How to get rid of lower belly fat? It is a question that is being asked by many individuals globally.
What is belly fat?
Belly fat - (Also called abdominal fat or Visceral fat) it’s exactly what it sounds like.
It’s a buildup of fat in the abdominal region - and the bane of a lot of people’s confidence.
Belly fat can be quite difficult to get rid of.
Some people are resistant to shedding their belly fat - their bodies are prone to disposing of fat in other areas first.
What are the main causes of belly fat?
Belly fat buildup is caused when a person consumed more calories than they burn. Despite some beliefs, you don’t need to eat a huge amount to gain belly fat.
People with slow metabolisms can be highly prone to belly fat buildup, even if they’re counting their calories.
The most important thing to know is that to prevent fat build up, your calorie intake must be less than your calorie output.
The human body stores excess calories as fat for later usage - this is why doing cardio exercise burns fat.
Interesting facts about belly fat
- Belly fat is notorious for being annoying, resilient, and more dangerous than regular fat buildup.(4)
- An excess of white fat stored in the belly is squeezed in between your organs, preventing them from functioning at their maximum potential.
- Belly fat also causes a huge release of stress hormones, which can lead to things like high blood pressure. This means that belly fat can directly impact your chances of developing cardiovascular diseases, like strokes or diabetes, and increase the buildup of cholesterol in the arteries.
- The fat located close to your organs is known as visceral fat. It can be a problem for everyone - even thin people.
Thin people may not be aware that they even have visceral fat, since they may have flat abs.
Still, they should make sure they follow the ideas in this article to prevent a buildup of visceral fat.
Belly fat is a growing global concern.
The amount of obese people has multiplied significantly in the last few decades, due to increasing prevalence of junk food, sedentary lifestyles, and lack of health knowledge.
Many people believe that America is the most obese country in the world, but that’s quite the contrary - technically.
- American Samoa, which is technically an American colony but it’s located in the south Pacific, where the highest frequency of obesity is found. American Samoa has a whopping obesity rate close to 95%. (1)
- Nauru is a close competition with American Samoa, also nearing 95%. This is another South Pacific country.(2)
- The Cook Islands comes in third place, boasting obesity rates of around 65%.
- The USA comes in 18th on the list of the most obese countries, and it’s clear that the south Pacific has a huge issue with obesity.
- The good thing is only 2 in every 100 people are obese in India, and this makes it one of the least obese population countries of the world.(3)
Do home remedies work to get rid of lower belly fat ?
Considering the best remedy for belly fat is the exercise that you can do at home, yes.
However, exercise may not always be considered a ‘home remedy.’ There are changes to your diet you will need to make if you’re obese.
There are also supplements and vitamins you can take that help your body more effectively burn calories and thus lose fat.
11 Science-Backed Home Remedies to Get Rid Of Belly Fat
1. Control Your Portion Size
Controlling the size of the meals you eat is crucial to preventing the buildup of body fat. Though this won’t help you get rid of belly fat that you already have, it can prevent further buildup.(5)
Meals should be kept fairly small, and eating at regular intervals during the day.
It’s better to eat a small, low-calorie meal every two hours than to eat a big meal three times a day.
Big meals cause blood sugar spikes which lead to belly fat increase. Big meals also lead to lethargy, which is the opposite of what will help you lose weight.
Your meals should be heavy in vegetables, and low in carbohydrates and sugars.
Sugars add a lot of extra calories to meals that can be difficult to burn.
2. Get Enough Fiber In Your Diet
Fiber is extremely helpful in getting rid of belly fat.(6)
There are two types - soluble and insoluble. For fat removal, you want to consume lots of soluble fiber.
Since fiber doesn’t digest, it swells in your stomach, making you feel full - and thus, you will eat less.
Soluble fiber also allows sugar and fat to be absorbed much slower - a slow, steady stream of energy that will keep you going for much longer than without fiber.
Fiber is a plant product, so consuming tons of vegetables will give you ample fiber content.
The average American consumes only ten to fifteen grams of fiber daily, when the recommended allowance is 25-38 grams. The more the better - eating extra fiber only bolsters the benefits.(7)
3. Avoid Junk Foods
Junk foods are notorious for being high in sugar and calories and low in nutritional value.(8)
This puts them ahead of other foods in terms of how bad they are for your health.
A high sugar content causes a spike in your blood sugar - this is what gives you lots of energy. After the blood sugar rush, though, people often ‘crash’ making them lethargic and tired.
