Of late, we have seen many clients who desperately want to lose weight, particularly their ‘belt
fat’. And this often leads to fad diets, low carb consumption, extensive workouts, and what not. But its very important to identify the reason why it is difficult to lose that stubborn belly fat. It may not be related to your food or activity but it could be related to a lack of sleep, insulin resistance or high sugar levels, hormonal imbalance, inflammation, gut issues, stress and more. Find out the root cause in your case and work on that rather than following fad diets. It’s very important to have realistic goals because many people who come to us have had stubborn belly fat for years but they want to get rid of it in few weeks or months. Always check if the fat accumulation has happened over years, because even if you start exercising, following a healthy meal pattern — your body will take time to settle into a new routine and progress slowly.
So get your thyroid levels checked, check for PCOD, insulin resistance, sugar levels any other hormonal imbalance etc. Insulin is a hormone that helps sugar uptake into a cell, but if the cells are resistant to insulin then the sugar levels can drastically increase and that’s where one has more body fat accumulating especially in the belly area. Hormones play a huge role in belly fat and women who are highly stressed may have hormonal imbalances, high estrogen levels which too will allow the body to accumulate fat near abdominal area. Men with low testosterone levels can have more belly fat as testosterone helps in maintaining lean muscle mass. So this is how hormonal imbalance and lack of cell communication causes belly fat accumulation.
Let’s look at a few lifestyle changes that you can start right away.
Stop overeating
If we like a particular dish, we tend to overeat but we have to understand that even the good stuff when overdone gets stored in the body as fat for future use. So slow down and chew your food really well because this technique helps in reducing your portion size.
Proteins
It’s very important that our major meals and snacks should be balanced with proteins, carbs and fats, wherein the protein helps in fat burning and enhances satiation. For vegetarians, cereals lack one amino acid called lysine (and contain methionine) where as pulses lack methionine (and contain lysine). So, only when we combine the pulses and grains together, we are getting a complete protein. Incomplete proteins will neither support growth nor provide normal maintenance of body tissues or
support weight loss.
Add fats
Going completely fat-free or oil-less cooking can cause more weight and health problems, brain problems, immunity concerns, aging skin and hair issues. Having good quality fats in moderation are important to improve our body’s function. Bad fats like refined oils, fried food and junk are to be avoided.
Sleep
Sleep is when we actually detoxify, heal, repair and even reduce weight or fat. Fat burning is directly connected to one’s quality of sleep.