Have you been looking for the easiest ways to burn your belly fat? Belly fat can be very frustrating for men. Therefore, this article will guide you on how to lose belly fat for men.
Belly fat is the fat around the abdomen, that is, the waist and the stomach. Abdomen fat can be caused by various factors that range from inactivity of the body during the day to an unbalanced diet.
Belly fat can be extremely harmful because too much of it can cause high blood pressure and also metabolic syndrome. Therefore, it is essential you know how to lose belly fat if you want to be a healthy man.
How to Lose Belly Fat for Men
There are many lifestyle changes to consider when trying to lose belly fat. It is widely believed that exercise alone helps you lose belly fat, but the fact is other efficient methods go hand in hand with exercise for faster results.
Below is how to lose belly fat for men:
1. Reduce Your Stress Level
You should start with this if you want to know how to lose belly fat for men. Stress can increase your belly fat by triggering the adrenal glands to produce stress hormones called cortisol.
A high level of cortisol increases your appetite for food, and eating too much food drives the abdomen to store fat. Therefore, try as much as possible to avoid being stressed. Reduction of stress levels can help to lose belly fat.
Below are few ways to reduce your stress level:
Engage in exercises like swimming, dancing, and running because these exercises help to relieve stress.
Try relaxation techniques like yoga and meditation. Yoga is a great way to reduce the impact of stress. It works well for stress relief and there are yoga poses you can try to help you relieve stress.
For instance, the bridge pose is a very relaxing yoga pose. It helps calm the brain thereby, eliminating stress, and it also helps stimulate the abdominal organ.
How to do bridge pose:
- Lay on the floor and bend your knee
- Press your foot into the ground as you lift your hips
- Ensure that your back is pressed into the ground
- Keep your head up and avoid turning it sideways
- Take slow breath and exhale
2. Sleep
Sleep is very important because lack of sleep or inadequate sleep duration tends to increase weight and these include belly fat. Make sure to get enough sleep. Sleep for at least 8 hours per night.
3. Dietary Changes
Make it a habit to be conscious of what you eat, as this will help you avoid foods that will increase your belly fat. Furthermore, it encourages the intake of organic foods. To lose belly fat, here are foods to avoid:
- Avoid food that contains trans fat. Examples include chicken pork industrial or commercial cakes fries etc.
- Avoid eating sugary foods and beverages. Sugar-sweetened foods are filled with liquid fructose that can increase your belly fat. Fruit juice is high in sugar, therefore, try to do away with it.
- You can replace fruit juice with water or simply add a slice or squeeze lime/lemon into water to give it taste.
- Reduce your intake of alcohol to avoid excess belly fat. Alcohol can increase the risk of excess fat storage in the belly.
You can lose belly fat by eating the following:
Consume high protein
Sitting helps not only to raise your metabolic rate but also promotes fullness which lessens and stops you from eating too much. This also helps to lessen abdominal fat, therefore, ensure to eat meals that contain a good protein source like meat, fish, and egg.
Additionally, fatty fish is rich in high-quality protein, so include them as well in your meal. Examples of fatty fish are salmon, mackerel, and sardine.
Eat food with plenty of soluble fiber
Soluble fiber helps you feel full every day. This, in turn, makes you eat less, and eating less is a great way to reduce belly fat. Therefore ensure that you consume high fiber foods regularly.
Examples of foods that are rich in soluble fiber are avocado, sweet potato broccoli, pear, carrots, apple, guava, beans, and plain popcorn.
Drink apple cider vinegar
Apple cider vinegar contains acetic acid that helps lower blood sugar levels. It also helps in reducing abdominal fat storage. All you have to do is take one to two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar per day. It would aid the reduction of belly fat.
Drink green tea
Green tea contains epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which is an antioxidant that boosts metabolism and helps in losing belly fat.
SEE: 9 Superfoods From Africa You Need To Add To Your Diet
4. Exercises
Not all exercises will help you lose belly fat, but here are several exercises that work in reducing belly fat.
1. Jumping lunge
This is an effective way to kill some calories because works your call like any other exercise.
How to do it:
- Move Forward and make sure your knee is almost in contact with the ground.
- Jump in the air and lunge forward again with your other leg and make sure your knee is almost in contact with the ground.
- Repeat the process 20 times or for as long as you can go.
2. Abdominal crunches
This is yet another excellent way to reduce belly fat because it tones the muscles of the belly and tightens the rectus abdominis.
How to do it:
- Lay on your back
- Bend your knees
- Place your hand behind your head
- Lift your torso and your upper body with your feet pressed to the ground
- Then repeat process
3. Burpee
This exercise targets the whole body. It works the glute, abs, and legs and it also crashes the extra weight in these areas.
How to do it:
- Squat
- Kick your feet back
- Get in a plank position
- Return to squat
- Stand and jump in the air and repeat the process
4. Mountain climber
This exercise helps to burn calories. It also tones your core and this is one of the best exercises to lose stubborn belly fat.
How to do it:
- Get into a plank position
- Pull your right knee forward towards your chest as far as it can go
- Then switch legs by withdrawing your right leg and bringing the left leg in
- Do this in succesive motions for 60 seconds
- Repeat process
5. Plank
Plank is also one of the best exercises for losing calories because it also targets the core bodies of the abdomen.
