The Ultimate guide to lose body fat and bloating

How to lose the dreaded body fat?! This became the ultimate goal for many of us, especially when trying to improve fitness results and feel better. More than aesthetics, body fat is linked to having a higher risk of developing chronic diseases. So, keeping body fat in a healthy range will help us not only to look better, but also keep our health check under control. But, there is no lie that losing body fat is not very easy, especially at the beginning. However, it’s not impossible. Today, I’m sharing the ultimate on how to lose body fat (backed by science), based on my experience. 

What causes us to gain body fat?

Body fat percentage facts

Remember that our body has muscle, fat, organs and fluids overall. First, let me tell you that having body fat is actually important. We need enough fat to support our brain, nervous system, organs and even our hormones. Especially in women, fat plays an important function in our reproductive health. Because of this, obsessing about an extremely low body fat can be damaging to our bodies. Bear in mind that all extremes are bad. Anyways, there is a range of normal amounts of fat that your body should have. For men, it is between 6-24% in general, while for women is around 14-30%. Of course, these ranges vary depending on age and physical activity. 

The shocking reality about body fat

Having a higher than normal body fat, especially around the belly is linked to many factors. 

You’re eating too many over processed food

This is a fact. When you eat over processed food constantly, your body increases belly fat. Highly processed food tastes really good, but it’s usually packed with trans fat, artificial substances, and too much sugar. This is surely the recipe to keep increasing body fat. Too much body fat raises the risk of having diseases like high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes and heart problems. 

You’re not eating enough fiber

It’s no lie that eating fiber is often overlooked when improving a healthy eating routine. As an experience, I’ve seen people focusing on cutting out entire food groups, which are sources of good fiber. Instead of doing this, shift that focus on adding more fiber foods into your regimen. Eating enough fiber will help your body to absorb less harmful fat (LDL cholesterol, for example) and keep your digestion in check. 

You have constant sugar cravings

Another culprit when it comes to body fat is having those constant sugar cravings. It’s simple: you’re probably eating in a way that forces your body to crave more food. Usually, eating too much refined sugar, pastries, skipping meals, avoiding healthy fats, not eating enough protein causes your blood sugar to constantly spike up. To control this, make sure you’re eating the right way. 

Hormone imbalance

Yes hormones play an important part in belly fat! Especially in us women, hormone imbalance can cause us to have more belly fat than we should. Studies show that estrogen problems increase the amount of body fat, especially around the belly. Also, in general, when you eat too much sugar or have blood sugar spikes, it is because of too much insulin, instead of glucagon. This last one helps our body to burn body fat and have our cells use stored sugar in the liver for energy. 

Other hormones that affect your ability to lose body fat is cortisol and leptin. These are important hormones in your metabolism. I know you’ve heard about how you need to improve your metabolism to help your body burn fat. When you have too much of these hormones around, you will start gaining more fat, especially around your waistline. You can easily hack this situation by improving your healthy eating patterns and lifestyle. 

You’re stressed

Stress is another factor why you’re gaining too much belly fat. When you’re stressed, your body releases more cortisol, which causes your body to store more fat than normal. Managing stress is important, not only for your mental health, but also for your metabolism and to help you lose body fat. I’ve got some effective strategies in this previous blog that will help you reduce excess stress and anxiety.  

You’re not exercising or over exercising

I know it may sound confusing, but it is not good to be sedentary, neither to over exercise. Well, you may already know that not being active harms your metabolism, because you reduce it and prevent your body from keeping it in fat burning mode. On the other hand, studies show that over exercising causes your body to release cortisol. It may be shocking for you, but there’s no need to workout more than 5 times a week. Doing too much exercise, especially cardio, can put your body into stressful mode, making it store more fat instead. You don’t want this opposite effect. Make sure you include exercise in moderation. For me, working out 3-4 times a week works just fine. 

You’re not sleeping enough

I bet you’ve already heard about sleeping about 7-9 hours a day. But, did you know how sleep can actually help your body’s ability to burn fat? Sleeping enough avoids you having too much stress and spiking up those sugar cravings the next day. Also, resting enough prevents you from storing too much belly fat. 

You’ve been crash dieting for too long

 Maybe this sounds crazy to you, but chronic “dieting” is another big culprit with weight gain and having too much belly fat. When you eat less, and not nourish your body correctly, you deprive yourself from receiving the right nutrients to keep your metabolism working the right way. Yeah, seriously, dieting messes up your metabolism and oftentimes causes you to hit a plateau when trying to lose weight. Make sure you look for proper guidance from a certified nutritionist. 

