I’m going to give it to you straight – the places we want to lose from first are often the LAST to go.
And in the process of losing fat, they often look WORSE before they look better because areas around them shrink as they stay EXACTLY THE SAME.
This makes losing belly fat even more frustrating on top of the fact that the area is scientifically more stubborn!
Yup…I say scientifically more stubborn because the lack of blood flow and the breakdown of alpha and beta fat cells in the area, make this area very hard to lose from.
Not to mention changing hormones levels can impact where we store fat, causing us to gain more around our middles!
So all in all…belly fat is annoyingly challenging to lose and while it’s the first place we gain, will be the LAST place we lose from.
That’s why I wanted to share 5 golden rules to help you lose belly fat.
I call them “golden rules” because these aren’t the shiny object, magic pill, quick fixes we get distracted by…
They’re the basics we need to go back to. The foundation off of which our healthy lifestyle is built.
Because too often the longer we’ve been working to see results, the more advanced and knowledgeable we even are, the more we get distracted by new things and details that only take us away from a focus on the fundamentals.
1% deviations in our habits add up. And 1% deviations can make all the difference in where you end up.
1% off in your heading on a flight from New York to Japan lands you smack in the middle of the ocean drowning.
So let’s refocus on these 5 golden rules to lose that belly fat…
Starting with our mindset.
And while some of you may groan at this or consider clicking back because you just want to be told WHAT to do, some magic tactic…Pause. And don’t/
This desire to just DO without reflecting on your mindset or attitude is why you’re stuck.
You’re stuck constantly trying to find an easy fix. Some magic program.
You’re stuck forcing yourself into habits you can’t maintain long term so ultimately give up on because they just aren’t sustainable.
And this is why you lose the weight only to regain it. It’s why you feel like you’ll just never lose the belly fat.
Don’t repeat this cycle…
This is why Golden Rule #1 is Ditch the all or nothing attitude.
We get super motivated…we see a picture we don’t like of our midsection or have that beach vacation coming up.
So we go all in.
We make a bazillion and one changes.
And then when the effort doesn’t feel worth the outcome, when we don’t see results fast enough…
We quit.
Or maybe the changes just even feel so overwhelming we never actually get started.
We don’t feel it is worth it to do something.
But A. Something is better than nothing.
And B. We have to make changes that build if we want to create something we can do consistently.
Because not only do we get good at what we consistently do….
We ARE what we consistently do.
Your current situation is a result of the habits you do daily.
So in order to get leaner and stay leaner, we need to create habits and changes we can repeat consistently day in and day out.
While not all changes will be easy, especially to start, we need to ditch this all or nothing mindset and instead focus on what we can do today to build.
And then even own that at times, less is more!
We can’t out exercise or out diet time.
Trying to is what leads to that feeling that the effort just isn’t worth it.
Not to mention, you can’t see true fat loss any faster by trying to train for longer or eat less.
These practices honestly only lead to worse results and burnout.
Which leads me to Golden Rule #2: Macros matter most.
You can’t out exercise your diet and you can’t out diet time but just cutting your calories lower.
Honestly we often need to go less extreme with the calorie deficit and eat more to fuel our muscle.
Because while calories in vs calories out matters for WEIGHT LOSS, macros matter if you want to truly focus on FAT LOSS and retain that amazing magical and metabolically beneficial muscle.
If you think I’m about to now tell you that protein is key, you’d be right.
Especially the leaner we are, and the more we want to lose those last few pounds, the more we need to avoid a more extreme calorie deficit and focus on protein.
This is where having 40% of your calories or even slightly more coming from protein is key.
Because protein will protect your lean muscle and actually cause you to expend more energy to digest it.
Now…as important as protein is, we can’t demonize other macros.
Fats don’t make you fat. And carbs don’t make you gain belly fat either.
Extreme restriction of either is actually holding you back from losing that stubborn belly fat, and putting you at greater risk to regain the weight you lost faster than you lost it!
Healthy fats are the building blocks of hormones, especially sex hormones like estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. They also help regulate inflammation and keep cortisol (a stress hormone) levels in check.
And carbs play a critical role in thyroid function, providing glucose for energy and regulating cortisol levels. Eating enough carbs helps balance insulin and cortisol, providing your body wtih the energy it needs without spiking stress hormone levels.
So focus on tracking your macros and, while keeping protein high, cycle higher or lower carb over the weeks and months to create balance!
Now, as much as I am a huge advocate of including foods you love and not demonizing any foods, and I practice what I preach, I also know the importance of focusing 80% of my diet on whole, natural foods.
Because the quality of our food has an impact!
That’s why Golden Rule #3 is Focus on quality fuel.
Not only are whole natural foods more micronutrient dense, providing the vitamins and minerals we all know we need for our body to function well and recover quickly, but they also often make the weight loss process easier for 3 other big reasons…
They have a higher thermic effect, meaning we burn more calories at rest to digest them over processed foods.
They are often less calorically dense and more nutrient dense, meaning we can eat larger volumes of them to make us actually feel fuller and more satisfied even while in a deficit.
Whole natural foods promote optimal gut health, containing fiber and pre and probiotics, among other nutrients, that are essential to a balanced gut bacteria. And a healthy gut is key for fat loss as it improves fat metabolism and our metabolic rate overall!
