How long does it take to lose belly fat

Our first aim to join a gym is target to lose belly fat. But then we give up as we couldn’t see the result fast. Yes, belly fats are the toughest and hardest to lose. Well, it’s not the fat muscles but changes that we have to bring on ourselves in our lifestyle and eating habits. Losing belly fat not only enriches your looks but your health too. 

Belly fat is one of the major causes of diseases in the human body.

Belly fat is one of the major causes of diseases in the human body. Often the fats in this portion have led to high cholesterol, inflammation, heart disease, diabetes, etc.
Belly fat consists of two types of fat - subcutaneous fat and visceral fat. According to researchers, 90 % of the fat in a human body is subcutaneous fat that remains under the skin. A certain amount of this fat acts as protection to the body. The rest 10% forms the visceral fat that stays under the abdominal wall and the rest surrounding organs. This portion of the fat is highly dangerous as it attacks the liver directly thereby causing serious damages to the organ. It also leads to the pumping of several toxic chemicals in the body that affects the metabolism to a great extent.

How to cut belly fat:

With Physical exercise: 

To get rid of subcutaneous fat you need to burn calories.

Cardio and aerobic exercise: to burn calories and increase the heartbeat includes walking, running, swimming, cycling, dancing.

Weight exercise: combined cardio and weight exercise will increase the calorie burn with more muscle burn. It’s a strength-based exercise with weightlifting.

High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): HIIT helps in cutting down belly fat 30% faster than any other form of exercise. The routine includes sprinting, walking, and then repeating the cycle. A short break in between the activities to keep the process a balanced one. These routines have high energy bursts which help the individual to exhaust the muscles and then lose adequate fats each day.

With Diet: 

Drink water: Water keeps the body hydrated and plays a major role in weight loss. It cleanses your body, helps in digestion and muscle function.

Eat fiber food: eating food high in dietary fiber helps in digestion and bowel movement. It also keeps your stomach full so naturally, you eat less. Institute of Medicine recommends daily an adult man should have 38 grams of fiber and women 25 grams of fiber and of above 51 years men should have 30 grams and women 21 grams fiber. Fruits vegetables, nuts, and whole grains products contain fibers.

High protein diet: High protein meals help people maintain their body mass during the process of losing belly fat.

Avoid alcohol: It has a lot of calories, in 12 ounces can of bear almost 155 calories and in a 5-ounce glass of wine 125 calories. The body tends to accumulate fats in the abdominal area. Excess consumption may lead to the accumulation of fatty liver. This condition damages the liver and ultimately reduces body metabolism and stores carbohydrates and fats.

Avoid sugar: Sugar food in natural food like fruits and dairy products are good for the body. It is the sugar added to packaged and processed food that is harmful to the body. Excessive sugar increases body weight. So avoid sweets and processed food high in sugars.

Avoid junk foods: Consuming junk and fast food increases weight and cause diseases like obesity, cancer and reducing lifespan. Eating healthy food keeps your digestive system strong, helps in weight loss and to live a long healthy life.

Practice intermittent fasting: Intermittent fasting is becoming popular as a weight-loss method. It involves fasting entirely or partially having food for a set amount of time. It can be fasting every day for 12 hours or 16 hours and eating food within a limited hour’s period. It can be also fasting 2 days a week or alternate days a week. It is found the intermittent fasting decreases abdominal fat. Besides weight loss, it improves metabolism and extends the life span.

Lifestyle change: 

• Practice meditation: Mediation practice helps to connect body and mind. A strong mind can control the body and eating habits which will lead to weight loss and decrease belly fats.

• Have good sleep: In losing weight having good sleep is as important as routine exercise and proper diet. Studies found that those who sleep less than 5 hours at night are more likely to gain weight than those who slept 7 hours. Lack of sleep affects the frontal lobe of the brain which makes it harder to make decisions. The body will crave more food and you won’t be able to make healthy choices and resist tempting foods.

• Low-stress lifestyle: Stress can hamper the process of losing belly fat in an individual. Reports have shown that stress leads to the desire of eating more foods leading to higher calories. Stress triggers the adrenal glands to produce cortisol, which is also known as the stress hormone. It can lead to rapid weight gain, diabetes, muscle weakness and other health problems.

Losing Belly Fat Vs gender difference 

The fat muscle ratios of males and females are different. Based on the muscle fat ratio, muscles are more in males compared to the fats. Whereas women have more fats compared to muscles. This ratio slightly affects the process of losing belly fat as it is faster in males as compared to their female counterparts.

Losing Belly Fat Vs Age          

With age, the fat mass increases in the body, and the muscle mass decreases. Hence younger people shall have a faster weight loss compared to the older generation. The past life activity like how active a person was shall also determine the pace of losing belly fat.

Final Words:

The process of losing belly fat is a tough one but not impossible. People have achieved body goals with fixed determination and willpower. Cutting down on calories, having regular exercises, etc. can form a good process of losing belly fat. Cutting down on 500 calories per day can lead to cutting down 1 pound each week, as suggested by experts.

Thus we can conclude that losing belly fat is not a task of a day or two. It takes time ranging from weeks to months to years. But with a strictly followed exercise, diet and lifestyle the signs of improvement can be seen in first two weeks.