How To Get Rid Of My Lower Back Fat And My Muffin Top
- Well, thats not precisely true.
- Discover the truth about the myth of spot reduction, as well as the proper strategy to weight loss, in the following article.
Tip
When it comes to weight reduction, you cant target several portions of your body at the same time. In order to lose weight from your back and stomach, you must adopt a holistic approach to fitness and weight reduction that includes regular exercise and a nutritious diet.
What Is The Best Exercise To Lose Belly Fat
Before you ask about the best exercises for a flat stomach, let’s get clear on why crunches and sit-ups alone not going to be the thing to help you lose belly fat. ‘While crunches will help strengthen your abdominals and core muscles, theyre not enough in isolation to burn calories,’ Luke Hughes, Origym PT says.
Instead, Hughes recommends a rounded bodyweight or free weights workout routine done at a higher intensity as the best exercise to lose belly fat. These sessions will help to burn calories and increase muscle mass, which will, in turn, tap into your body fat stores even within a limited time period.
Do note though, too much HIIT can elevate cortisol in your body, which could hinder how effectively you lose stomach fat . Aim for three to four sessions per week and make sure you’re allowing your body plenty of time and space to recover.
‘Burning calories through cardio exercise like this helps to burn belly fat, particularly when we operate at a calorie deficit,’ says Hughes. ‘Try adding star jumps and mountain climbers into your workouts.’
Youre Missing The Mark
Your back is made up of four main muscles, the upper consists of the rhomboids and trapezius, the middle is the lattissimus dorsi, and the lower is the erector spinae. Spot reducing is not possible, so its important to focus on muscles that also surround your back so you are well rounded and proportioned.
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Do A Lot Of Heavy Compound Weightlifting
Most guides on how to get rid of lower back fat recommend you do specific lower back fat exercises.
This is wrongheaded because you cant spot reduce fat.
Research shows that exercising a muscle group increases blood flow and lipolysis in the area, but not enough to noticeably reduce surrounding fat stores.
What you can do, though, is reduce your body fat percentage.
That is, you can reduce the total amount of fat youre carrying around, and this will inevitably cut into the fat thats clinging to your lower back.
And the best exercises for reducing your body fat percentage are compound exercises.
If you want to maximize the fat-burning effects of weightlifting . . .
- Train three-to-five times per week.
- Focus on doing compound exercises such as the squat, deadlift, and bench, and overhead press.
- Lift weights that are 75-to-85% of your one-rep max .
- Strive to add weight or reps to every exercise in every workout .
Getting Rid Of Belly Fat With Exercise
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Belly Fat And Back Pain
How does belly fat affect back pain?
Belly fat kills as you may already know.
Studies have shown that belly fat can affect spine degeneration.
Belly fat secretes a chemical known as adipokines, which causes your spine to deteriorate.
Moreover, there are numerous cases where lower back pain is prevalent in overweight individuals.
In recent years, there has been strong evidence suggesting that if the nutritional supply of the end plate is altered by targeting its microcirculation, the risk of developing intervertebral disk degeneration increases. Studies have noted that altered metabolism may affect the normal integrity of the disk by affecting proteoglycan synthesis, thereby contributing to degenerative changes
Hidden Hormones That Cause Belly Fat
Believe it or not, your hormones may be sabotaging you as they cause you to store more stubborn belly fat.
This found hormones play a role in where your body stores fat.
Your hormones can very well be the hidden underlying cause why you have stubborn lower belly fat and arent able to get rid of it.
Leptin
Leptin is known as the anti-starvation hormone.
It controls a number of different metabolic processes in your body that can enhance fat loss.
The leptin in your body comes from your fat cells. So the less fat you have on your body the less leptin youre going to have.
As you begin cutting your calories your leptin levels will also naturally go down.
And when your leptin levels drop too far they will also begin to slow down your metabolism.
This is because your body doesnt want to starve to death. So it will slow down your metabolism in order to keep its energy preserves last longer.
This is one of the reasons why having a cheat meal can be a good idea. It can help to replenish these leptin levels so you can keep burning fat optimally.
Insulin
Insulin is produced in your pancreas and helps to transport nutrients from the foods you eat into the cells of your body.
Insulin can slow down the rate of your fat loss too.
