That marshmallow middle you have been sporting did not get there overnight. Stressful times at the office, entertaining in too many cheat meals, or looking for reasons to skip a day, week, or month’s worth of exercises are all making it simple to pack on the pounds and making it challenging to get them off.
That extra junk throughout your trunk turns your body into a full-blown Buddha belly, placing you at enhanced risk for diabetes, heart disease, and early death.
Losing belly fat isn’t easy; it requires discipline and knowledge of what to eat and avoid.
Let me tell you, I have been there. I know how nerve-wracking it can be to say no to your favorite food, but at the end of the day, it’s for a good cause.
Fortunately, losing weight does not take long; with these 21 tips, reduce belly fat in as little as 15 days.
Causes of increased belly fat
Usually, those extra unwanted guests on your belly are associated with your food intake. It is, in fact, the undeniable truth. As everyone says, you become what you eat.
You can’t expect to have a flat belly when you eat a lot of junk food.
Bad carbs (white rice, white bread, refined flour, etc.), trans fats (saturated oils and ghees, butter, cheese, etc.), sugar intake (sodas, fruit juices, canned juices, bakery items), inactiveness, stress, lack of sleep, alcohol, etc. are responsible for those extra inches of waistlines.
Regardless of the causes, all you take is strong determination, discipline, and guidance to overcome the problem.
Twenty best ways to reduce belly fat
1. Start the early
Do not let hours lounging on the bed and a flatter belly stand within you. While sufficient sleep can boost your metabolic pace, sleeping in can undo any advantage you would experience from grabbing a few extra winks.
One research shows that late sleepers who snoozed past 10:45 in the morning consumed nearly 250 extra calories daily, notwithstanding eating half as many vegetables and fruits as their early bird equivalents. Even worse, they munched on more sugary, salty, and trans-fat-laden food than those who got up early.
If you head out of your home early, you are in for an added metabolic boost. Researchers at Northwestern University have discovered that people exposed to early morning sunlight had lower BMIs than those who were not.
2. Bring on the berries
Rather than pleasing your sweet tooth with some processed sugar, switch to berries and experience a thinner waistline in less time.
Berries are packed with antioxidants, which help reduce swelling throughout the body. A study from the University of Michigan exposes that rats given a berry-rich diet stripped off a vital portion of their belly fat compared to a control group.
Blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries are packed with resveratrol, an antioxidant orpiment connected to reductions in belly fat and a decreased risk of insanity to boot.
3. Skip the hydrogenated oils
You may have tried minimizing the amount of fat you use for cooking. Some of you might have switched from regular vegetable oils to expensive ones. But is that good for you?
The trans fats on the menu are dropping out in plain sight and destroying your lean belly plan every time you have them.
If a food product says it includes partially hydrogenated oils, you are eating trans fat, which can improve your risk of high cholesterol, obesity, and heart disease, with every bite.
A study conducted at Wake Forest University shows that monkeys whose foods included eight percent trans fat increased their body fat by 7.2 percent over 6-year research. In contrast, those who consumed monounsaturated fat earned just a fraction of that expense.
Saturated and unsaturated fats are common types of cooking oils. Saturated fats raise cholesterol and increase abdominal fat; unsaturated fats are less likely to do so.
| Saturated fats | Unsaturated fats |
|---|---|
| Full-fat dairy products (cheese, butter) | Avocado, olives |
| Processed meat (sausage, bacon) | Salmon, anchovies, tuna |
| Packaged foods (chips, crackers) | Nuts and Seeds |
| Palm oil, coconut oil | Olive oil, canola oil, |
4. Avoid trans fats
One of the major causes of excess fat on the waistline is trans fats or unhealthy saturated fats in food intake. These fats are especially abundant in packaged foods.
Packaged foods are convenient but contain trans fats. These hydrogenated fats are responsible for unwanted fats and various health conditions like insulin resistance, heart disease, high cholesterol, etc.
Read the ingredient labels in the food packages before you buy them. If the ingredient label mentions trans fat, run away. Food companies generally mention trans fats as hydrogenated fats in their packages.
5. Reduce alcohol intake
I can’t tell you you should not be drinking alcohol because drinking is an integral part of our social life nowadays. With the “but” comes, are you sure you are taking it consciously, or is the alcohol doing you no good?
