Watching that extra junk around your trunk turn your body into a full-blown Buddha belly puts you at an increased risk for heart disease, diabetes, and early death. Luckily, losing the weight doesn’t have to take forever; with these 22 belly fat-fighting tips, you can shave two inches off your waistline in as little as two weeks. Think your age will stand in the way of your weight loss? The 20 Ways to Lose Your Belly When You’re Older will help folks of any age get on track to their best body ever.
I like this article and my heart goes out to everyone struggling with obesity. I think the comments demonstrate that no one method works for everyone. Because of both mental and physical genetic variation we must find the way that works for us. Clearly physical activity and essential nutrients are play a huge role in health and weight loss. How you accomplish these goals can be done in may ways. Thanks for sharing this info.
Good question, Craig. As I posted above, HS wrestlers (also, many other grappling sport athletes) aren’t given the full 24 hours to recover from depletion. Some sports have mat-side weigh-ins. Others are just given a few hours after weigh-in to replenish. For these sports, athletes are best served focusing on year-round nutrition strategies, ones that help them stay at a weight very close to the weight they’d like to compete at.
Dietary medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) and medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs) cannot be stored by the body, so they need to be burned immediately upon absorption from the small bowel, as a buildup of MCFAs in the bloodstream is dangerous. So if one’s intake of MCT/MCFA at any point in time is greater than one’s peak fat oxidation capacity, the liver has to step in and reduce the toxic excess of MCFAs to ketones, which are more readily used and far less dangerous. While this rise in ketones induced by MCT oil consumption can trigger some of the epigenetic benefits associated with nutritional ketosis, it does not induce the accelerated ability to burn fat associated with keto-adaptation. And this has implications for our quest to understand the relationship between ketones and weight loss.
In this study, women were put in one of two groups. Group 1 ate a “normal” diet with 15% of calories from protein. Group 2 ate a high-protein (30%) diet, with a special emphasis on low-glycemic-index foods. Both groups lost weight, but the Group 2 also had impressive hormonal improvements, specifically a decrease in androgens (male sex hormones) and markers of inflammation, and an improvement in insulin sensitivity. It’s complicated because there were two interventions at once (the protein and the glycemic index), but this seems to suggest that getting enough protein is important for hormonal healing.
The funny thing to me is that what was described in the article was not at all foreign to me and I was thinking “what’s new” when I was reading it, but if you’ve never done it before, it’s really really unpleasant. We’d always fly in the night before the weigh ins and the day of, I’d often wake up at 5am and cut for 12 hours straight. The hardest part is to have the discipline to not check your weight too frequently because it gets extremely hard to get your sweat going when you’re dehydrated, especially in the absence of a sauna. My mom also noticed that I’d go running in a foot of fresh snow at 3am when I’d have an early flight and at that point she decided she didn’t have to worry about my determination.
When boredom strikes, your pantry may be one of the first places you turn. But if your pantry is filled with high-calorie, high-fat foods, over time, the scale will tip in the wrong direction. Counter these temptations by tossing the junk food and replacing it with wholesome, nutritional snack options. It’s time to give your pantry a healthy makeover by tossing the following five foods for good!
After a cancer diagnosis sent her normally healthy lifestyle off-course, flight attendant Tracey Z. Dickson was heavier than she had ever been. When she was declared cancer-free, she hopped back on the treadmill and got her diet in order—and went from 158 pounds to 117. One of her diet secrets? "Instead of dessert, I'll have a baked sweet potato sprinkled with cinnamon," she says. "It tastes like I'm eating sweet potato pie, but for a ton less calories." For more healthy ideas on how to get your sugar fix, check out these desserts with 150 calories (or less).
If you want to shrink your gut, get enough protein in your diet. In this case, about 25 percent of calories. Why? For starters, protein makes you feel full and helps you build muscle (which increases metabolism, thereby making it easier to lose weight). Just as important, high-protein diets have been shown to be the best way of attacking belly fat. In one study, published in the International Journal of Obesity, Danish researchers put 65 people on either a 12 percent protein diet or a 25 percent protein diet. The low-protein dieters lost an average of 11 pounds, which isn't bad. But the high-protein subjects lost an average of 20 pounds--including twice as much abdominal fat as the low-protein group.
Beth has struggled with her weight for nearly her entire life. Overweight since puberty and then obese throughout high school and college, Beth tipped the scales at 250 pounds. In early 2009, she resolved to take better care of herself, which included quitting smoking and running for exercise. Initially, Beth didn't drop weight as quickly as she would’ve liked, so she took a look at her eating habits. She joined Weight Watchers where she learned how food should be measured and weighed, and how much she should eat in a day.
