Can I lose belly fat with exercise alone?
The belly is one of the hardest body parts to work with. If you take a look online or even on TV, a lot of products are offered to deal with belly fats. This is because you cannot be truly sexy unless you have a flat, toned abdomen. A lot of people think losing belly fat is not that complicated. Just do as much crunches as you can daily, and you’re on your way to getting the abs that you want.
When I was young, I tried doing crunches every night. I started with 20, then to 50 then finally to eighty. While I feel my abs ache as a result of the exercise, I never got the same abs that Britney Spears have. This made me frustrated, and I eventually stopped doing the crunches. If I had only done it right, the time I spent doing crunches every night might have yielded to better results. To prevent yourself from going through the same level of frustration, here’s what you can do to lose belly fat.
DE- STRESS
Yes, keeping yourself from stress will actually help get rid of belly fat. Studies have shown that the area around the belly has more cortisol receptors than any other parts of our body. Cortisol is the hormone produced by our system when we get stressed. Since the area around the belly is abundant with it, the receptors cause more fats to be deposited on it whenever we get stressed. Who’ll think that stress actually causes more belly fat, right? Now that you know, avoid being stressed as much as possible.
My secret is to take a deep breath every time something stressful happens, which is actually quite effective. Taking a break from work every now and then will also help your body cope up with stress. Instead of working on your rest day, take the time to go fishing with your family. You’ll find that this will help you lose your belly fat in no time, and would even strengthen your family bond as a bonus.
DO MORE THAN CRUNCHES
Even when you want to lose belly fat, working out the belly area alone is not very effective. To have a flatter belly, you’d need to do more than crunches. You can start with doing cardio exercises, which will help burn the fat stored in your belly. Not only that, cardio exercises will also increase your metabolism which means you’ll lose weight too. There are a lot of cardio exercises one can choose from. You can jog on your treadmill daily, or you can also run outside and enjoy the outdoors. You can also swim laps if you love water. The important thing here is to make your body move, raising your heart rate.
SLEEP MORE
If you don’t sleep as much as you need to, your body metabolism slows down. This is your body’s way of coping with the lack of sleep, in that it preserves as much energy as possible. Remember that less fat is burned when you have slow metabolism, and this will not help in losing belly fat in any way.
Another reason for you to get more sleep is because lack of it will cause more stress. People who were not able to get a good night’s sleep are not able to focus on work or on school, leading to more frustration and stress. Remember that stress will cause your system to produce more cortisol, and it will end up in your belly. To avoid having a bump where a six pack should be, work out; rest, and prevent yourself from getting stressed.