Energy imbalance. The most obvious reason for belly fat is that you are eating more calories than your body can use. The fight against belly fat is 80% healthy eating. Cut calories and eat quality protein-rich foods, fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products. Replace unhealthy snacks with healthy ones, such as apple and peanut butter instead of chips and dipping sauce.
Lack of activity
As overeating goes hand in hand with a sedentary lifestyle, abdominal obesity is becoming more common. Be active! Enough at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise five days a week. In addition, strength training also benefits. They speed up your metabolism and help you burn more fat throughout the day.
Genes
Genes also affect how fat is distributed in the body. For example, who are you – an apple or a pear. Pears tend to accumulate fat in the thighs and hips, while apples tend to accumulate fat in the middle part of the body.
Hormones
There are over 50 hormones in the human body that control mood, satiety, blood cell production, endurance, muscle growth, and more. For example, cortisol levels largely depend on whether a person is hungry or full, whether they exercise, how long or hard they exercise, whether they sleep or stay awake. When hormones are balanced, cortisol can help you use fat for energy. Otherwise, it may contribute to the deposition of fat. In addition to cortisol, insulin is also important. Constantly high insulin levels prevent the use of fats as an energy source.
Stress
Stress also affects cortisol. Heavy workloads and stress at work can increase cortisol levels. This causes the liver to produce excess amounts of sugar that the body does not need. As a result, people become hungrier and eat more. Often these calories go straight to the waist. And cortisol is called not only a stress hormone.
Insulin
If the body stores more fat in the abdomen than in the thighs, the cells are more likely to be resistant to insulin, increasing the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attack, stroke, and premature death. When the body stores more fat in the abdomen, more of it accumulates in the liver, preventing it from functioning properly to remove insulin from the bloodstream when it has done its job of distributing sugar to the cells. Excess insulin signals the brain to eat more.
Flatulence
A distended abdomen bulges and tightens. This can lead to abdominal pain and rumbling when passing gases. Flatulence and gas is a very common reaction to food eaten. Bloating is caused by swallowing air (chewing gum, carbonated drinks and hard sweets), constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, lactose intolerance, difficulty digesting certain foods, overeating or eating too quickly.
Gluten intolerance
Gluten intolerance or allergies also lead to bloating because the intestines cannot digest gluten. In celiac disease, the lining of the small intestine is completely damaged, if a strict diet is not followed, chronic diarrhea develops, which can lead to excessive weight loss. This is an autoimmune disease that is diagnosed for medical reasons.
Lack of sleep
When you’re tired, your body produces more ghrelin, a hormone that causes cravings for sugary and fatty foods. Lack of sleep can alter the production and balance of hormones, affecting levels of cortisol and insulin, the hormones most associated with developing belly fat. You must provide your body with at least seven hours of sleep.
Wrong workouts
Simply doing abdominal exercises will not give you a toned belly. The fat will stay there until the overall fat burning takes place. Strength training does increase and strengthen muscles in a specific area, but you don’t get to choose where the fat goes. Your body controls how much fat it uses. However, a balanced diet and exercise program that includes strength training to gradually lose weight and tone the body will help achieve the desired result.