Consider a low-carbohydrate (Atkins) diet. The theory is that overweight people eat too many carbohydrates. A diet rich in carbs causes the body to release insulin. The body controls glucose (sugar) by producing insulin. The insulin moves the sugar out of your blood, and some of it may be converted into fat. The low-carb diet structures your meals around proteins, soy-products, vegetables, fruits, and nuts to avoid this. While you want to limit the number of carbs you eat, you don't want to completely cut them out of your diet. Try to have carbs at least 20% of the time. Your body does need glucose in order to function, and carbs are a good source for that. Foods that are allowed as part of the low-carb diet:
Sonia is a single mom of two in her 40s. She’s also a former drinking, chain-smoking food junkie. Then she made a New Year’s resolution that stuck. She wanted to lose 50 to 60 pounds and be active at least 30 minutes a day, six days a week. She started running and hasn’t stopped since. The Healthy Foodie is full of healthy recipes that will help you on your own weight loss journey. Visit the blog.
"The key offender in the squat pattern," explained Dan. "Squats are good, I do them myself, but for most women who are already functionally quad dominant with weak firing glutes, tight hip flexors and tilted pelvises (which 75% of our new female clients have – regardless of age or profession), squats will just exacerbate the issues and bulk up legs more."
With potatoes, leave the skin on (with baked or mashed potatoes) or if you peel them, make snacks of them. For example, drizzle olive oil, rosemary, salt, and garlic on the peels and bake at 400 F (205 C) for fifteen minutes for baked Parmesan garlic peels. Keeping the skin on potatoes when cooking them helps keep more vitamins/minerals in the flesh (just don't eat any parts of skin that are green).
Use a calorie-needs calculator like LIVESTRONG.COM’s MyPlate app to figure out your daily calorie needs, then subtract calories to create your energy deficit. With an app like MyPlate, you can factor in your weight-loss goal, and it will tell you the exact number of calories (as well has how much fat, protein and carbohydrates) you need to reach that goal.
Thyroid hormone is essential for fat loss. Unfortunately on a low carbohydrate diet thyroid hormone production can slow down. This is crucial to bear in mind for women especially because women’s metabolism and thyroid activity are much more sensitive than men’s. It is important in the “low carb” times of the cycle to still not be very low carb. Stay above 50 grams of carbohydrate a day, at very minimum (and higher if physically active).
The fact of the matter is battling the bulge takes different strategies and approaches depending upon your genetics, your metabolism, your willpower, etc. What works for your buddy won’t necessarily be your be-all and end-all solution. To simplify things, we compiled plenty of tips to help rev your metabolism, lose your love handles, and unsheathe your abs. You’ll have to do some trial and error to deduce which ones work best for you (hey, losing weight is hard work). But if you put in the work (aka incorporate a few of these tips each week), you’ll be well on your way to a smaller waistline. Who said your glory days were in the past?
However, if you feel The Lose Weight Diet is indeed right for you... let's get started. I have broken it all down into 3 phases. In order to fully understand and fully follow this weight loss plan effectively, you MUST read through each phase in order. Do not skip anything or jump ahead. Just sit back and relax. You're only 3 steps away from losing weight... for free. Start here:
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) a healthy diet consists of limited saturated and trans fatty acids, free sugars, and salt, with adequate amounts of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains (2). And observational data from large cohorts found that higher adherence to the WHO dietary guidelines are associated with increased life expectancy (3).
While many professionals tout light bouts of resistance training for women, the truth is that light weight will only allow the body to adapt to so much. While it may seem counterintuitive, using heavier weights can have a more favorable outcome for weight loss. Not only does heavy resistance training create a greater calorie expenditure for up to 24 hours post-workout, but it can also help you add muscle mass, which helps you burn more calories at rest!
Emmie's blog is about her journey to find her “Skinny Emmie,” the person inside her who feels healthy and great and doesn’t let external appearances slow her down. Emmie is open and honest with her readers and engages in conversation with them in the comments section of her blog. You can tell that she really cares about her readers and how her blog affects them.
While the easiest and fastest way to promote healthy weight loss is a combination of exercise and healthy eating, it is entirely possible to lose weight without working out. In fact, fitness is great for burning calories and physical health, but not always great for weight loss in specific. Some studies suggest that increased activity may not be the best solution, because it can be harder to consistently cut large amount of calories through activity, and often times increasing output can increase appetite (12,13). Remember, physical activity, or TEA and NEAT, only accounts for a portion (10 to 30%) of your total daily burn.