How to do it:
- Place your elbows on the ground beneath your shoulder and make your entire body face the ground
- Hold this position for 60 seconds
- Repeat process
6. Bicycle abdominal exercise
Bicycle exercise works the rectus abdominis and this helps to lose belly fat.
How to do it:
- Place your hand behind your head with your back down to the ground
- Bring one of your knees in towards your chest while your elbow drives your upper body to meet the bent knee
- Switch legs and repeat
7. Walk or run
Walking or running not only helps relieve stress but also helps in toning the abdominal core muscles. It is also the easiest exercise to consider when trying to reduce belly fat. Walking or running a mile will help you burn up to 100 calories.
8. Hanging knee raise
This exercise works your transversus abdominis, and this also makes the muscles tight and flat.
How to do it:
- Hang on a pull up bar with your feet together
- Bend your knees and hip area then lift your knees and thighs forward to your chest
- Hold position for about 10 seconds
- Return to the starting position by dropping your legs back
- Repeat the process 20 times
9. Mogul jump
Mogul Jump is an exercise that helps in working the abdominal muscles. This, in turn, helps to burn excess calories and fat. It engages the chest and lower back and also helps to train the abs.
How to do it:
- Get into push up position
- Stretch your arms on the ground and position them under the shoulder
- Ensure that your feet are brought together
- Jump to one side with both legs with your hips turned in and your knees pointing out
- Jump back to starting position
- Repeat the process by jumping to the other side
10. Russian twist
This exercise is a core exercise that works and tightens the abdomen. It also helps in getting rid of belly fat.
How to do it:
- Sit on the floor with your legs bent
- Sit back slightly like you want to lay down and raise your feet with your knees still bent
- Twist your body left and right
- Ensure you feet doesn’t touch the ground
- Repeat the process 20 times
Types of Belly Fat
1. Visceral fat
This is a hidden fat that lies deep in the belly. It is found in your abdominal organs wrapped around your internal organ inside the belly.
Moreover, it is the most dangerous fat because it’s a major risk to our health. It causes heart diseases and also types 2 diabetes. Visceral fat is caused by a poor diet. So you have to eat healthily.
2. Subcutaneous fat
Subcutaneous simply means “under the skin”. This type of fat is fat that is visible under the skin and can in fact be grasped.
This is a very common type of fat. This fat is mostly caused by excessive intake of food, that is, eating more than is needed for filling your body.
Common Causes of Belly Fat for Men
There are several causes of abdominal fat, and just like every other problem, the cause will help in providing easy solutions to it. Explained below are common causes of belly fat for men.
1. Too munch trans fat intake
This type of fat is usually found in food, and it can be categorized into two parts; natural and artificial trans fats.
Natural trans fats are usually found in farm animal products. Examples of these farm products are milk, pork, chicken, and others. Meanwhile, artificial trans fats can be found in industrial food products, especially fried or baked food such as cakes, fries, and the like.
You fall under the risk of getting type 2 diabetes if you continue taking trans fat. Trans fat not only increases your weight but also moves fat from other parts of your body to your belly, thereby causing belly fat.
2. Stress
Yes, that’s right. Visceral fat is accumulated by the body when it is going through too much stress. Stress, meanwhile, can lead to a high intake of food, and this also causes belly fat. Cortisol is the hormone released due to stress, and it causes us to eat more than we usually do.
3. Alcohol
Too much intake of alcohol may lead to excessive weight gain because;
- Alcohol contains a very high number of calories.
- It can also lead to less sleep.
- Too much consumption of alcohol causes the body to be physically inactive.
- It may cause hunger, which will lead to you consuming excess food.
- Alcohol also contains lots of sugar, which will lead to an increase in belly fat.
4. Sugar
Consumption of excess dietary sugar can cause weight gain because foods and beverages that contain excess sugar are high in calories. In addition, consuming too much of this food and drinks would lead to weight gain and this.
A high intake of sugar causes the liver to have excess fructose, and this turns into fat. Sugar increases abdominal fat, and this leads to various metabolic problems.
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FAQs on How to Lose Belly Fat for Men
Can skipping meals help me lose weight?
No, it doesn’t. You are putting your body in a catabolic state where the body breaks down muscle tissues, and this conserves fat in the body.
How does intermittent fasting help in losing belly fat?
Intermittent fasting reduces your food intake by arranging and regulating your food intake. It is switching between fasting and eating.
The popular weight-loss trend reduces your intake of food daily. And not eating up to 3 – 4 times daily goes a long way in your aim of losing belly fat.
Can I lose belly fat in 24 hours?
You can’t. It is impossible to lose a noticeable amount of belly fat within 24 hours. Losing belly fat takes time and processes with utmost dedication.
Conclusion
Looking for how to lose belly fat for men may seem like a tedious adventure to embark on but sincerely, it is not. The first thing to consider is dietary changes, due to their benefit on your health too.
In addition, losing belly fat is a process that takes diligence and consistency. No matter how intense and hard you exercise you have to keep track of what you eat, what exercise works for you and be careful to not consume too much food.
It is advisable to drink water when you think you’re hungry and your stomach is demanding food because it might just be your thirst on overdrive.
Thanks for reading.
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