If you’ve tried every popular fat loss strategy and still struggle to lose weight, you aren’t alone. The mindset of exercising more and eating less is actually hindering your ability to lose weight. This is especially true for women over the age of 45.
Fat is your body’s way of storing energy for emergency situations. Constantly pushing yourself beyond your limits while exercising and not giving your body enough calories is read as a life-or-death situation. This triggers the need to stubbornly cling to the fat you have, and even add more to your stores. If caloric deficit and exercise aren’t the way to lose fat, then what is?
Strategy for Belly Fat Loss
Belly fat loss is not about pushing yourself beyond your limits at the gym or constantly denying yourself. Instead, it’s about changing your mindset and your lifestyle. Fad diets might work for a time, but for most people, that weight comes back later on. The key to losing belly fat permanently is not losing weight, but getting healthy.
Your body can’t let go of the fat it has stored until your stress, hormone imbalances, and inflammation are reduced. Exercising and eating less will only exacerbate already-existing problems in your system. Instead, you need to focus on reducing stress and eating the right foods to heal your body.
Stress
An increased level of stress hormones, called cortisol, increases your appetite and triggers abdominal fat storage. Too much cortisol will also cause an imbalance in other hormones and affect important functions like your thyroid gland. Reducing stress is an essential part of losing fat. If you don’t, it will continue the cycle of imbalance and inflammation.
Food
Part of what puts so much stress on your system is the food you eat. Highly processed foods act as irritants and toxins in the body, increasing inflammation and triggering a stress response.
It is important to choose foods that will heal and support your body instead of irritating it. There are four categories of whole, natural foods to focus on: proteins, fruits, veggies, and healthy fats. These have the nutrients needed to support your systems. Things like dairy, wheat, and legumes should only be consumed if your body can tolerate them.
Fat Loss vs Weight Loss
During your fat loss journey, it is important to remember that fat loss is not the same thing as weight loss. While you will experience the benefit of weight loss, the goal isn’t to satisfy a number on a scale. Fat loss is about getting healthy enough for the body to let go of the fat naturally.
If you are in a fight-or-flight response from constant stress and strain, the weight you lose will be regained later. Your body will immediately store the fat as soon as it can. There is also a chance that the weight you were losing was lean muscle instead of fat. In this case, your body will try to build the lean muscle back up.
Another important reminder is that during fat loss, your weight will fluctuate, and that is perfectly normal. It is actually a sign that you are making progress. Watching the scale go up and down can be a little disheartening. Don’t worry about the numbers, and just worry about taking care of your body.
Lose Belly Fat with Metabolism Reboot
The Metabolism Reboot is a 10-week lifestyle coaching program that teaches people how to balance hormones, boost their metabolism, and reduce inflammation. The personalized support we provide changes our clients’ lives by transforming their health. Get healthy and achieve the body of your dreams by treating the root cause of your weight gain. Contact us today to schedule your Metabolism Reboot consultation call.