Not exactly. But restricting your eating window may help you cut more calories overall if done correctly (110). If you are able to avoid the natural urge to binge eat once you get to sit down for a meal, and are still keeping total calorie intake in mind, science suggests it can be an effective way to shed pounds. But the fasting itself doesn't promote more weight loss or fat loss.
Wow! Thank you so much for sharing your story…I would have never guessed you had dealt with such a thing. I”m in the process of losing over 75 lbs gained due to anxiety medicine. I too just woke up and had an epiphany that the medicine had turned me into someone I was not and I had to get off of it especially before having children. It’s definitely been a struggle, but I’ve seen the commercials on tv too and do not want to chance affecting my future children in any way and I want to be a better version of myself. For me personally, exercise, eating better, and therapy have worked to reduce my anxiety and panic attacks enough to stay off medicine.
It takes more than just crunches! We start to gain weight in our midsection when our cortisol levels spike. Stress is one of the primary culprits for high levels of cortisol secretion. When this happens cortisol breaks downs lean muscle (the type of tissue that burns calories most efficiently) and also holds on to fat storage in the abdominal region. That stress can even get WORSE with bad dieting; studies show that the stress caused by dieting can increase cortisol levels, making no change in belly fat even with calorie restriction. So how do you shape up? Incorporate these 6 things below and you will be on your way to a flatter belly in no time flat!
Jessica Osborne, fitness trainer and former Radio City Rockette works with clients to help them sculpt the long, lean legs of a dancer. But she says that it is impossible to spot reduce or lose weight from one area such as the thighs. Instead, she recommends "cardio-amped" workouts that burn calories for fat loss all over the body. She also includes strength training to shape the quadriceps (front of the thigh) and hamstrings (back of the thigh).
Well done to you I am totally amazed at your will power (that you feel you don’t have) but believe me you definitely have something in there that you don’t give yourself enough credit for. I’d call it stamina. You did great to loose all the weight and make the decision to do it. You won a battle gazillions of people have given up on years ago. Well done. You should be very proud of yourself. This is a great inspirational and truthful piece.
In just over a week, we’ll be counting down till midnight and ringing in 2019. The start of the New Year motivates millions of Americans to lose weight, but why wait until the ball drops to get started? In this Holiday Weight Loss Survival Guide, we discuss how getting active can get you through New Year’s celebrations and help you with your resolutions.
When Addison was not even one year old, I saw this commercial one day. I still remember it like it was yesterday. She was taking a nap and it came on the television. It was about this anxiety medicine that had begun to be linked to so many birth defects. It was a commercial for a law firm asking you to call this number if you had taken the medicine and gave birth to a child with a defect. I was in shock. It was the medicine that I had literally gotten off of two months before Addison was conceived. I cried and cried at the thought of what could’ve happened to Addie had I not “woken up” that day in January 2007.
I love the idea of carb cycling and I tried it in the spring when I bought weight loss unlocked. With my Hashimoto’s condition, though, I really suffered during the low carb part of the cycle. I might try it again, and just do a lower carb diet during my last two weeks, but still keep it at 100-150g per day. It’s always a work in progress. Thanks for shedding more light on this!
A year ago you couldn't find a fitter man than Drew of Fit2Fat2Fit, but then the personal trainer decided to take on a new project in order to better understand what his overweight clients were going through. He gained 70 pounds over six months—going from "fit to fat"—and is now in the process of going from "fat to fit." Along the way he's learned a lot about the mental struggles of weight loss, as well as the physical: check out his post about feeling too self-conscious to dance with his wife.
The sprawl is basically a burpee on steroids — a full body exercise that works as many muscles as possible and burns calories while shaping and toning upper and lower bodies — especially your abs! “It takes the traditional burpee to the next level by having you touch your chest to the ground, then pushup to plank as you continue the move,” explains Braganza.
Apart from this, around 180 to 270 grams of complex carbohydrates, such as whole grains, vegetables, and fruits, should be consumed, which will fulfill 45% to 65% of the calorie need for the day. Low-fat proteins like poultry, meat, and fish should also be eaten. It is recommended to eat 50% to 95% of low-fat proteins. This will provide for 15% to 25% of calorie intake for the day.
At rest and low intensity training, when there aren't an influx of calories from food, the body prefers to use mostly fat stores for energy. And your body is almost always using some fat for energy, and you are also always store some for energy. Which is why "burning fat" and losing fat are not quite the same thing. Oxidizing fat for energy doesn't always mean you are losing fat. Fat loss, just like weight loss is more dependent on calorie control than hormones and fuel utilization.