How to Get Rid of Lower Belly Fat: Diet Tips and Exercises
Many people struggle with lower stomach fat. Getting rid of stubborn lower belly fat is a common weight loss goal for men and women alike. Lower belly pooch also commonly referred to as tummy pooch is hard to shed. In fact, the difficulty to lose lower stomach fat can vary with body types. Certain body fats hold onto fat around the lower stomach longer than any other part of the body.
Lower abs fat is truly a challenge to face, and the worst part about it is that no matter how many exercises you perform, you cannot spot any reduction. This can be extremely annoying for people who have lost weight in other body parts but still struggle with exercises to get rid of lower belly fat. Nonetheless, losing lower belly fat is neither impossible nor hopeless.
How to Get Rid of Lower Belly Fat
Eating healthy and adopting a good fitness schedule helps you get rid of lower stomach fat and keep it that way. You can also wear a slimming belt to speed up the process of fat burn. We have rounded up the best tricks to lose belly fat for you. Whether you are a woman searching for how to get rid of lower belly fat female or a man looking for how to lose lower belly fat male, we have got you covered with the best ways for shifting belly fat. Stick with us till the end if you want to know how to get rid of a lower belly fat.
Diet Tips: What to Eat to Get Rid of Belly Fat and What to Avoid
Some people want to lose the sagging lower belly without exercise and just diet alone. And to some extent, you can control lower belly fat by controlling your diet alone. Female or male, here is how to get rid of belly fat fast without exercise. So, if you cannot get rid of belly fat, then these tips for losing belly fat will definitely help you reach your goals:
Avoid Sugar
Avoiding sugar is one of the hardest ways to lose weight because sugar addiction is a real thing, and it can be very difficult for people to cut down on sugar consumption. But, at the same time, saying no to sugar is also the quickest way to get rid of belly fat.
It is important to keep a record of the types of sugars that you are ingesting. Ingredients like high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contribute to an increasing waistline. Fructose is something you should be looking out for if you want to lose weight.
Moreover, if you consume energy drinks like Gatorade for bodybuilding belly fat, you are also consuming HFCS. These hidden sugars not just increase your waistline but also contribute in causing type 2 diabetes.
Sugar and refined carbs spike insulin levels in the body, which signals the body to store fat. According to Loma Linda University Health, you can read more about it on their website.
Eat the Right Type of Fats
Contrary to popular belief, fats do not make you overweight or fat. What makes you fat is consuming junk food and not working out regularly.
If you want to know how to get rid of a hanging belly, then you need to avoid any kind of trans fats which include fried foods, margarine, cookies, and baked foods. Also, limit your consumption of saturated fats such as lard, palm oil, shortening, and full-fat dairy.
The kind of fats that you need to consume is unsaturated fats such as nuts, fish, oils, nut oil, seed oil, and avocado. Especially for men who do lower belly fat workouts, fish oil is extremely helpful, because enough fish oil increases testosterone levels. This ultimately helps you lose weight and build more muscles.
Limit Your Alcohol Intake
Consuming alcohol once in a while is okay but, if you want to shed some lower belly fat, then you have to forget about consuming sweet alcohols and beer daily.
Drinking beer every day can alter the shape of your body and make it look like a pear and alcohol on the other hand, stresses the liver which, in turn, has to overwork to detoxify the body by getting rid of the toxins. This can get in the way of your goal to lose lower belly fat.
If you want to know how to lose lower belly fat fast, then you have to say goodbye to beer and alcohol.consumption bump
Instead of drinking alcohol, drink green tea or water with squeezed lemon. Either that, or you can say goodbye to your dream of having a flat belly.
Increase Your Proteins
If you are working out but you are only losing weight but not belly fat, then you need to incorporate proteins into your diet. Proteins can boost metabolism by 80 to 100 calories per day and reduce cravings by 60 per cent. If your goal is to get a flat stomach then adding proteins to your diet might be one of the most effective changes that you can make to your diet.
Especially, in the case of women who want to try out belly fat exercises for women, protein consumption can prove to be very fruitful as it can significantly reduce their chances of gaining abdominal fat.
Foods rich in protein include legumes, meat, whole eggs, fish, nuts, and dairy products. If you struggle with how to get rid of sagging lower belly even with consuming proteins, then you can try adding protein supplements to your diet as well.
Proteins can boost metabolism by 80 to 100 calories per day and reduce cravings by 60 per cent.
Consume Fibre-Rich Foods
Fibre is important for weight loss depending, on the type of fibre you consume. The kind of fibre you need to lose weight should be soluble and viscous. Soluble and viscous fibre form a thick gel by binding water that sits in the gut.
The gel ultimately slows the digestion of food and the absorption of nutrients in the gut by slowing the movement of food through the digestive system. This leaves you feeling fuller for a longer time and reduces your cravings and appetite.
For best results, pair your lower belly fat workout with vegetables, fruits, whole oats, and legumes. You can also take fibre supplements but, it is important to consult your healthcare provider beforehand.
Stay Hydrated
If you want your lower abdomen exercise to work, then you need to drink plenty of water. If you drink water before your meals, you can speed up your weight loss faster than a diet alone.
So, one of the first steps of how to get rid of a flabby stomach is to drink plenty of water. Even if you increase your consumption of water to one litre per day, you will see marked improvement without having to change your diet.
500 ml of water before three meals (1.5 litres) every day causes a surge in energy expenditure by 30%.
Eat Fewer Carbohydrates
If you’re struggling to lose weight to just get rid of lower stomach fat, you should eat minimal carbs as well. This shouldn’t be too much of a concern for you if you’re following the other dietary adjustment suggestions.