The term “Beer Belly” did not arise just so. People who had excessive alcohol regularly did gain those extra fats in the abdomen, and thus “Beer Belly” came into practice.
Consumption of alcohol increases the desire to eat in most cases. Also, it slows down the breaking down of food inside the body, which gives more time for the fat to find places in the belly. Thus, the higher the intake of alcohol, the greater the abdominal fat.
Hence, reducing alcohol intake is an excellent idea if you have to get rid of belly fat. If you can, cutting it off is even better.
6. Consume fewer carbs
All the fuss about “Eat fewer carbs” is significant if you have to lose belly fat.
Consumption fewer than 50 grams of carbs for around three consecutive days leads you to ketosis. Ketosis is the metabolism stage, which lets the body take energy by burning ketones or fats instead of carbs.
It happens as a result of less intake of glycogen coming from carb-rich foods.
Studies have shown that consuming foods like refined-grain pasta, noodles, sugary foods, white rice, white bread, etc., with harmful carbs, is very much responsible for the increase in belly fat. Thus, cutting off these foods from your diet is necessary first to lose weight.
But don’t worry; other foods help you get the carbs you need. You can rather eat brown rice and bread, whole grains, whole wheat, steel-cut oats, leafy vegetables, and fruits in place of harmful carbs. But don’t forget, not more than 50 grams a day if you want better and quicker results.
7. Switch to sprouted bread
It is normally assumed that bread is off-limits when reducing belly fat; the right bread may facilitate the method. Shifting to germinated bread can help carb-lovers excited to get their fix without increasing a belt size, thanks to sprouted grains with the inulin content.
The outcomes of research printed in Nutrition & Metabolism show that pre-diabetic research questions whose diets were supplied with inulin shaved off extra belly fat and entire weight than those whose food plan did not pack this healthy prebiotic fiber.
8. Avoid sugar-rich food and beverages
You are on the right track if you think things that do well are usually not sweet. So why eat sugar when it is undoubtedly bad for your body? Yes, I agree, for the sake of the taste buds.
While trying to please your taste buds with various sugar-rich food and drinks, the unnecessary amount makes it more comfortable to play with your body. All you have to do is have some fruit juices, cakes, chocolates, or sodas, and you are marching towards gaining a hanging belly.
You don’t believe it, do you?
According to the research carried out with several people for ten weeks, it was observed that people with high sugar intake were drastically positive for increased belly fat. Similarly, studies have often proved that soda intake is vital in giving you those extra inches of waistline.
Why are sugar-rich food and beverages so harmful?
These fruit juices, sodas, and other beverages are rich in liquid fructose, which is doubtless very bad for our health. Thus, the intake of this element causes a high chance of increased belly fat. So, rather than these drinks, you can have as much water as you like, green teas, and black coffee with no sugar. A little caffeine is not that bad.
If you argue that these beverages have done nothing wrong to you, then you are either very lucky or the worse is yet to show up. So, you better cut this unnecessary sugar off your diet for a happy and healthy belly.
9. Lift
Do you even lift, bro? If you want to reduce belly fat quickly, resistance training is the key. Research from the Harvard School of Public Health found that combining weight training to adult male test cases’ workouts reduced their risk of uterine obesity over a multi-year research period. Despite doing the same number of cardio had no such impact.
A study from the University of Maryland also found that just 16 weeks of weight training expanded study participants’ metabolic charges by a whopping 7.7 percent, making it simpler to ditch those added inches throughout your middle.
10. Include soluble fiber
To begin with, the deficiency of fiber in our body hinders water absorption. Similarly, it affects digestion; hence, a lousy metabolism follows.
If you start eating more soluble fibers, the water inside your body gets absorbed. It further helps form a gel inside the body that decelerates the food passing through our digestive system.
Eating more fiber keeps you full for a long time, resulting in less eating. In short, the consumption of soluble fiber makes you less hungry.
Research scientists at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center discovered that every 10-gram regular increase in soluble fiber was connected with a 3.7 percent reduction in unhealthy visceral fat over five years. Those who led an active lifestyle got even leaner, cutting off double fat at the same time.
Hence, less food, lesser calories, proper digestion, and better metabolism with fiber-rich foods create stops unwanted belly fat.
Example of soluble fiber food
- Flax Seeds
- Shirataki Noodles
- Brussels Sprouts
- Avocadoes
- Legumes
- Blackberries
11. Score some rays
Few people would recommend you start going to tanning beds for greater health. Any natural sunlight will help you remove extra inches off your stomach.