So while you want to work in foods you love to create something you can be consistent with, as the second we feel restricted we often find our willpower and motivation fading very quickly, we also want to recognize that this focus on whole natural foods will improve our results.
And we need our body functioning optimally to embrace losing that hard to lose fat while allowing us to train intensely.
Especially with being in a deficit to lose, we want to be conscious we aren’t creating nutrient deficiencies so pay attention to eating that rainbow.
And then don’t forget to focus on fiber!
Fiber will help you keep your gut healthy which can often pay off more than we realize in reducing inflammation and bloat that causes us not to see the ab definition we want!
For fiber, focus on 25g for women (or 21g if you’re 50+) or 38g for men (or 30g if you’re 50+) is the fiber intake you want to shoot for!
While diet is key for fat loss, the best results happen when your diet and workouts work together.
And so often we adjust our diet, lose weight, but never truly see the definition we truly want.
This is because we so often turn to more cardio in our workouts.
Instead we need to follow Golden Rule #4 and remember that muscle is magical.
We need to focus our workouts on building muscle and strength.
Because muscle is not only how we stay functionally strong till our final day on this planet, it is really the secret to overall health and looking more defined.
Less muscle means we look softer even when we’re thin.
Not to mention, muscle keeps our metabolic rate higher, helps keep our blood sugar levels more balanced, promotes optimal hormonal levels and even better recovery.
More muscle means we will maintain better body recomp!
Yet so often we do actually sabotage our own results by turning even our strength workouts into cardio sessions.
We do this by trying to get out of breath, feel worked in our sessions and cut out rest.
Instead we need to focus on feeling the muscles truly be worked and having a purpose for everything we include.
Whether you train at home or at a gym, you can challenge yourself to build strength and muscle.
The key is truly creating that challenge in our training. And the more advanced you are, the more you have to seek ways outside of just adding weight to really push that progression.
Use different training designs, combining rep ranges and compound and isolation moves.
Use different tempos.
Vary the types of moves you include and how you break up the areas worked in workouts.
But find ways to challenge yourself and your muscles, not just make you feel sweaty and out of breath!
Now that I just said to focus on strength over cardio, there is one form of cardio that is honestly super essential when our focus is fat loss and especially losing belly fat.
And that’s why Golden Rule #5 is To Walk Daily.
Go on a casual walk for even just 15-20 minutes every.single.day.
You’ll be amazed at how much this movement helps you see better results faster without stressing your body or mind any more.
Not only is the non-stressful movement helpful to the fat loss process, especially even timed after a meal to help with digestion or after a workout where you worked your core to utilize more of the fatty acids mobilized in your training…
But it is so good to help you change patterns that may lead to mindless eating or eating out of stress.
Instead of lazing on the couch mindlessly eating at night or going to the cabinet for those mini candy bars after a stressful day at work, go for a walk.
Break those habits by swapping in MOVEMENT!
You’re not only changing behaviors to help yourself stay consistent, but you’re burning more calories in a non-stressful way for your body!
Plus, you can use this activity to spend time with friends and family and destress!
And lowering our stress levels can help us lose fat more easily and even recover faster to be able to push hard in our training sessions.
But I’ll tell you, adding in walking was super key for me even personally to see the fat loss I wanted and maintaining those results long term!
Now the final tip I want to leave you with, that isn’t a golden rule, but something I think is so key…
Measure progress by tracking your habit consistency.
I mention this as UBER important for 3 big reasons so you don’t sabotage yourself and quit on habits that WILL work if you give them long enough…
True body recomp and fat loss is slow. Painfully slow. And the scale may NOT change.
And you’re going to have to stick with it when the scale and measurements aren’t changing.
Because those last few pounds you feel you have to lose, may not be lost on the scale while fat is.
And that’s because you’re not losing muscle or even managing to gain it through a small deficit and protein focus!
If you try to make the scale change quicker or get caught up in your goal weight, you’re going to ultimately do diet and training practices that cause you to lose muscle, not fat and still have that stubborn belly fat.
Areas will look worse before they look better.
Progress photos are key. But you’re going to look at your belly fat or the areas you want to change and they’ll be changing last. They’ll even look bigger as you lose off of other places first.
So if you use photos, you need to also acknowledge the changes in these other places.
Your workouts may at times suffer.
I love lifting heavy. I hate when I don’t feel super strong or see improvements in performance goals.
But I’m aware that during a mini cut or fat loss phase, my performance goals may take a backseat.
So only measuring progress to help you stay consistent with your gym performance may make you want to give up.
Don’t!
In the fat loss process, to get past a stick point you have and to reach that leanness level you’ve never achieved before, you do need a calorie deficit.
This can mean our gym sessions aren’t always PR setting workouts. So we need to be mindful of this fact when setting gym goals so you don’t give up on training sessions that are working!
But this is why celebrating those habit wins, the hitting of your macros, the focus on fiber or micros, the consistency that weekly training schedule, the daily walks…are all so key to celebrate!
Because we have to find ways to help ourselves STAY CONSISTENT past the point we want to quit if we want to reach a new goal!
Want a custom plan to dial in your diet and your workouts to work together and build your leanest, strongest body at ANY age?