Do not eliminate carbohydrates from your diet all together as a lot of vegetables and fruits that we consume have carbs in them. If you want to know how to get rid of belly fat rapidly, then you can also try the Keto diet. Keto is not a sustainable diet, but it can help jumpstart your lower belly fat loss journey.
Pair a low-carb diet with all the foods that you need to consume and lower that stubborn lower belly fat within weeks.
Track Your Calories
If you are serious about losing your lower belly fat, then one thing that you need to do along with taking care of your diet is to track your intake of food. If you do not keep track, you might end up overeating or under eating, both of which are not ideal situations.
You do not need to track your intake of food every day. If you track it regularly for a few days, you can get a rough estimate about the areas that you need to pay attention to the most.
Besides, you can use a calorie calculator and otter tracking apps and online tools to track your daily intake of calories.
Exercises: How to Get Lower Abs and How to Get Rid of Belly Fat
Helping to minimise belly fat is one of the incredible health benefits of exercising. weight lifting and cardiovascular activities decrease fat throughout the body.
Exercise also decreases inflammation, lowers blood sugar levels and enhances other metabolic complications related to excessive abdominal fat.
Aerobic exercises — like running, swimming, and walking — can lead to significant reductions in abdominal fat.
Crunches Are of No Use
If you are doing crunches as a way to burn belly fat men or women, you need to stop. Crunches work on the muscles in the stomach, but they do not act on the lower belly muscles that are present in the stomach. So, by doing crunches, you’re just wasting your time.
Furthermore, doing crunches can cause pain in your forward head posture, lower back pain, and can cause slouching of shoulders. Therefore, crunches are just a myth when it comes to how to get rid of a flabby belly.
Cardiovascular Exercise
Cardio is the best way to burn belly fat for men and women alike because regular cardio targets heart rate zone.
If you are a beginner at lower tummy exercise, then it is recommended that you start with two to three days of cardio. But if you already have some experience in cardiovascular exercise, then you should go for cardio for most days of the week, ranging from 30 to 90 minutes.
Add one HIIT workout to your cardio routine to target lower belly fat effectively. Remember that consistency is the key, so if you really want to know how to get rid of belly fat, you have to be consistent and stick to your routine.
Strength Training
Another way to burn belly fat men and women is to strength train. Strength training one to three non-consecutive days a week can help you boost your metabolism and get rid of lower belly weight.
If you are just starting in strength training, try out slow and slowly amp up the intensity of your workouts over time. Besides, lifting weights can also help you build lean muscle tissue. Do not forget to wear wrist wraps before you put pressure on your wrist.
If you are lifting heavier weights, try using weight lifting belts to make sure that you do not end up inflicting a serious injury on your lower back muscles.
Related strength training articles you may fing interesting;
- Strength Training 101 | The Ultimate Guide to Get Started
- Strength Training for Runners | Complete Guide, Benefits, and Mistakes
- Strength Training Program for Men and Women
- Top 12 Benefits of Strength Training That Boost the Health
- How to Get Tougher With 9 Effective Strength Training Exercises
High-Intensity Intervals (HIIT)
Another option for you if you want to know how to get rid of sagging lower belly is high-intensity intervals. High-intensity intervals are particularly potent when it comes to getting rid of lower belly fat.
The reason why HIIT training is effective is that alternating between easier and harder workouts keeps the insulin levels in your body lower. This encourages the body to use the fat instead of storing it away in cells for future use.
And the best part is that you can turn almost any kind of workout into a high-intensity interval (HIIT) routine and keep burning calories even after you have finished your exercise.
Also read: Jumping Rope and Weight Loss: What Does Jump Roping Do to Your Body?
How Long Does It Take to Get Rid of Belly Fat?
The time required to lose lower belly fat depends on your actual weight. If you want to lose one pound, you have to burn around 3,500 calories because one pound of fat is equal to 3,500 calories.
Therefore, to shed one pound of weight every week, you have to get rid of 500 calories from your meals every day. If you eliminate calories from your diet at this pace, you can easily shed 4 pounds in one month. Also, if you want to lose weight even quicker, you can increase your physical activity to burn more calories.
Slimming Tips for Tummy Fat
Get Enough Sleep
This one is pretty obvious. Sleep deprivation can increase your cravings for calorie-dense foods, increase your hunger hormones, and decrease your energy to exercise.
So if you really want to know how to get rid of lower belly fat with eating and exercising, then start sleeping properly. You need at least 7 to 9 hours of sleep to support your efforts to lose weight.
Do Not Overstress Yourself
Sleep deprivation can cause stress, which can, as a result, mess with your weight and your weight loss journey. Unchecked anxiety or tension can cause you to eat more than usual. And usually, stress causes a person to consume more high-calorie comfort foods.
Plus, higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the body may encourage it to store fat around the middle of the body i.e. the lower belly. If you are unable to deal with stress, try seeking out stress management techniques to improve your lifestyle.
Try Working Out in the Morning
It is easier and faster to get rid of lower belly fat if you do your exercises in the morning. If you work out in the morning before you eat your first meal of the day, you can increase the calories burned by fat.
Moreover, this way you can increase your glucose tolerance, alertness, glycaemic control, insulin sensitivity, and metabolism. And another perk of starting your day early with a workout can also help you get more tasks accomplished throughout your day.
A Final Word
Lower belly pooch is linked to a lot of dangerous health conditions. But, fortunately, all the risks can be reduced by reducing the lower belly fat by making some key lifestyle changes.
Apart from eating healthier, you will also have to exercise regularly. Bear in mind that you can not lose lower tummy fat by just doing crunches. But what you can do is cut your calorie consumption, bump up lower tummy targeted exercises and choose nutrient-dense foods, and you are good to go.
