How to Reduce Belly Fat

WHY DIETS DON’T WORK

Diets don’t work because they focus on eliminating entire food groups. Like a child, if you take something away from them, they will want it even more.

If you stop eating potatoes to lose weight, for example, you better make sure that you stop eating them for life. That means you will never again get to enjoy french fries or scalloped potatoes.

That means you will never get to have mashed potatoes and gravy with your Christmas turkey ever again. If that’s what you want, fine. But if it isn’t, you need to be honest about it.

Don’t start eliminating entire food groups to lose weight, unless you plan to do that for life. It’s the consistency of the program that determines your success.

There are many types of diets that will help you lose weight. They all work. The difference between them is whether or not you can maintain them for life.

For example, let’s look at the keto diet. It’s all the rage right now, and for good reason. It helps you lose weight and keep it off. That is, if you eat that way for the rest of your life.

The keto diet specifically focuses on eliminating carbohydrates from your diet. You focus on eating fat and protein mainly, as well as vegetables.

That sounds great, and even healthy. But for some people, it doesn’t work at all. It works for a short time while eliminating the carbohydrates, but when you start eating them again, all the weight comes back, plus a little extra. 

Ketone dieters will argue that they don’t ever want to go back to eating carbohydrates again. And that’s fine for those who want to continue that way of eating, but not everybody can, or will, be able to maintain this way of eating. 

If you cut carbs from your diet, that means you’ll never have a slice of toast again. For the hard-core keto dieters, that may be perfectly fine. But for others who may decide to do keto short term just to lose some weight, may find they gain it all back as soon as they start eating bread again.

It’s that elimination of entire food groups, that cause diets not to work. When you do that, you create a yo-yo diet. Lose 50 pounds by cutting out bread for example, and gain 50 pounds back when you start eating it again.

For some people, the craving is too strong to resist. If you don’t allow yourself to have a hamburger once-in-a-while, because you can’t have the bread, eventually you will go back to your old habits. Once you do, and you have that hamburger, you will start gaining weight again, yo-yoing back and forth.

So, don’t cut out an entire food group. Just don’t!

I do a program called intermittent fasting where you can eat anything you want without eliminating entire food groups. I lost 50 pounds by doing this and I’ve been able to maintain it for years now.

There are many types of intermittent fasting programs that you can choose from like the 5:2 fast, 16:8 fast, 20:4 fast, OMAD, and fast mimicking diets.

The intermittent fasting program is more of a lifestyle rather than a diet, because it helps create a caloric deficit in your body that teaches it to burn its own fat for fuel instead of sugar.

This process is called ketosis. Ketones form in your liver when you get below a certain level of calories. Those ketones are responsible for the switch between fat burning and sugar burning. Once you achieve that, you start to lose weight.

You lose weight without eliminating entire food groups with intermittent fasting.

However, the above mentioned fasts, as well as the keto diet, are all forms of a ketogenic diet, meaning they create a caloric deficit. That caloric deficit is responsible for getting your body into ketosis, so that you burn fat instead of sugar for fuel.

The only difference between the keto diet and intermittent fasting, is the fact that keto requires you to eliminate entire food groups. Intermittent fasting does not.

They will all give you the same results and benefits, however, intermittent fasting, because it doesn’t require you to eliminate an entire food group, is more sustainable in the long run.

That’s why I do it, and that’s why it has helped me lose 50 pounds and keep it off.

I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything, and that’s a recipe for a good weight loss program that will work, not just now, but 30 years from now.

TONING AND EXCERCISE

Keeping fit doesn’t mean you have to go out to the gym every day. You can tone your muscles by simply going for a walk.

I walk to keep fit, and that tones stomach muscles as well as arms when I move.

I’m an advocate for doing whatever you enjoy doing to stay fit. If you like canoeing, then canoe. You will still work your muscles, and stay active.

If you like jogging, then do that. You will stay fit and trim by doing what you love.

If horseback riding is your thing, and the gym makes you cringe, go riding. Do the thing you love and you will stay fit and healthy.

Just for your information though, studies have proven that intermittent fasting mimics exercise. Your body will act as if it has just gone to the gym when you fast. The results will be the same.

That’s incredible!

So, even if you physically can’t work out, you can still benefit your body by doing intermittent fasting as a workout.

I belong to a Facebook group for people doing the 5:2 fast, and have read many encouraging success stories about those who have lost weight with this type of fasting.

Many of them are sedentary people who can’t do traditional physical exercise because of knee problems, or some kind of health issue. The transformation pictures are incredible.

Just looking at before and after pictures, would make you think they had been at the gym for a year. But they haven’t. They didn’t do traditional physical workouts because they couldn’t. But they still lost weight by doing an intermittent fasting program.

Toning and exercise are great, but not a necessity when it comes to weight loss. Most especially, exercise is not a necessity when it comes to losing stubborn belly fat that just doesn’t seem to want to go away.

I am living proof of that. The 50 pounds that I lost was mostly around my belly, and I didn’t go to the gym or do any kind of major workout to achieve it.

It was all intermittent fasting.

REDUCING CALORIC INTAKE

Reducing your caloric intake is the number one way to lose belly fat. You can achieve it by doing many types of diets, but you’re going to want to make sure whatever you choose is sustainable.

I chose intermittent fasting because it seemed to work even without exercise. It took me about six months to lose the 50 pounds around my belly, and I’ve managed to keep it off long-term.

I eat the same kinds of foods I always have. There’s nothing that I cut out. I just try to eat as healthy as possible, with lots of vegetables and fruits.

Now, I always make sure I have enough fibre in my diet, and probiotics as well. I drink home-made kombucha tea every day.

I didn’t cut out entire food groups. I allowed myself anything I wanted. I even indulge in fast-food as a treat, and cookies an ice cream once in a while.

I didn’t want to deprive myself. I love all foods and didn’t want to cut something out of my diet to lose weight. I knew if I did that, I’d just end up going back to it, and regaining what I lost. 

I started my intermittent fasting lifestyle by doing the 5:2 fast, which is a fast mimicking diet where I’m allowed 500 calories on two consecutive days of the week, and then eat normally on the other five days of the week.

I graduated to the 16:8 fast which is basically skipping breakfast. I would fast for 16 hours, including when I sleep, and then have an eight-hour window in which to eat my meals.

I then graduated to OMAD, which is basically eating one meal a day. I eat whatever I want and I don’t cut out any type of food. This creates a caloric deficit every day and helps me maintain my 50-pound weight loss.

My belly has naturally shrunken on its own, and it continues to do so every day. I’m so pleased with all types of intermittent fasting because it seems to target belly fat specifically.

If you are looking for something to reduce belly fat, I would highly recommend trying an intermittent fasting program. Pick one that suits you, and stick to it. You might be pleasantly surprised that the caloric deficit you create is the only thing that you need to get rid of your tummy.

If you liked this article, please consider pinning it on Pinterest by clicking the picture below. 

For further information, go to the Hungry Old Lady Youtube channel by clicking on the video at the end. I hope you enjoyed this article and consider living an intermittent fasting lifestyle.