Belly fat is a common problem for both men and women. There are many causes of belly fat, such as genetics, lack of exercise, and poor diet. However, there are also ways to lose belly fat quickly if you know what to do. In this guide, we will discuss the different causes of belly fat and how to get rid of it in a short period!
What causes belly fat?
Belly fat is not suitable for you. Not just because it makes you look like a bloated tank-not sexy at all, but because it’s also not good for your overall physical and mental health. In rare cases, excess body fat can cause premature death. Even if you are lucky and somehow escape these lifestyle diseases, belly fat will still affect your quality of life. But what is belly fat, and how do you get it?
Belly fat or abdominal fat is the fat that collects around your stomach. If your fat intake is higher than your body can burn, you are likely to have excess fat in your body.
Some causes of belly fat include:
· Eating unhealthy meals
Have a hard time zipping your jeans? Are your shirts becoming tighter by the day? You may want to check your diet. Fast foods such as burgers, French fries, cookies, and chicken nuggets contain high calories that your body may be unable to burn. Drinking sugary drinks can also cause weight gain. When you consume excess sugary beverages, you get an overload of fructose, which is turned into fat that accumulates around your waist. Other than temporary satisfaction, fast foods don’t have any health benefits. Remember that while burgers, sodas, and the like may give you momentary sensory pleasure, they increase health risks such as excess weight, obesity, cardiovascular disease, or liver problems.
· Slow metabolism
Sometimes you exercise, check your curbs, and eat your veggies, but you can’t seem to get rid of the excess belly fat no matter how much you try. The culprit for the excess abdominal fat you are carrying around might be your genes. Your genes determine how fast and how much body fat you can burn. If you develop an abnormal weight gain and your family members have a history of body weight problems, the problem may be hereditary.
· Mental Health
If you struggle with mental health, you may gain weight because of stress eating. When stressed, your body releases the stress hormone cortisol, which increases your craving for carb-heavy foods such as cakes, ice cream, French fries, and burgers. Hormone-induced cravings increase your calorie intake, which is converted into body fat.
· Medication
Medications have side effects, including weight gain. If you take steroids, insulin, beta-blockers, or anti-depressants, you may notice a weight gain, especially around the waist.
· Poor sleep
People with irregular sleeping hours tend to eat more, gaining more weight, which settles around the waist.
How to reduce belly fat fast?
Strong abdominal muscles are every man’s dream. A physically fit body improves your mental health, boosts your quality of life, and improves your appeal by enhancing your appearance. Suppose you want to reap the numerous benefits of having a fit body. In that case, you have to attain an average body mass index (BMI), which involves bringing your total body fat deposits to a manageable level.
Different ways to reduce belly fat include:
Cosmetic surgery
What do you do when you want to get rid of stubborn belly fat droplets but don’t like to exercise or diet? Cosmetic surgery is one of the fastest and the most convenient methods to help you achieve your weight loss goal. You can quickly get rid of belly fat with various cosmetic surgery procedures, including:
Liposuction
If you want a cosmetic procedure to help eliminate abdominal fat, consider getting liposuction. Liposuction is a low-risk cosmetic procedure that can help reduce fat droplets in your stomach. A liposuction procedure is ideal if you have love hurdles or a beer gut you want to get rid of quickly. The procedure is relatively safe, and you have an enhanced contour.
Coolsculpting
Coolsculpting is a non-invasive medical procedure that lets you quickly lose fat droplets around your abdominal area. Coolsculpting uses a specialized technology that allows your cosmetic surgeon to freeze fat cells until they die and the body naturally eliminates them. This cosmetic procedure is ideal if you have stubborn fat droplets you can’t seem to lose no matter how much you diet or exercise.
Use a girdle
A girdle can help you appear thinner and fit around your waist area. Unlike other methods that help you remove excess belly fat, a girdle does not eliminate fat droplets from your stomach but redistributes it, making your abdomen area appear lean.
Wear a muscle suit
Whether you have belly fat, genetics, eating habits, or not exercising, you can wear a muscle suit once in a while or every day to get ripped abdominal muscles. A muscle suit will instantly transform your belly fat into a four-pack, six-pack, or eight-pack without the hassle of spending months exercising or dieting. Moreover, a muscle suit gives you realistic-looking muscles similar to natural muscles.
Reducing alcohol consumption
Drinking alcohol may be your favorite method to pass the time, but it may be why the extra pounds around your waist are still around. There are several ways alcohol prevents you from losing weight and contributes to your overall body fat. First, alcoholic drinks contain liquid calories. Liquid calories are a body’s primary source of fuel. When you drink alcohol, your body burns caloric content in alcohol to get energy or power. When your body burns liquid calories first, the calories from other food groups such as carbs and sugars are converted to fat, creating excess fat droplets in your body. Consuming alcohol even when adhering to a healthy diet means you can’t eliminate excess belly fat because you can’t convert food calories to energy.
Second, alcohol causes you to have excessive weight gain by slowing down your metabolism. Excessive consumption of alcohol can harm digestive organs such as the intestines, stomach, and liver. If one or all of these organs are damaged by alcohol, they can’t function at their peak, which means they slow down the digestive process. If your body has excess calories and the body can’t burn them, they are converted to fat, and you end up gaining more weight.
Lastly, alcohol makes you eat more, which can’t bond well with your desire to lose weight. Drinking alcohol makes you crave foods that have no nutritional value. Have you ever wondered why you crave sugar-sweetened beverages and junk food when drunk? Alcohol interferes with your ability to make good decisions, which means your resistance to foods that are not good for you wanes when drunk. The more calorie-laden foods and drinks you consume, the faster your waist circumference keeps expanding. To lose belly fat, consider reducing your alcohol intake or stop drinking.
Improving sleep patterns
Never underestimate the power of good sleep. Sleeping well improves your mental health and helps you become more productive by making you alert. If you are sleep deprived, your body craves more food because the brain releases hunger hormones such as leptin or ghrelin. Hunger hormones stimulate your appetite, which means you consume more food, and gain weight.
Increasing exercise
Should you exercise if you have a healthy diet, don’t consume alcohol, and sleep like a baby? Absolutely! Investing in your physical well-being is an important lifestyle choice to protect your overall health. Whether at home or the gym, commit to a physical workout program that can help you increase your muscle mass by burning excess body fat. Categorizing your workouts into aerobic and anaerobic exercises can help you plan your exercises better.
Aerobic exercises are workout activities that cause you to sweat, increase your heart rate and breath faster, and make your cardiovascular system work more efficiently when delivering oxygen throughout the body. Anaerobic exercises help you break down glucose into fuel without using oxygen. Aerobics exercises include lifting weights, sprinting, and high-intensity interval training (HIT).
Adopt a healthy diet
What do you do when you have dropped processed foods and fast meals out of your diet but can’t seem to lose weight? A common misconception for newbies health enthusiasts is assuming that only junk food and processed meals lead to too much belly fat. The truth is losing belly fat isn’t easy. Cutting your junk food intake isn’t enough.
Dietary tips to help you lose excess belly fat:
· Increase your fiber intake
· Increase proteins in your diet
· Be particular about the carbohydrates you are eating
Conclusion
Losing belly fat can significantly improve your physical and mental health. While gaining body fat is easy, getting rid of it is an uphill battle.
