How to Lose Stubborn Belly Fat

Ah yes, the dreaded stubborn belly fat that many of us struggle with. Truth be told, who doesn’t want to have a flat stomach or even better, a six pack? And thus, many of us began the journey to get rid of the belly fat.

•  [Insert number] sit ups or crunches per day

•  Purchasing commercialized ab machines or toners

• Simulating complicated ab workouts from fitness magazines

If you’ve tried at least ONE or ALL the above, High Five! We’ve been in the same boat!

A boat to nowhere.

The Truth

The truth is, we can never target a specific part of our body to lose fat (at least, naturally). Spot reducing body fat is just a myth. Thus, all the time, if you’ve been told that doing specific ab workouts will help you burn belly fat or reduce them, you’ve been lied. I myself have learned this fact the hard way through trial and error.

Solution

Alright, enough for the nostalgic memories and myth busting. Let us get to the point right away. The true and proven way to lose stubborn belly fat is by consuming fewer calories than our body burns a.k.a creating a caloric deficit. Previously, we’ve learned that we cannot target fat loss specifically on our stomach. However, when we lose fat as a result of caloric deficit, eventually the fat loss will get to the belly fat one way or another. In terms of how long does it take, it depends on our genetics to some degree. So, how do we create a caloric deficit?

1. Proper Nutrition 

Firstly, you need to calculate your daily maintenance calorie intake and then reduce it by 15-20%

For protein/carbohydrate/fat consumption, these are the general recommendations:

Protein: 1g per pound of bodyweight OR 2.2g per kg of bodyweight

Fat: 25% of total calories

Carbohydrates: Whatever is left after calculating protein and fat intake.

2. Exercise 

In terms of exercising, I’d always recommend weightlifting as a first choice because it has tons of benefits such as better physique and health. In fact, weightlifting not only helps build muscle but also burn calories at the same time. Plus, if you have more muscle mass, you’d be able to consume more calories without gaining more fats. This is the same for women too, don’t be afraid to lift weights!

Next, cardiovascular exercise a.k.a cardio is also a great way to burn extra calories along with a proper nutrition and maintain a healthier heart. There are mainly two types of cardio which is high intensity interval training (HIIT) and low intensity steady state cardio (LISS). Both work well as long as they fit into your training routine. However, too much cardio is not good either because it will cause fatigue, muscle loss and hunger. Well, that’s probably why I’m not a big advocate of doing tons of cardio. So, try to balance them out properly and you’ll get the best results.

Bottom Line

Stubborn belly fat is not that ‘stubborn’ actually, provided we follow the proper steps to get rid of it. Here’s a before & after picture of me to show you that you too, can say goodbye to your belly fat!

Proper approach, hard work and consistency are all it takes!

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For any inquiries, you can always contact me through e-mail at:

jswongtraining@gmail.com