located all around the body and internal organs. This type of fat is a major endocrine and secretory organ that releases protein signals called adipokines. This is linked to the development of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure.
This fat can also impair insulin signaling – which results in higher insulin levels and in turn higher fat storage and reduced fat oxidation. People that lead a sedentary lifestyle with diets high in refined sugars, processed foods, and saturated fat are at most risk of having high levels of adipose fat.
12. Lack of physical exercise
Working at a sedentary job that doesn’t give you the opportunity to move around and increase your heart rate leads to muscle loss, which decreases the rate at which your body burns calories. As this happens, you gain weight and some of this weight can be concentrated in your abdominal area.
If you don’t start to exercise regularly, you won’t be able to lose that extra weight despite decreasing your caloric intake.
The 28-Day Weight Loss Challenge has over 350 convenient exercises, including our new high-intensity Tabata workouts available on the 28-Day Weight Loss Challenge App.
Tabata is a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workout, featuring exercises that last 4 minutes. It incorporates a warm-up and uses full-body exercises that engage as many muscle groups as possible
There may be a number of reasons that you’re struggling to lose belly fat. The mummy pouch is notoriously hard to shift, but you can do it (and if you need extra help check out the 28-Day Challenges)!
13. You’re eating too much sugar
Ditch the muffins and cakes! Sugar clings to our middle so make sure you are loading up on veggies and fruit instead.
If you must have that sweet fix then try some of our healthier sweet treat recipes.
14. You’re not eating enough protein
Protein helps build lean muscle and is a great source of energy, too. You don’t have to just eat meat for protein, it can be found in eggs, milk, and chickpeas as well.
Up your protein intake with Protein Powder.
15. You’re eating too much
It’s all well and good eating a healthy diet, but if you’re piling too much on your plate then your body is never going to burn off the fat around your tummy.
Watch your portion sizes, mamma!
16. You’re not eating regularly enough
Crash diets or skipping breakfast may help you lose weight quickly in the beginning, but it’s hard to sustain. If your body feels hungry then it could be storing fat because it’s going into starvation mode.
Make sure you eat regular meals throughout the day
17. You’re not resting enough
Make sure if you are doing a lot of exercises that you take days to rest. It’s important for the body as well as your mind.
It will also help your body recover in between workouts and give you more energy.
18. You’re not feeling motivated
You may be eating healthily and exercising but if you’re not feeling motivated then you could be more likely to slip up along the way.
In Conclusion.
Did you understand some supplements are much better taken with meals? While others should be taken on an empty stomach? In this blog article, we expose whatever you must understand about taking supplements. Consists of which ones to take, when and how to take them, how to choose safe types, and much more. Prior to taking any dietary supplements, constantly speak with a medical physician.
Browse our selection of Healthy Lifestyle products here to purchase today’s products.
Also our article on Raw Food Diets, The Nutritional Value, And How Good is it? Continue reading >>
Great blog! Keep posting such a good content.
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