According to researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, vitamin D-deficient overweight women between 50 and 75 who raised their sunshine vitamin intake shed more body fat and weight than those who didn’t. To practice sustained sun, make sure you restrict yourself to 15 sunscreen-free minutes every day.
12. Swap out ketchup for salsa
Ketchup is certainly tasty, but it is also a severe saboteur regarding weight loss struggles. Ketchup is packed with sugar (up to four grams per tablespoon) and shows few nutritional correspondences to the fruit from which it is determined.
Research conducted at China Medical University in Taiwan links to decreased waist circumference and overall fat due to exchanging your ketchup for salsa, as fresh tomatoes, like those used in salsa, are loaded with lycopene. If you prefer your salsa spicy, the capsaicin in hot peppers, like chipotles and jalapeños, will increase your metabolism.
13. Think fast
Rather than subjecting yourself to endless workouts, increase the power, and you will see the results faster than you ever imagined possible.
The outcomes of research conducted at McMaster University in Ontario reveal that grown-up male research subjects who practiced strongly for a single minute had similar metabolic and respiratory changes to those who worked out at a moderate speed for close to an hour. If you want to lose weight through that stomach fat, say so long to slow.
14. Nosh on some nuts
Most of the time, you have to get a little nutty when whipping your body into shape. Even when nuts are high in fat, it is that very fat that makes them such excellent weapons in the war against a big belly.
A Reina Sofia University Hospital study, shows that subjects who followed a diet rich in monounsaturated fats to reduce belly fat over 28 days obtained less fat than their saturated fat-consuming equivalents while increasing their insulin responsiveness.
15. Flavor your food with garlic
A few garlic in your food can mean much less weight throughout your middle. A Korean study’s outcome reveals that mice given high-fat food supplied with garlic lost more weight and abdominal fat than those who only ate greasy foods.
Even better, they also increased their liver health, making it easier to turn off that excess fat and stay healthy in the long term.
16. Eat high protein diet
Nutritionists and health advisors often advise including as much protein as possible. Likewise, whenever you try taking advice from fitness instructors on losing weight, they never talk you out of removing protein from your food.
They have a reason, a big reason to do so. Protein consumption triggers the release of the fullness hormone peptide tyrosine (PYY) inside the body. It results in fullness for a long time causing loss of appetite, eventually preventing you from eating unnecessarily.
The work gets done here; not eating unnecessary food prevents unwelcome fats from storing in your belly. Thus, a high-protein diet is a good deal.
Foods providing high protein are abundant in the stores, meat, fish, eggs, meat lovers—dairies for the milk lovers, beans, chickpeas, lentils, etc., vegans.
Furthermore, if you are gaining muscles but not just losing belly fat, you can also try whey proteins.
17. Include fatty fish in your diet
If you weight to drop and want it gone quickly, try exchanging your normal proteins to support fish.
Not only is fish low in calories than a similar amount of chicken or beef, but research published in Obesity also exhibits study participants who added omega-3 fatty acids, like those observed in fish, to their diets dropped more weight and had obvious time keeping it off than those who skipped them.
The fabulous fats, oily or fatty fish, are excellent sources of OMEGA-3s. These essentials, though, are sources of fats and are not harmful to the body. Instead, the right intake solves many problems other saturated fats have caused.
Omega-3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fatty acids found in various plants and animal sources.
Including fatty fish helps reduce belly fat and provides the required fats for your body. In short, fatty fish providing Omega-3 are the necessities of our bodies.
For those comfortable eating fish, Omega-3 is available in fish species such as mackerel, salmon, shrimp, sardines, trout, oysters, etc.
No worries if you are a vegan or a vegetarian. You can also have seaweeds, algae, chia seeds, hemp seeds, flaxseeds, walnuts, etc.
18. Brush up
Keeping a toothbrush convenient can do more than glaze up that smile; brushing your teeth throughout the day can help you ditch that stomach fat quickly.
Research conducted on a sample of more than 14,000 members found that washing after every meal was directly linked to lower weight.
That minty toothpaste flavor did not only encounters virtually every food; brushing also triggered a Pavlovian response that tells your mind the kitchen is closed.
19. Don’t give up on grains
You do not have to go low-carb to reduce belly fat quickly. Opting for more whole grains will get you there faster.