It does this by slowing down the mobilization of fatty acids after they are released from your fat cells.
This is one of the reasons why its so important to limit your sugar and refined carb intake.
Ghrelin
Ghrelin is also known as the hunger hormone.
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What Is The Best Diet To Lose Belly Fat
You can’t out-exercise a bad diet. Fact. To lose belly fat , you need to be in a calorie deficit.
‘When it comes to knowing how to lose belly fat, the best way to start is to watch what you eat,’ Belalij says. ‘When you digest large amounts of calories, your body allocates some of these to functional systems which work to keep you alive ,’ says Belalij. ‘It also uses it to fill up energy stores. Any excess is then stored in fat cells around the body typically being those of the belly.’
But like we’ve said, learning how to get rid of belly fat shouldn’t come at the expense of your health, so you want to make sure you’re not cutting back too much. To calculate your ideal calorie deficit, check out our handy guide below. It’ll help you work out how many calories you need to eat a day to hit your goals, without going too far.
Worried about the price of healthy eating? Stock up on cheap healthy snacks. By having healthier food in the house you’re less likely to face-plant the sugary stuff when hunger strikes.
Consume A Combo Of Calcium And Vitamin D
Say cheese! Adding some extra calcium and vitamin D to your diet could be the best way to get the flat stomach you’ve been dreaming about. Over just 12 months, researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville found that obese female study subjects who upped their calcium intake shed 11 pounds of body fat without other major dietary modifications. To keep your calcium choices healthy, try mixing it up between dairy sources, calcium-rich leafy greens, fatty fish, nuts, and seeds.
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What Causes Lower Back Fat
Some people believe that they have a genetic predisposition to storing fat on their lower back, and this is sometimes true.
Having high levels of testosterone causes fat cells to accumulate around your midsection and prevents fat cells accumulating around your butt and thighs, while having high levels of estrogen has the opposite effect.
This means that people with high levels of testosterone or low levels of estrogen are more likely to store fat around their waist and lower back.
However, the only way to gain fat in any area of your body is to eat more calories than you burn .
In other words, it doesnt matter whether you have high testosterone, low estrogen, or any other hormonal imbalancefat stores cant be increased without the provision of excess energy . .
You cant get fatter unless you feed your body more energy than it burns.
This is the immutable mechanism of fat storage that never changes, regardless of whats going on with your hormones.
Your Hormones Are Out Of Whack
Did you know hormones play a role in fat distribution? “A reduction in estrogen for women and testosterone for men, particularly as we age, can trigger the redistribution of fat to the stomach,” Clarissa explains.
Additionally, certain hormonal imbalances such as PCOS can increase the risk of insulin resistance which can lead to an increased production of fat cells. Eating a diet that is high in refined carbohydrates, sugars and alcohol can increase our insulin levels which promotes fat storage, increase the risk of fatty liver, all resulting in a higher incidence of weight gain around the stomach. If you are concerned about hormonal imbalances, book an appointment to speak to your GP.
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Can Targeted Exercises Get Rid Of Your Lower Belly Fat
Most trainers out there will be quick to tell you spot reduction a.k.a. targeted exercises are a total myth.
The truth is you can tone the area and encourage fat loss to it with the right kind of exercise.
A study by the American Journal Of Physiology Endocrinology and Metabolism found the breakdown of fat tissue is greatest next to working muscles.
The problem is that this fat loss was very small.
The best thing you can do to target your belly fat with exercise is to combine High-Intensity Interval Training workouts and specifically targeted exercises for your abs.
For my list of the 10 best lower ab exercises check out my other blog post.
Hormonal issues could also be causing you to store and keep that stubborn lower belly fat.
Cortisol promotes belly fat storage making it near impossible to lose. Being able to reduce these belly fat storing hormones will be critical to getting rid of it.
The hunger hormone ghrelin will make you want to eat more by increasing your appetite.
Well get into how to optimize your hormones to target lose your lower belly fat later.
The Fat That Makes Up Your Muffin Top And Belly
Because it is more metabolically active than subcutaneous fat, visceral fat responds to weight-loss attempts more quickly than subcutaneous fat.Subcutaneous fat is notoriously difficult to lose, so you may notice a reduction in the size of your stomach quite quickly, but your muffin top or pinchable fat on your abs will likely remain for a longer period of time.
