If we were to ask a collection of people where they would most like to lose weight from, the most common answer is probably the belly. There is a good reason for that. Belly fat is hard to shift, and it is stubborn. Our belly happens to be one of the most prominent areas of our body. No wonder why we feel self-conscious about our belly and constantly keep adjusting our clothing in an attempt to hide it. We wish we could all drop pounds from it, but it seems to be the last place to change shape even when we diet.
Apart from our physical appearance, excess belly fat has a long-term impact on our health. It increases the risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, and type2 diabetes. However, so many of us have the question “Why is it so difficult to budge belly fat?” The reason you gain fat around your belly is the same as it builds up anywhere else.
Why does fat seem to settle in your belly and become impossible to move?
It is simple. There are more fat cells in your belly, and they do not respond as quickly to the process of breaking down fat, called lipolysis. We carry two different types of fat cells, alpha, and beta. They respond differently to lipolysis. Your alpha cells accelerate the process because they respond quickly to the process. However, beta cells don’t, which makes it much more difficult to lose weight. In addition, some areas of your body have more beta cells; you will find it more difficult to shift weight from those areas.
Our blog discusses some common problems encountered on our fat loss journey.
Sleep Deprivation
You often forget that your weight loss or fitness goal is dependent on your sleep. You might think that your heart rate is higher by being awake, so you are burning more calories. Unfortunately this is not true. Without proper sleep you cannot keep up with your weightloss goals. Earlier in 2018, a study was published in the journal ‘Sleep’. It divided the subjects into two main groups. For two months, one group was put on a calorie-restricted diet and slept the regular amount. The other group slashed the same amount of calories but was kept on a restricted sleep schedule. Both the groups dropped the same amount of weight, but the group that did not mess with their sleep lost a more significant proportion of fat.
Eating too little
You need to understand that when you are trying to reduce fat, your body does not care about a shredded-six pack or toned arms. Your body cares about survival. It wants to survive. Now, what happens is that when you give very few calories and indulge in extreme dieting techniques, your body is doing everything it can to survive. When you diet, your body is going to become more efficient at utilizing the calories that you give it. It is going to hang on to what it can. The thermal effect of food slows down. You don’t burn as much from the food you eat. You don’t burn as many calories from the exercise as you once did. Your metabolic rate drops, and you don’t burn as many calories. Your body does everything it can to make sure that you don’t starve to death. The problem becomes even worse when you drop your caloric intake too low. Even when you pump out, your metabolism stays way behind, and your fat does not go.
Drinking less water
People overlook the significance of drinking water when it comes to burning calories. When you are dehydrated, your metabolism drags, which means slower weight loss.
Your brain reacts to stress.
When your brain recognizes some stress, it translates that stress into a hormonal signal. This hormonal signal travels to the adrenal gland. It triggers specific cholesterol at the adrenal site to get acted upon by different enzymes. That cholesterol gets converted into cortisol. The fact is that cortisol is a good thing, and we need it. The problem is that there is something called glucocorticoid. This is a hormone that triggers the release of sugar or glucose into your bloodstream. Hence, once your body creates cortisol, that cortisol tells your body to release sugar from all areas of the body. The whole idea of releasing cortisol is to release sugars so that we have the energy to run. After all, your body cannot differentiate between stress coming from a pesky email coming from your boss or a tiger chasing you through the Savannah.
Once your body releases that glucose, it is to be burnt. The problem arises when we all sit around getting stressed and do not act on it. Hence sugar is released in our bloodstream, and it travels everywhere with nothing to burn. It then goes to the abdomen and gets stored there.
How do I lower stress levels naturally?
If you intend to lose some weight or even live a healthier lifestyle, physical exercise is necessary. It not only supports your health but also impacts your mood positively. A healthy body is a healthy mind. Engaging yourself in physical activities, meditation, yoga helps you decrease depression, anxiety, and stress. Suppose you can manage to find an exercise technique that you enjoy. In that case, it will make you stay committed to your exercise regime, and it will give you better results in the long haul, both in terms of body and mind.
Unrealistic Expectations
One of the biggest problems in losing belly fat is not giving enough time to achieve your weight loss goals. Statistically, one pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories. Therefore, if you eat at a calorie deficit of 250 a day, it will take you 14 days to burn one pound of fat. Hence, if you have been eating at a slight calorie deficit for just a few days and expect to drop a few pounds, these are unrealistic expectations.
You are not choosing the right food to nourish your body.
You can be at a calorie deficit eating ice cream. But you will not see results in the long term because your body is not getting all the nutrients it needs. Consuming a lot of processed food or junk food puts you at the risk of being deficient in vitamins and minerals. These micronutrients are essential to many body functions, including your energy metabolism. It is recommended that you should have 80% of your calories from whole foods. Make sure that you have good sources of fiber, vitamins and minerals that are essential for your body to function properly.
Does belly fat get softer when losing weight?
There is an issue with belly fat getting soft when you lose weight. Generally, when you are losing weight, the belly fat should start to tighten. So, if you notice your belly fat getting softer and softer, what could be happening is that even though your weight is coming down, you may be losing muscle mass. Generally, the reason for this could be losing weight too quickly or not doing strength training. It would help if you continue to lift weights when you are trying to lose weight. When your body goes into a core deficit, your body will try to use your muscle for energy, making your muscle smaller. Sufficient amounts of micronutrients are incredibly essential to nourish your muscles to avoid muscle loss.
Benefits of walking
Walking burns calories. The weight loss process is a straightforward formula when you break it down to the bare essentials. To lose weight, you need to ensure that you burn more calories than you eat. Of course, the best thing to do is get enough physical exercise. If you have a reasonably busy schedule without much time to devote to workouts, taking a brisk walk might help you reach your weight loss goals. By walking one mile or a little over one and a half kilometers, you can burn approximately a hundred calories on average. It would be best to take the stairs instead of the elevators for a few days to take extra steps in.
Walking also helps to trim down belly fat as the mid-section tends to retain much more fat.
Walking helps you keep your weight off. However, losing weight is one thing, and keeping it off is another. So while you might see some success with losing weight, you’ll have to maintain your diet and exercise habits to avoid gaining it all back. In addition to helping you burn calories and lose weight, regular physical exercise also enables you to build lean muscle mass. The more muscles you build up, the more calories your body burns, even when not exercising.
Supplement that supports your goal of burning fat.
By now, we all realize the role that metabolic hormones and nutrition play if we are serious about losing fat. Physical exercise, in conjunction with having nutritious meals help us to boost our metabolic hormones.
Tetrogen is the only weight management supplement that works 24/7. Tetrogen helps activate your metabolic hormones to make your system more conducive to burning fat. Tetrogen helps you in the following ways:
- Optimize metabolic hormones.
- Fight food cravings
- Reduce inflammation while you sleep
Reach out to us at info@tetrogen.com with your questions and feedback and we will be happy to help.
Mike Dorfman is BS in Biochemistry from the University of Colorado. Mike’s has worked as a personal trainer for Gold’s Gym and helped many clients achieve their weight-loss and fitness goals.
To health first, weight-loss second. Mike and Tetrogen are here to help you make the transition to the healthier, happier, and thinner you!
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