Too much toxins in your body coming from alcohol, tobacco and other substances

Excess alcohol, tobacco, certain medications and other substances can make you store more body fat than usual. Not only that, these can seriously affect your metabolism. In terms of alcohol, moderation is always key. I’m not saying that you should completely eliminate it altogether, especially if you share a normal social life. But, there are ways that you can include alcohol in moderation, depending on the types of drinks and frequency. Balance always wins. We’ll talk about this later. 

Your digestion is messed up and you’re bloated

Having a poor digestion reflects from the inside out. And one of those things, unfortunately, is being bloated. When you have too much belly fat, it’s because your digestion is really slow and you’re absorbing rather than burning it. Besides that, people who have more belly fat or are overweight, tend to have other digestion problems like constipation.

How to lose body fat effectively

Repurpose your eating regimen

Here, it’s important to shift the whole concept around healthy eating. You need to have a better relationship with food, and focus on food quality rather than just quantity. Your eating regimen should help you to not only burn belly fat but also to boost your metabolism, keep a healthy weight, and make you feel great overall. 

Choose quality whole foods

When eating enough quality foods, you’ll lose more body fat naturally. That’s because you’re nourishing with the right nutrients and staying away from over processed meals. Make sure you’re getting enough protein, healthy fat and fiber. These are the keys to keep your body in fat burning mode and your hormones balance. 

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Hydrate yourself to lose body fat

I can’t stress enough the importance of drinking enough water. Your body needs water for almost everything, so make sure you alway stay hydrated. You’ll boost your metabolism, control those cravings and support your body’s function overall. 

Lose body fat by exercising correctly

As I said earlier, not exercising the right way can make us gain fat instead of the opposite way. Therefore, you want to make sure that you have a combined routine of cardio and strength training. If you do cardio, focus on fat burning exercises. Here, you can learn about my favorite HIIT training. Apart from that, you should also try some of my favorite full-body at home workouts.  Also, learn how to train and keep the curves.

By the way, my favorite gear to exercise are resistance bands. If you’re looking to burn fat, you need to uplevel your resistance training. By using these bands, you put more tension on your muscles, which is what will build and tone your body. I use the ones for upper body, that come in 3 resistance levels, and for lower body, I use the 3 level glute bands. What I love about the lower body resistance bands is that they have more grip, so they don’t slip and help to keep a better posture. And yes, you will feel the burn! I also do my core workouts using my Sweet Sweat waist trainer. You can see all the ones I’m using below, from Alta Fitness. You’ll get a 20% discount on your purchase.

Stop dieting! Seriously!

You may notice that you’ve been eating “healthier”, yet your belly fat isn’t moving. Ouch! Maybe you need to start eating more real food instead on focusing on taking out food groups from your plate. Eating every 2 hours, or eating tiny meals while starving for hours is not the solution. Learn how to eat smart for weight loss here. 

Mindful eating will help you lose body fat

Have you tried eating mindfully? It helps a lot. When you learn how to tune into your body, instead of counting calories, you eat better until satisfied. This is actually one of my favorite “no dieting” methods to eat healthier without food obsessions and in a more balanced way. Check out how intuitive eating will help you lose weight and get fit. 

Control your sugar cravings

Keeping your hormones balanced is key to helping your body stay healthy and with reduced sugar cravings. When you eat right, exercise according to your goals, and keep healthy living habits, you’ll notice you’ll be hungry less often, satisfied between meals, and therefore controlled cravings. 

Take care of your digestion to lose body fat

Sometimes we forget about our digestion. But, keeping a good gut health is vital to help lose body fat. If your gut is leaking, not absorbing the right nutrients, or has bad bacteria, then you’ll affect your belly fat as well. A proper digestion ensures that you’re having a good metabolism. 

Prioritize rest

Resting enough helps to manage stress. Also, sleeping enough will boost better digestion. Apart from that, when you prioritize sleep, you have less food obsessions and cravings. Hormone balance is possible when your body is rested. 

Limit toxins and substance abuse

It’s not extra to say that we should stay away from substance abuse. This causes not only premature aging and chronic issues, but also affects our ability to lose body fat. Let’s focus on healthier eating and other habits, overall. 

Finally, 

As you notice, there are many reasons why you’re gaining more belly fat. Our ability to lose body fat depends on how we eat, the way we workout and other lifestyle habits. If you want more in-depth instructions on how to lose body fat and prevent bloating, get the guide here. 

Are you still struggling to lose belly fat? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Make sure to share this guide with your friends. 

Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links, and I will earn a commission if you purchase through these links. Please note that I’ve linked to these products purely because I recommend them and they are from companies I trust. There is no additional cost to you.