What makes up a beer belly is called visceral fat: fat that is stored deep within the belly and surrounds the organs.
It’s a harmful type of fat that is linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases such as heart failure, strokes, and coronary artery disease. Additionally, it is associated with metabolic syndrome and other health complications.
This makes it all the more important to remove belly fat as soon as possible. By doing so, you can avoid developing health problems.
Start removing your beer belly today with below tips –
Start Running
It is common knowledge that physical activity burns fat. However, there are a few exercises that specifically target fat in your abdomen.
Running is an exercise that burns belly fat as it is a full-body workout. Yet running is also a high-intensity workout. With it, you’ll raise your heart rate quickly and burn as many calories as possible.
Running for 30 minutes 4 times a week is a good start to incorporating this exercise into your routine. Just make sure to take it easy when you’re only starting out. Take breaks when you get too tired and keep yourself hydrated.
Go Intermittent Fasting
Aside from physical activity, your food intake is one of the things that should be changed when you’re trying to lose your beer belly. After all, the best weight loss plans for men are those that not only put an emphasis on exercise but diet plans, too.
For a beer belly, one of the best diet plans to consider is intermittent fasting. This is a diet that involves eating and fasting at intervals.
One popular example is the 16/8 method, where you limit your eating and drinking to 8 hours and fast for 16 hours in a day. This controls your energy usage. It also encourages production of the leptin hormone, which regulates your appetite and energy expenditure.
However, immediately stop fasting if you feel any discomfort like nausea. It might be a sign to try another intermittent fasting method such as alternate-day fasting.
Drink Green Tea
There are many products in the market today that claim to help you lose belly fat. However, only a few have scientific proof backing them. One drink that melts belly fat is green tea, which contains caffeine and catechins. These two components have fat oxidation abilities that aid in burning fat—especially in the belly.
Catechins in particular lower your triglyceride levels. This is important as triglyceride is composed of extra calories that are turned into fat.
Matcha green tea powder has the most concentrated dose of catechins, so consider using that. For regular green tea, about 3 cups a day are the most optimal for fat loss.
Get Sufficient Sleep
It may not be noticeable, but your sleep affects your beer belly. To be exact, a recent study finds that a lack of sleep increases abdominal fat. Inadequate sleep redirects fat to the more dangerous visceral compartments, leading to fat accumulation in the abdominal area.
What’s even more alarming is that catch-up sleep does not reverse this. Further, long-term inadequate sleep increases the chances of obesity, metabolic diseases, and cardiovascular complications.
Given this, get a decent 8-9 hours of sleep each night. Make it a habit not only to remove your belly fat but also to avoid developing other health risks that can cause long-term damage.
Wrapping it Up
The visceral fat that makes up your beer belly can lead to serious health conditions. You can start getting rid of it today by trying intermittent fasting, getting sufficient sleep, running, and drinking green tea.