What is the answer to Belly Fat?
This would have to be one of the most common questions I get asked.
How many programs have you read or signed up to for ‘ how to reduce belly fat’.
Is there opening/marketing line like:
“3 foods you must not eat”
“3 exercises you must do to flatten your stomach”
“Drink apple cider vinegar” – side note this can help.
But what you need to know is some science behind the belly fat first before you throw out the foods and start exercising like crazy.
Raising insulin – raises cortisol – raises adrenaline.
- This does not allow your body to rest
- Hormones cannot work efficiently
- Puts on fat!!!!
The most important focus when it comes to belly fat is your cortisol levels, not so much about your diet – cortisol is what causes belly fat, so if you are continually stressed – well hello there’s going to be some belly fat concerns – let me explain:
You may not think you are stressed at work or home life is cruising, but you need to think back a little bit and maybe have an overview of your life from the past few years to see what I mean:
Here’s a brief example of what I mean:
14 yrs ago I had a relationship breakdown and the following 3 years of that was very dysfunctional.
10 yrs ago I had my first born (yes pregnancy is a stress to the body), then I completed a half marathon when Arch was 8 months old, at that time I purchased another business which sent me into many hours of working early mornings and very late night, lack of sleep plus financial stress, and number one a new mum!!!
8 yrs ago 2nd child born with all the concerns of parenting.
7 yrs ago Business breakdown – nightmare of a settlement and still maintaining my PT business.
5 yrs ago Wayne (my only brother) diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, major operation scared the living crap out of me.
4 yrs ago completed a marathon – lots of training required.
21/2 yrs ago Wayne passed away – prior to this I ran everyday and created a stress fracture in my foot.
2 yrs ago I completed a body figure competition to ‘help’ focus after Wayne’s passing.
Throughout all these years I’ve maintained a busy training schedule which consisted of 4 -6 training sessions per week.
So yes this leaves me metabolic distressed….
This would be a common type of history with many of you, with different circumstances.
When trying to take on more – thinking this will help you lose weight it in fact:
– it increases more stress on the body as in hours involved.
– food restriction and not enjoying your foods causes stress on the body.
– less sleep due to more training, as in getting up earlier or longer to wind down at night, this does not allow your growth hormone to kick in and holding onto more stress.
You see leptin (full/satiated hormone) is depressed and ghrelin (hunger hormone) switches off.
When you have no hunger hormone or satiated hormone working your cortisol and adrenaline increases.
– Insulin that creates energy is confused.
– Insulin resistance occurs but body is not accepting food and fat storage increases (no matter what you eat, it can be very nutrient dense, but your body does not register because it is faulty).
– So now comes more exercise – enter ‘cardioholic’
24/7 – 6 days a week workout enthusiast.
Side note: A study has been done HIIT 240 mins v’s regular gym goer 3400 mins over a month
The HIIT has 9 fold result in subcutaneous fat – that means less stress = more fat loss.
You see stress adds up and the proof is in the belly fat we have (for most of us). And yes as we age, we have had more years of stress with us.
You need to train right and and consume the correct fuel – be smart, get educated by a professional.
The biggest take away from this is to understand that it’s taken me and others 14 years to get into this health situation of stubborn belly fat, so it’s not going to take 14 days or 14 weeks to undo this.
So next time you want to lose weight – understand how it got there in the first place.
Some action triggers going forward could be:
Seriously block out time for you, reduce your stress and busyness.
Start saying NO
And remember not everyone who is successful is necessarily happy! So stop feeling like you need to do so much.
Please take some time to reflect on the times you were happy and content, maybe when you were not so busy??
My next Burn and Learn program that is based on the four pillars of health will begin next year, it’s designed to help you work on stress with those that are:
– super busy (no time to cook)
– chronic dieters
– self sabotagers
– the ones that ‘have to get it done now’
– low energy levels
– body issues
– plus much more.
I work with you on becoming
– balanced
– mindful
– create more energy
– work with your body and not against it.
So your real answer to the belly fat question is:
LESS STRESS = LESS BELLY FAT
Thank you for your time and if you’d like to more information on Burn and Learn then Contact Me,
To your health,
Kerrie
Professional health, fitness and wellbeing coach.