A study at Tufts University has connected eating three or more regular servings of whole grains to as many as 10 percent decreases in visceral body fat, which ups your chance for chronic diseases like heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
20. Snack on some veggies
Your parents were not joking about how valuable veggies are for a healthy body. However, they perhaps did not tell you that snacking on vegetables is also one of the simplest ways to reduce belly fat.
According to research published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, choosing non-starchy veggies, like cucumber, cauliflower, and broccoli, as snacks assisted overweight kids in shedding 17 percent of their physical fat while increasing their insulin responsiveness over a five-year time.
21. Add some acid
Do not buy your tickets to Bonnaroo quite yet! The stuff in your kitchen cabinet is the acid that helps you lose weight.
12-week research published in Biochemistry, Bioscience, and Biotechnology shows that obese subjects who made vinegar a part of their regime reduced belly fat faster than another control group. Additional research implies that acidic food vinegar increases human carbohydrate metabolism by 40 percent.
22. Add calcium
Adding extra calcium to your diet could be the answer to getting that flat stomach you have fantasized about.
Over just one year, researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, observed that obese female subjects who increased their calcium intake lost about 11 pounds of body fat without other extreme dietary alterations. Mix it with dairy sources, calcium-rich nuts, fatty fish, leafy greens, and seeds to keep your calcium choices healthy.
23. Drink green tea
Green tea is a very healthy beverage. The intake of green tea in the right amount is excellent when it comes to reducing belly fat.
The contents like caffeine and the antioxidant called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) in green tea help increase the body’s metabolism rate. Thus, its consumption results in the reduction of some abdominal fat. However, the results are visible only when supported by exercises.
24. Exercise
One of the main reasons people get those unwanted belly fats is their inactive and unhealthy lifestyles. Every development in today’s day and age has come with a price for us to pay.
So the key to eliminating this problem of excessive belly fat is to remain fit and active. Exercising and staying active are very much necessary to burn calories. Waking up early, jogging, and exercising can help a lot.
The exercises will largely depend on how many calories you need to burn. As said earlier, the calories you need to eliminate dependence on your body weight and body type. So, please consult a knowledgeable trainer to guide you through this.
Strength training, weight lifting, and cardio are some of the calorie-burning exercises you can do for this.
You can find several exercise applications online if you cannot join a fitness center or get a personal trainer. Similarly, many compelling videos on YouTube guide you to your goal of losing belly fat.
25. Perform yoga
One of the most significant and effective ways to get a waistline of the desired size is by performing yoga. Yogas are useful for weight loss, relieving stress, and keeping the mind and body calf.
You can always start with light yoga and proceed further to get a good result. But remember, yoga and exercises are there to deliver the results quickly. Most things are possible only if you can get control over the food you eat.
26. Consume probiotic food
Our bodies consist of numerous living and non-living particles. Microbes and bacterias are some of them. While some bacterias are essential for our digestion, metabolism, and proper functioning, some bacterias, on the other hand, are villains.
And these villains need strong support to be defeated. As a result, foods containing probiotic supplements are vital for you to consume. Probiotics contain essential bacterias that help our body win over the harmful bacteria slowing down the process of digestion and other functions inside the body.
Not just for reducing belly fat, probiotics also help solve skin problems and the immune system.
Probiotics are abundant in foods such as:
- Asparagus
- Bananas
- Jerusalem artichokes
- Garlic
- Onions
- Leeks
27. Consume apple cider vinegar daily
Apple Cider Vinegar is a scientifically proven solution for visceral fat loss from the abdomen. It is well-tested, but how does it help?
Apple cider vinegar has a compound known as acetic acid, which reduces the visceral fat in the body. So, taking the right amount to lose stubborn belly fat is never a bad idea.
Science advises you to drink two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar mixed with a cup of water a day.
According to different research, people who had two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar per day for around three months lost nearly 3 pounds of belly fat.
28. Get plenty of sleep
You might have a misconception that sleeping too much is the cause of increased belly fat. Surprisingly, getting the right amount of sleep does wonders for our bodies. Sleep deprivation is one of the primary reasons for storing visceral fat in the abdomen. The lack of sleep causes the following conditions resulting in increased belly fat.
