Losing Upper Belly Fat – Facts You Should Know

November 20, 2019

People having excessive fat in their body are often upset due to the fat accumulation in the upper abdominal area. Even more disturbing is the fact that exercises do strengthen the muscles in this area, but can’t eliminate fat from there.

The areas where your body prefers to store fat are determined by a mix of factors like lifestyle, genetics and diet.

The good news is that although you can’t reduce fat in your chosen areas, attention can be focused on losing overall fat and exercise can be targeted on upper belly. Weight training, cardio exercise, and weight loss and lifestyle choices can together help reduce upper belly fat. Earth’s Wisdom today wants to introduce readers with the various options.

Upper Belly Fat is Different

Yes, you may not know but fat in your upper belly is different than that in your lower belly. Lower belly fat is a bit more resistant to absorption which means that it’s more difficult to eliminate. However, even upper belly fat can be stubborn.

You Can’t Lose Fat in Your Chosen Area

Don’t be under the misconception that you can lose fat in particular areas. Without losing fat overall, you cannot lose fat from the area you want to lose fat from.

Regardless of how much fat or weight you intend to lose, your plan will be more or less the same i.e. it will contain lifestyle changes, weight training and calorie restriction.

When Should You Try to Lose Upper Belly Fat?

Remember that having some fat on your body is healthy, normal and a human characteristic. But if your BMI (body mass index) is already low, you should try to lose fat. But you should also remember that it may be challenging and take a while.

Diet to Lose Upper Belly Fat

It’s extremely important to consider what you eat when you want to lose weight. For example, your upper belly fat might have been caused by storing water weight by your body. Dehydration, sodium consumption and absence of electrolytes can make your body retain water. Due to this, your stomach and other areas may look swollen. So, you’ll have to reduce salt.

Amount of fiber you eat also affects your belly fat. Due to insufficient intake of fiber, your belly can be pushed outward due to the waste and gases in your digestive tract. So, you’ll have to increase fiber intake.

Also, you’ll have to cut down on processed grains, white starches, sugary foods and soft drinks as these items can meddle with your endocrine system and make fat loss challenging.

Exercise

Although no exercise can help you lose upper belly fat, the following exercises can strengthen and tone your core muscles and improve your posture.

Boat Pose

Sit on the floor and stretch legs in front. Bend knees, lift feet off the floor and extend legs as far as you can. Extend arms too in front or up and hold the pose for a few seconds to start with. Then increase slowly. Repeat 8-10 times.

Russian Twists

Sit on floor with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Tighten abs, keep butt pressed against the floor, lean back making a 45-degree angle with the ground. Tie your hands together in front and twist body to one side, then twist it to the other side. Keep on repeating till you can. Then slowly increase.

Lifestyle Changes

Drink Ample Water

Drinking ample water can speed up fat loss in some people. It also reduces inflammation, hydrates muscles, improves digestion and flushes toxins out.

Manage Stress

Try yoga, mindfulness and deep breathing. They have the added bonus of making weight loss easier.

Although you cannot lose particularly upper belly fat with exercise, you can lose overall fat and thus belly fat too. Try to be realistic, don’t get frustrated and keep trying. You’ll get amazing results!

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