How To Reduce Belly Fat Quickly At Home?
I clearly remember the day – it was Tuesday, the 3rd of March 2011 when my 9 year old niece told that she was ashamed of me and wouldn’t want me to take her to her friend’s for a play date. I wouldn’t blame her, I weighed a full 200 pounds while I was only 25. A lot of my friends had called me ‘chubby’ but hey! There a lot of people who were far overweight compared to me. However, my ugly fat belly.. Eww! I looked like I had swallowed a few minions. I later learned from my sister that my niece’s (her daughter) friends have been making fun of my fat belly and she had always been embarrassed by me. That was when I decided I had to do something about my weight problem, particularly my ugly belly. It took me 3 months to reduce my fat belly and get a flat belly – that’s when I got my very own Ralph Lauren Slim Fit Polo shirt and I’ve been doing all my shopping there since then. I want to find the answer for big question is “How to reduce belly fat quickly at home?”
“Ain’t that Cool?”
Not a week goes by without a friend asking me how to reduce belly fat quickly at home. How would you like to get rid of the stubborn belly fat and join me at the Slim Fit club?
So, what causes a fat belly in the first place?
It’s always easy to convince yourself that the reason you have a fat belly is because your father had one and so did his dad. Blaming genetics is what a lazy person would do when he’s not ready to take the necessary action to lose weight. If you’re ready to start losing weight and shake off that ugly fat belly, congratulations! Before you could see how to lose the stubborn belly fat let’s first learn what causes those ugly bellies and then I will tell you how to reduce belly fat quickly at home.
Not only are fat bellies ugly, they are a symptom of an unhealthy lifestyle. You’re probably doing something wrong to be holding on to that belly. Here are the most factors that cause a fat belly.
Bellies are not always due to huge fat deposits in your body. Most of the time, it is gas problems that are the reason for a bloated belly. If it’s in fact due to gas problems also known as gastritis, the problem could be with your diet. Do you eat fast? Do you drink liquids with a straw? Do you chew gum often? These are things that could cause gastritis. Before you start searching the answer to how to get rid of belly fat for men, gas problem is the first thing you should get checked.
Smoking is a leading cause of formation of gas that causes bloating.
Stress is one of the major reasons for obesity and fat bellies. Are you stressed most of the time? Stress releases a hormone called Cortisol, which is the same hormone that helps with digestion. When Cortisol is released, it tells the body that times are tough and you might be starving soon. So it basically instructs the digestive system to digest fast and store as much fat as possible. Guess where it gets stored? Yes, stress is directly linked to fat bellies.
Are you someone who sips on soda all day? Do you love coffee and have more than 2 cups a day? Oh, you’re the ‘health conscious’ dude that only drinks ‘diet’ soda! And diet soda, that has almost zero calories shouldn’t result in a big belly, right? Wrong. Caffeine is linked to Cortisol secretion which again results in a fat belly. You should quit caffeine completely before thinking how to reduce belly fat quickly at home.
4. Carbs and Sugar
Carbohydrates and Sugar get broken down into Glycogen which is necessary for your energy. If you eat an unbalanced diet (wink wink Pizza!), chances are, you are taking in more carbohydrates and sugar than is necessary for your body. Did you know that the recommended intake is just 150 grams of Carbohydrates and 10 grams of sugar per day? On average, Americans consume thrice that amount. They get converted to Glycogen and every gram of glycogen stores 3 grams of water in your body resulting in that bloated, ugly, bouncing fat belly! Without decreasing your carbs and sugar intake, it wouldn’t be prudent asking around how to get rid of belly fat for men.
5. Deficiency in Protein
Have you seen those poor malnourished kids they show on advertisements? While they have a lean body, they have bloated bellies. This is due to a condition called Kwashiorkor, which is caused due to malnutrition and a protein deficiency. While the average American eats the required amount of protein everyday, if you’re an Asian, you might be suffering from protein deficiency which could be the reason for that belly. While only thinking about how to reduce belly fat quickly at home, you might miss the nutrients you should actually be taking everyday to remain healthy.
Toxins are unavoidable in huge cities. Urban population are known to suffer overweight problems due to the toxins in their body which store unhealthy amounts of fat.
The Truth About Belly Reducing Workouts
While it is true that in order to get a fully ripped 6 pack abs, it is necessary to start doing crunches and a whole lot of ab workouts, there exist a lot of half-truths and blatant lies about reducing fat bellies in the fitness industries. I would like to debunk some myths about reducing belly fats because well, I tried them I did not shed any fat this way. First of all, if anything or anybody start explaining how to lose belly fat in 3 days or asks you to buy a belt, ring or any kind of product claiming this is how to reduce belly fat quickly at home, they are bullshit, run as far away from as possible.
Have you seen those late-night infomercials where they sell dozens of crap that helps you do workouts that just hit the ‘spot’?