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Exercise And Strength Training
Exercises that increase your heart rate and make you sweat help you lose weight in general both visceral fat and the fat under your skin. Aerobic exercise burns overall calories and helps you reduce total body fat, especially if you make changes in your diet at the same time.
Dr. Creel says the key to losing visceral fat seems to lie in a combination approach. He suggests building a cardio routine of at least 150 minutes per week while adding two to three days per week of whole-body strength training.
Any added muscle will increase our calorie burn at rest, whereas cardiovascular exercise will give our metabolism a boost during and for a short time after exercise, Dr. Creel explains. Exercise may also have indirect positive benefits on weight by helping us sleep better and manage emotional eating.
Work Out In The Morning
Do you wonder if there is any benefit to working out at a certain time of day? It turns out, you might get rid of lower belly fat faster if you work out in the morning.
Getting your work out first thing before you eat a meal can increase calories burned by fat. There are also other benefits:
- Improved glucose tolerance
- Being more alert and awake during the day
- The ability to focus better
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How Long Does It Take To Lose Muffin Top
Your muffin top didnt appear overnight, so you shouldnt expect to lose it immediately. To gain that weight, you likely ate more calories than your body burned for a few months or a few years. To lose the belly, youll have to create a caloric deficit, meaning you take in fewer calories than you burn each day.
Why Does Fat Gather Around The Lower Back
We often blame genetics for excess weight, and there is truth to this claim. Back fat, however, Is due to poor diets and workout regimens. According to experts like personal trainer Ngo Okafor, people have sagging chests, abs, and quads, and take care of them.
However, they forget the lower back muscles, which tend to sag. Fat in the lower back is a common grouse, and explain the many fad diets on the market. None of them is a miracle formula, so we must fight it with exercise.
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How Do I Lose Belly Fat Fast
Right, by “fast”, we’re going to have to assume you are looking for answers to how to lose belly fat efficiently and safely. That’s the only way we know how to do things at WH and the only way we plan on doing things, too.
One way to make sure you’re as dialled into your belly fat loss journey as possible is to get more granular with your nutrition. Now, ifyou’re already familiar with counting calories, listen up this is how to fine-tune your fat loss efforts to focus on how to lose belly fat in particular. It’s known as learning how to count and calculate your macros.
“Counting macros” is a diet technique to make sure you’re eating the right amounts of each macronutrient protein, fat and carbohydrates. By tweaking the volume of each you can make your fat loss efforts more efficient.
How? Well, each macronutrient plays a different role in keeping our bodies ticking over. In broad strokes: protein helps to build and maintain muscle tissue, carbohydrates provide fast and slow-release energy and healthy fats support hormone function.
Tweaking the volumes you eat can help build muscle and lose body fat more efficiently, as well as allowing you to re-incorporate some of your favourite foods. Because you’re looking at what makes up what you eat, foods that are less nutrient-dense can be incorporated . All you’ll need to do is work out how that impacts the rest of your day.
Do What You Can To Reduce Stress Levels
“If you are working out consistently, eating healthy and still not losing the belly fat, I suggest having your hormones checked,” Tucker suggests. “Too much cortisol can be a result of adrenal fatigue and can cause weight gain and bloat around the lower belly.”
If the belly fat is the result of a hormone imbalance, you’ll also want to prioritize adding stress reduction activities into your day. “Try incorporating a daily meditation practice or yin yoga and limiting time on devices to reduce stress and calm your nervous system”.
- How can I flatten my lower stomach in a week?
For those looking to decrease their body fat percentage, the American Council of Exercise recommends losing no more than 1 percent of your body fat per month.
If you have minimal body fat, trainer Anna Victoria told us that you can expect to see some improvements if you reduce bloating. You can do this by eating whole, natural foods. In this situation, you’ll likely see an increase in definitionbut not exactly shredded abs.
- What is the cause of lower stomach fat?
As stated above, hormones, fitness level, diet, and stress all play a part in lower belly fat. Additionally, genetics and heredity are a factorsome people simply store more fat in their stomachs than others, regardless of diet and lifestyle.
Boutcher SH. High-intensity intermittent exercise and fat loss. J Obes. 2011 2011:868305.
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