aboutpam Lots of us struggle with the soft cushions especially around the lower part of our tummy. To help you out I’ll first talk about belly fat in general & afterwards I’ll give you my top xx tips on how to get rid of it & answer your most asked questions!!

GENERAL INFORMATION:

So there are two kinds of belly fats, the „subcutaneous fat“ and the „visceral fat“ – sounds complicated but it really isn’t.

The subcutaneous fat is the visible, outer layer of fat that you can pinch and that makes your belly look wobbly. The visceral fat is the inner fat that is in and around our organs, that makes the volume of our bellies bigger.

Apart from the looks the visceral fats is also super dangerous!! It releases hormones, which make you more hungry even if your body has enough energy reserves. It also supports inflammations and on top of that it releases substances that increase your blood sugar levels, the risk of type 2 diabetes & heart diseases extremely.

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CAN I DECIDE WHERE I WANT TO LOSE FAT?

This could have been a point in the Q&A at the end, but I decided to talk a little more about this topic. Of course you CAN’T. That’s why it’s not possible to only lose belly fat. Haha it would be awesome though!

But there are also good news: the belly fat is a „short term energy storage“, which means that your body first takes the energy out of the belly fat if you don’t have any energy reserves left. That’s why it’s generally easier to first lose weight around the tummy and harder to lose weight from your arms, legs or butt. So since it’s one of the first places you will lose fat you will quickly see improvements if you begin the weight loss journey!!

Later a lot of us reach a plateau where there’s still some belly fat left but you just can’t lose it. Those belly fat might be stubborn but it’s not impossible to lose! Unfortunately it has a lot to do with our genes if we lose it quicker or slower. So your focus should be on gradually reducing your overall body fat percentage and in the end you will also lose the last bit of belly fat.. it might just take longer than you’d like.

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MY TIPS ON HOW TO LOSE BELLY FAT:

1. INCREASE YOUR TESTOSTERONE LEVEL: Testosterone lowers body fat and estrogen supports the distribution of fat around the belly. You might think „ahhhh I’m a girl I don’t need testosterone“. But you won’t look like a man so don’t be afraid haha! There is also no need for supplements, you can increase your testosterone levels slowly and naturally with the right exercises.

My personal favorite is doing heavy „powerlift“ exercises with low repetitions once a week. You can for example do heavy squats, deadlifts, glute bridges or bench presses with with only 5-8 reps once a week. Those exercises not only build beautiful, round muscles & are super exhausting (which burns calories) but also increase your testosterone levels which makes you lose belly fat.

2. SLEEP ENOUGH: 70% of your testosterone is produced when you’re asleep. So get your time to rest!

3. NEGATIVE CALORIE BALANCE: I know, I told you a hundred times before. But I’ll explain it agaaaaain. It’s about eating less calories than your body needs. If you have a negative calorie balance you will lose weight and since belly fat is the easiest source of energy your body will first take the belly fat. In the first months of your journey you will proportionally lose a looot of belly fat!

Your 2 options are: 1) lower your calorie intake / eat less calories or 2) increase your energy consumption / train harder and burn more calories

4. MAX. 500 KCAL CALORIE DEFICIT: If you overdo it, it won’t work. If you eat more than 500kcal less than your body needs your body will shut down your metabolism, will start protecting your fat reserves & will break down the muscles instead. Your body will think that there’s a famine and that it just needs to keep everything until you’re able to get something to eat again.

5. TRACK YOUR CALORIES: If you feel like nothing works and you just can’t get rid of the belly fat: start tracking your calories to make sure you have a calorie deficit. Sometimes our own perception does not match the reality. From time to time you’ll get the hang out of it & then you don’t need to track everything anymore!!

6. DON’T EAT IN THE LAST 4H BEFORE GOING TO BED: This way your carb and energy reserves will be empty by the time you go to bed and your body will take the fat reserves to get its energy. And since belly fat is the quickest source you will basically lose it while you sleep!

7. AVOID WHITE FLOUR: prefer whole grain. White flour behaves similar like sugar – it increases the blood sugar level and therefore the fat production which makes you gain belly fat. If you buy wholegrain, look for spelt and oat and NOT for wheat (it’s sometimes hard to find but worth it!!). Wholegrain flour contains lots of minerals, vitamins and fibers and therefore your blood sugar level won’t increase that much and you won’t gain belly fat that easily from those kinds of carbs.

8. EAT FATS AND CARBS SEPARATELY: sounds hard. But try it! It has something to do with your blood sugar levels and insulin and stuff. It’s a super long topic but I could write another blogpost about it if you’d like me to! Long story short: If you always eat carbs and fats at the same time it will be bad for your fat burning processes.

9. INCORPORATE HIIT IN YOUR ROUTINE: My favorite is doing 10 minutes of sprints. Always sprint the fastest you can for 30s and run slowly for 1 minute afterwards. That makes 6 rounds of sprinting and jogging. Short but intense!

10. ABOUT SIT-UP & CRUNCHES: Does it help to do lots of sit ups and crunches? Training your abs is great. It will make the muscles grow but if you still have the belly fat on top your belly will only look thicker than before! So it’s very important to focus on your nutrition and all the other things that make you lose your belly fat. Abs are mainly made in the kitchen!

Do you have any secret tips to fight stubborn belly fat? I’d love to here your experiences!! ♡

PS: To all my App users: I’m so sorry that you didn’t receive a push notification this time 🙁 there was a problem with the function but I’m working on it!