- An increased concentration of the hormone cortisol
- Reduced insulin sensitivity
- Reduced levels of the satiety hormone leptin
- Increased secretion of hunger-inducing ghrelin
- Increased fatigue and moodiness
So, if you are an insomniac, think wisely. It’s high time; you should get a good night’s sleep.
The proper amount of sleep varies from 8-9 hours, depending upon the person’s age. But doctors say that 8 hours is a must. The right amount of sleep and a few naps during the day are necessary to lose weight and become efficient in our day-to-day lives.
If you have a tough time getting sleep, you need to consider keeping the laptops and your cell phone aside. And if that does not help, you should consult a doctor ASAP.
29. Try overcoming stresses
Stresses cause a lack of sleep, eating disorders, dizziness, and many other things, leading to unnecessary fat storage in the belly. So, next time someone says you only lose weight because of stress, tell them you might as well gain weight because of the fear.
Stress is an inevitable part of our lives these days. If you are wise enough, you will try overcoming these with regular exercises and a healthy diet( no harmful carbs). Note that even if you exercise but eat whole foods, it will only trigger your stress causing you to gain extra belly fat.
Too much stress produces a hormone called cortisol in our body. This hormone is produced in excess amounts, increases appetite, and enhances chemical reactions inside the body, causing increased abdominal fat.
To get rid of this, the best you can do is try to maintain your mental health. It can be achieved by practicing yoga, talking to friends, meditating, eating healthy, etc.
30. Go for intermittent fasting
Intermittent fasting is a popular trend in health and fitness nowadays. It is an eating pattern that emphasizes more on when to eat than what to eat.
This fasting method is trendy for weight and body fat loss.
Intermittent fasting is categorized into three ways depending upon the cycle between eating and fasting. They are:
The 16 by 8 (16/8) rule
This method suggests that people should fast for 16 hours without consuming any solid food during fasting. After the 16 hours fast, you get 8 hours to eat. To be more explicit, in this method, you have to skip breakfast, restrict your eating hour for 8 hours straight (say 12-8 pm), and fast for the remaining hours until noon again. Water, coffee, and other beverages are allowed during the fasting period.
Eat-Stop-Eat (24-hour rule): By name, it is clear that this method requires one to stop consuming solid food for 24 hours straight. You can do this once or twice a week at your convenience. But, remember, 24 hours straight.
The 5:2 Diet: This method requires you to eat around 500-600 calories for two days straight and eat as per your routine other remaining five days a week.
Intermittent fasting is beneficial when it comes to losing belly fat. But the key to this fasting is strict discipline. Your fasting with dedication does not mean anything if you eat just anything the other days when you don’t fast. The more disciplined you are, the quicker the results.
31. Keep the record of your food intake
Balance and management is the key to success. Whether it is your money or it is your food. You are now familiar that the food you eat is more or less the most important factor in reducing your belly fat. So knowing what food you eat and what you do not is also a vital step.
Besides, research has shown that people aware of their food intake can control their diet and get result quicker. If you want to see off that hanging belly, you should record your food intake. After all, you become what you eat.
In case you feel clueless about how to start, hold on; the following apps can help you keep a record of your food intake:
- MyFitnessPal
- Fat Secrets
- Lose It!
- Spark People
30. Keep track of your calories
While keeping a calorie intake record might not seem necessary, it is crucial if you are serious about losing belly fat. But why is it essential?
, losing weight and belly fat is possible when your calorie intake exceeds the calorie you burn. On the contrary, knowing the balance and recording the calorie count is not as easy as it sounds.
So what do you have to do? Just learn how to count the calories. And to your ease, numerous smartphone applications will help you keep a record of your calorie balance. Some of the apps you can find online are:
- SparkPeople
- Lose it!
- MyPlate
- FitDay
- MyFitnessPal
- Cron-o-meter
Besides this, these days, plenty of fitness watches to record f the calories you burn are available on the market.
But while you are on the journey, don’t forget that the number of calories you need to intake and burn might differ per individual. The differences may be affected by age, body weight, gender, fitness level, etc.
Conclusion: Stay disciplined and consistent
Whether you start right away or not, you need to remember that belly fats are stubborn, and getting rid of these is not an easy game. But, if you are disciplined, determined, and consistent, the possibility is very high.
So what I suggest now is that, since you know the trick, you should get started. Eat healthily, drink wisely, exercise correctly, and get the body you want. But wait, it is not an overnight thing. You have to go on and do as much as you can.
