Although many people want to have a great body with clothes on and off, the real picture is often unbearable. Think about it, do you also have one or two pieces of clothing hidden in the depths of your closet that are one size too small for you, but you don’t want to throw away? You always look forward to the day when you can lose weight and wear your favorite dress again. Many times, it’s not just your belly fat that’s holding you back from having a great figure!
If I told you that you can get rid of belly fat in a week, you would say: Don’t dream, it’s impossible! Of course, if your whole body is fat, it is better to wake up, the whole body fat loss is your first major goal.
The limbs are thin, belly is big this figure is a lot of office workers confused. Sitting in front of the computer all day, long periods of inactivity, slowly the muscles are degraded. Although the arms and legs have become thinner, but the fat on the belly is getting thicker and thicker.
However, don’t worry, these 5 simple steps I’m going to share today will allow you to easily burn off belly fat without exercise and dieting, and they are also effective for total body fat loss.
What is Belly Fat?
First of all, before we start talking about how to get rid of belly fat, it’s important to know exactly what we’re talking about. The subcutaneous fat in our waist and abdomen protects internal organs, supplies calories, and reserves energy, so a small amount of subcutaneous fat is normal and necessary.
However, when there is too much fat in this part of the body, it can be a threat to health. Abdominal fat, also known as visceral fat, is the main cause of “beer belly”. It not only affects body shape and appearance but can also cause inflammatory diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and type 2 diabetes.
How Dangerous Is Belly Fat?
Visceral fats are often considered to be the most dangerous fats. This is not because of how dangerous they are per se, but because they are produced in a way that can be harmful to the health of internal organs, especially the liver. Too much alcohol can lead to alcoholic fatty liver disease (AFLD). But there is also a disease called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) that is caused by fructose.
The other nutrients we get from food, including protein, fat, and fiber, are evenly dispersed throughout most of the body’s tissues, but alcohol and fructose are broken down only in the liver. The liver, however, accounts for only one-sixtieth of the body’s weight. In other words, the liver is responsible for 60 times the workload of all other organs. Alcohol and fructose provide the liver with extra energy and are converted into fat, which soon begins to accumulate in the liver and spread to other internal organs around the liver.
As if that were not enough, two other things overwhelm the poor liver: insulin and cortisol. Insulin works to control blood sugar; cortisol is a stress hormone, often produced in response to stress.
When blood sugar continues to rise, the body releases more insulin to try to lower blood sugar levels, which over time can cause insulin resistance, which also causes more stress on the body. The increased stress in turn raises cortisol levels in the body. A vicious cycle is thus created.
Studies have shown that the cortisol hormone is a key factor in the formation of fatty liver. When the body continues to produce more cortisol than needed, it leads to increased abdominal fat and NAFLD and induces an urge to eat more often, leading to obesity.
And once you have a fatty liver, you will most likely have insulin resistance. Therefore, after solving the problem of insulin resistance, the problem of fatty liver and “beer belly” will also be solved.
5 Simple Steps To Eliminate Belly Fat
Now that we know what causes belly fat and fatty liver, you can lose weight by achieving the following 5 goals:
- Drink less alcohol and avoid alcoholic beverages
- Avoid sugary foods
- Improve insulin sensitivity
- Lower cortisol levels
- Convert fat in the liver into energy and burn it off
Burn Belly Fat and Reverse Fatty Liver By Following These 5 Steps:
Light Fasting
Light fasting is the best way to reduce insulin resistance. If insulin remains high, it is difficult for our body to convert fat into energy. It’s as if the insulin has put a lock on the fat and no tool can unlock it and use it. When insulin levels are lowered, the lock is loosened, the fats are released, and our bodies can finally burn them.
Light fasting is also the most effective way to increase growth hormone (HGH). Growth hormone is the hormone that helps the body grow and develop, but it also has another very powerful function, which is to enhance the oxidation of fatty acids and promote fat burning.
Growth hormone levels increase and burn fat, and the two work well together. This way, insulin levels are lowered to release fat; the longer the fast, the more fat is burned.
Low-carb Diet
Limiting carbohydrate intake in your diet is effective in controlling blood sugar and insulin levels combined with light fasting will allow you to burn fat faster. Any foods that contain refined carbohydrates and added sugars should be avoided, including rice, pasta, cakes, and processed foods such as chips and cookies.
Also, many foods and drinks that contain fructose should be excluded from the list, such as fruit juices, carbonated drinks, dried fruits, and honey. Fruits contain natural fructose and can be consumed in moderation, but not in excess. It is best to eat vegetables and fruits that are low in fructose, such as bananas, blueberries, strawberries, carrots, avocados, green beans, and lettuce.
Stop Drinking Alcohol
It’s common knowledge that regular alcohol consumption can cause alcoholic fatty liver and liver disease. Chronic alcohol abuse reduces the ability of liver cells to regenerate, causing serious and permanent damage to them. Studies have found that drinking large amounts of alcohol, even for just a few days, can lead to a build-up of fat in the liver.
If you drink beer regularly, it is equivalent to drinking both alcohol and carbohydrates, which can cause a spike in blood sugar. Beer, also known as “liquid bread”, can produce a lot of heat in the body, and drinking too much will definitely grow meat, and significantly increase the abdomen.
Cut Off Sugar
It is not an exaggeration to say that sugar is a sweet drug. Once you are addicted to sugar, it will always control your brain, so you can’t stop eating sweets and it’s hard to quit completely. And the worst is the kind of sugary drinks, some of these drinks are so sweet that you may drink three times more fructose than usual.
To completely break sugar is not an easy task, the best way is to not eat sweets, try to ensure a balanced daily diet, and eat foods that can curb sugar addiction, such as avocados, nuts, eggs, and low-sugar fruits. Also making sure you get enough sleep will help.
Reduce Stress And Relieve Anxiety
The purpose of reducing stress for yourself is to lower your cortisol levels. Only when cortisol is kept at a healthy lower level can you promote better fat burning in your body? There are many ways to reduce stress, such as:
- Meditation
- Yoga
- Listening to music
- Singing
- Dancing
- Walking
- Sleeping
Also be careful to eat less of those foods that tend to cause anxiety and insomnia, such as coffee and foods high in sodium.
Is it Possible to Slim Down Your Stomach Without Exercise?
Proper exercise is indeed good for your body. But if you want to slim your belly, simply reducing or burning calories may not work, and the key factor is hormones. So when you have a fatty liver and belly fat, exercise won’t do much for that part of your body.
This is why many people do sit-ups every day without seeing great results. Although exercise and fitness do not have much effect on slimming the belly, however, proper and correct exercise can improve overall health. However, it is important to note that you should not overdo it, as doing more exercise than your body can handle for a long time will increase the stress on your body, which can lead to higher cortisol levels.
You can burn calories by taking it easy with exercises like walking, biking, swimming, and playing ball, while still not putting too much stress on your body. Another easier way to do this is NEAT (non-exercise thermogenic expenditure), which allows you to increase your metabolism and burn fat without realizing it in your daily life.
Conclusion
Diet and exercise are not fast and effective for losing belly fat, rather the hormone levels in the body are key, including insulin and cortisol. We can help reverse fatty liver and eliminate belly fat by increasing insulin sensitivity through light fasting and low-carb diets, and by reducing stress for ourselves as much as possible.
