Eliminating lower belly fat can be a challenging endeavor, whether it’s to improve health, reduce the risk of disease, or achieve a better-fitting wardrobe.
The problem is that you may be using the wrong approach, which can be a waste of time. Is performing belly exercises the best way to eliminate your “muffin top” or “love handles”?
The reality is that acquiring leaner abs requires continuous effort and time. It’s better to prioritize improving your nutrition to promote overall fat loss, rather than relying solely on specific exercises to “tighten your abs,” which is a secondary goal.
Change your habits for the greater good
Trying to fix a certain “flaw” often leads to crash diets and useless exercises. You’ll invest so much effort and impatiently wait to see the “love handles” melt, which doesn’t happen as fast as you might expect. This causes frustration and you could be tempted to completely give up.
A more rewarding approach would be to focus on your body as a whole, because in truth, there are no special exercises that make “love handles” disappear. Your body is the vehicle with which you experience life – improving your lifestyle will make you fitter, happier, and more content overall – not just fit better in your jeans.
Here are 4 tips to help you be done with your muffin top for good. These tips may seem simple but they will only work if you are consistent with it.
1. Cut calories
Putting your body in a fat loss mode is the only way you will eventually lose the excess abdominal fat and keep it off.
Sustainable weight loss is based on a moderate, steady calorie deficit. To make sure that you are in a moderate deficit you need to calculate how many calories you burn and how much you eat.
2. Eat more protein
Protein is the building block of your body and it becomes especially important when you are trying to change your body composition. And it’s not just when it comes to building muscles. Protein is also extremely important when trying to lose fat. By eating enough protein you make sure you do not lose muscle mass. Plus, it makes you feel full longer.
3. Eat less sugar
There is hidden sugar in many common foods. When we consume so much added sugar, it’s almost as if our taste buds get “addicted” to it. If you crave sweets after a meal because you are used to having dessert, you are unlikely to reach for a banana to satisfy the urge (even though it has plenty of natural sugar). And once you take that first cookie it’s so hard to stop. This makes it extremely hard to maintain the calorie deficit.
4. Get more sleep
The importance of sleep if often underestimated when it comes to weight loss. You can read countless studies and lists of benefits of sleep, but nothing will be as convincing as simply doing an experiment yourself. Often we are not aware of how sleep-deprived we are and the consequences it has on our appetite, cravings, mood, motivation, etc.
Make it a priority to get the best quality sleep you can for a couple of days and observe how it affects your cravings and moods.