These products or the workouts that they suggest make no sense and I will tell you why. Get this, ‘It is IMPOSSIBLE to reduce fat in just one area of the body’. You’re going to reduce the fat content in your body, i.e. your Body Fat % as a whole so that your belly gets reduced.
You might be thinking about all the Rocky Balboas out there who are doing crunches all the time to get ripped abs, surely they are not wrong. Yes, they are not wrong. What they are doing is trying to build their abdomen muscles, not trying to lose fat in that particular area. It would make more sense for you to try general workouts that help you lose weight and lower your body fat % overall rather than buying into the BS of the infomercials.
The Best Way to Lose Belly Fat
Like I mentioned earlier, your best bet to lose belly fat is to burn a ton of fat in your body as a whole. Here’s the simplest set of instructions I would give to people asking me how to get rid of belly fat for men, since I’m a man myself and I’ve successfully gotten rid of my belly fat.
- Your body currently burns sugar for energy.
- You need to lower sugar intake and have your body burn fat for energy instead.
- The process of having your body burn fat for its energy is called Ketosis.
- It could be tricky to kick start the process in your body and could take anywhere between 1 to 6 weeks. However, once it starts, it is the healthiest way to burn fat.
To kick-start Ketosis in your body, start doing physical exercises like cardio to burn a lot of calories, thus having your body use a ton of energy everyday. The next and most important aspect is the food intake. You should bring down your carbohydrate intake to 10% and take up the healthy fats to 65%. Protein should comprise 25% of your diet. Your fat intake needs to be high because that’s how you force your body to significantly reduce the fat produced by your body. Also, fat is what makes you feel fuller.
Doing this will reduce your body fat % in no time and you will notice that your belly starts reducing gradually.
Recommended Diet (for How to reduce belly fat quickly at home)
Stick to the ratio I mentioned above. For carbohydrates, you can take cooked vegetables which contain a lot of healthy carbs. They also are rich in Vitamins which are necessary for your health during the process.
For protein, you can eat Chicken, Fish, Eggs, Dairy and Soy. They need not be more than 25% of your total intake.
For healthy fat, eat avocados, cheese and nuts. They have to comprise more than 60% of your daily intake.
How to stay focused
Staying focused to a routine can be really complicated. In fact, surveys show less than 5% of people who start a weight-loss regime actually go through with it after the first month. Here are some things that can help you stay focused, importantly to your diet.
1. Emergency Meals
It is going to be doubly hard to resist sugary food and drinks once you go through the first week of the regime. You will want to eat everything that you come across and when you get hungry, let’s be honest and say that healthy foods are not easy to prepare. It makes sense for you to prepare ’emergency meals’, meals that are healthy and can last a long-time in your refrigerator. This way, when you suddenly get angry and start craving for some food, you have some right there in the corner.
2. Variety is not Important
When you are on a weight-loss regime, variety is not at all important. It makes a lot of sense for you to eat the same food over a day or two. If it’s chicken with bread in the morning, you can have chicken with salsa for lunch if variety is very important for you.
This is because just thinking about what to eat can be stressful at these times. While variety is important for the same day, it is important that you change the source of these nutrients at least every 3 days.
3. Cooking in Bulk
Cooking is easy – grab some Ramen and popcorn, throw them in the oven, lunch is ready. Dinner? Frozen Pizza and a can of soda Yo! Yeah, I’m not talking about that kind of cooking.
Cooking healthy food is hard and time-consuming. If you’re going to do it everyday, it will be a stressful experience. If you are going to follow a diet regime, cook them in bulk and eat them with different types of seasoning everyday. It is practically impossible to cook healthy food everyday.
Tupperware is your best friend!
4. Get rid of Temptation
Temptation is the biggest enemy of a weight-loss regime. You might be tempted to eat a sugary, calorie-filled food all the time. It is better to remove all kind of unhealthy food before even you start such a diet regime. This is because will-power is limited resource and it can become tiring in the long term. availability of unhealthy food decreases amount of will power that you have to use.
Most of the time, the temptation is due to the habit. You might be used to eating popcorn and drink soda every time you binge watch your favorite series. And when you are on a weight loss regime and your favorite series is playing on Netflix, your body automatically starts craving for the buttery goodness. One way to resist this is to replace such unhealthy food with healthy substitutes like nuts. You can also try carrot sticks, grilled fruits, etc. The key is reduce the amount of willpower that you use during the regime.
Don’t Give Up!
5. Get a Routine
The most important part of a healthy weight-loss regime is to form a habit out of it. Start a healthy regime and stick to it. The key here is the planning. Don’t make unrealistic plans. Instead make realistic reasonable workout and diet plans that will be easy for you to follow.
Once you start following the regime, they often become a habit within the next 6 weeks. Things will start becoming effortless and you can use the much saved will-power on putting in more effort on your fat burning.