Americans typically consume far more sugar than they should on a daily basis. This is part of what leads to the obesity problems in the country - along with a lack of active lifestyles.
4. Get Regular Exercise
The most important thing for losing belly fat is making sure you get enough exercise!(9)
The best type of exercise for getting rid of fat is medium-to-high intensity cardio exercise.
This includes running, biking, swimming - anything that gets your heart pumping.
You will need to exercise for at least twenty minutes before your body starts burning fat. This is because fat is stored as reserve energy, and the body doesn’t want to lose it until you have to.
If you’re about to start an exercise regime, make sure you take it slow - especially if you’re obese.
Going from being sedentary to running ten miles everyday can have an impact on your body if it’s not prepared.
5. Read Food Labels
This might seem like common sense - but, to a lot of people, food labels are just blocks of text that they don’t know how to read.
Food labels are important because they tell you how many calories you’re consuming, what sort of vitamins are in the product, and how much fat is present.
If you’re hoping to count your calories, you will need to read food labels.
Some people don’t read labels simply because they don’t know how. Others are just so familiar and comfortable with the foods they buy that they don’t deem it necessary to read the labels.
Regardless - food labels are there to inform you of the nutritional value of food, so you should definitely make sure you read them.
6. Drink More Water
Water is absolutely crucial in every aspect of being healthy.
In terms of obesity, it helps by lowering blood pressure and making your body burn calories more effectively by increasing metabolism.(10)
With normal blood pressure, nutrients travel easier through the body, and sugars and carbohydrates can be eliminated easily.
This helps prevent calories being converted into fat.
If you’re going to start an exercise regime, you need to be sure you stay hydrated - otherwise, you’ll run into a lot of other health problems besides belly fat.
7. Try to Live Without Stress
This can be tricky since belly fat and stress go hand-in-hand.(11)
Belly fat causes a release of stress hormones, which can cause the buildup of fat through high blood pressure. Stress from natural situations causes the same sort of issues.
Cholesterol begins building up, clogging arteries and making it more difficult for your body to burn calories or use the sugars properly.
Tips for living without stress include getting regular exercise and eating a healthy diet. Fortunately, these two things also help a lot with losing weight!
8. Get Enough Sleep
Having a proper sleep schedule is very important for preventing the buildup of fat.(12)
If you don’t sleep properly, your body won’t be able to function at its maximum efficiency.
This means that you will be more susceptible to extra fat - your metabolism won’t be able to burn calories as fast as it should, leading to buildup.
It’s also important that you don’t eat before you sleep - this will interrupt your sleep schedule, or at least limit the quality of REM (“good”) sleep. This brings us to our next point:
9. Avoid Sleeping Immediately After Meal
Your body needs to be awake when it’s digesting, or it won’t do it properly.(13)
If you are sleeping when your body should be digesting food, it’s likely to sit in your stomach for much longer than it should.
You won’t be burning many calories since you’ll be lying in bed - and the ones you don’t use, as you know, will be turned into fat.
Sleeping while your body is trying to digest can lead to cholesterol buildup - and this leads to problems like strokes and heart attacks.
Make sure you stay awake for a couple hours after your last meal - or if you have to, make yourself a salad instead of eating a burger.
10. Control Your Sugar Intake
Carbohydrates and sugar are notorious for their effects on body fat.(14)
Sugar - especially refined sugar - is very low in nutrients, but very high in calories. Carbohydrates, which are prominent in things like bread, are converted by the body into sugar, and generally, tend to be high in calorie.
Your body can only use so much sugar before you feel a blood sugar spike. This is unhealthy, causes high blood pressure, and can eventually lead to cardiovascular issues and heart disease.
If you must eat sugars, try and get them from healthy foods like fruits.
11. Avoid Alcohol
Alcohol is basically an empty carbohydrate. This means that your body turns it into sugar once it’s been consumed.
Alcohol is extremely high in calories - even if you’re drunkenly frolicking around, it’s unlikely that you will burn off all the calories from your alcohol consumption.(15)
On top of that, alcohol, when consumed habitually, tends to lose its energizing effect. Alcoholics tend not to be very active, and thus lose the opportunity to burn off all these empty calories with exercise.
Alcohol also does a lot of damage to all the organs in your body, making it difficult for you to process and eliminate sugar and other foods.
Conclusion
Belly fat is a problem that’s getting worse, worldwide.
Part of the reason for this is because people aren’t educated about what causes fat, and how they can prevent it.
Fortunately, anyone who follows all these tips will find that they become nearly immune to the buildup of fat!
All it takes is a little bit of dedication and effort.