Bye bye belly fat

Skip the fad diets and instead identify the main cause behind those extra kilos.
For representational purpose.
For representational purpose.

Of late, we have seen many clients who desperately want to lose weight—particularly their ‘belt fat’. This often leads to fad diets, unnecessary fasting, low carb consumption, extensive workouts, and what not. But it is very important to identify the reason behind why it is difficult to lose that stubborn belly fat. It may not be related to your food or activity and sometimes, it could be related to lack of sleep, insulin resistance or high sugar levels, hormonal imbalance, inflammation, gut issues, stress, etc. Find out the root cause in your case and work on that rather than following fad diets. It is very important to have realistic goals because many people who come to us have had stubborn belly fat for years but they want to get rid of it in a few weeks or months. Always check if the fat accumulation has happened over years, because even if you start exercising following a healthy meal pattern, your body will take time to settle into a new routine and progress slowly.

As I mentioned, it is very important to identify the reason why the body holds on to belly fat—this could be due to a medical condition as well. Get your thyroid levels checked, check for Polycystic Ovarian Disease (PCOD), insulin resistance, sugar levels, or any other hormonal imbalance, etc. Insulin is a hormone that helps sugar uptake into a cell, but if the cells are resistant to insulin then sugar levels can drastically increase and that is where one has more body fat accumulation especially in the belly area. Hormones play a huge role in belly fat and women who are highly stressed may have hormonal imbalances and high estrogen levels, which will allow the body to accumulate fat in abdominal area. Men with low testosterone levels can have more belly fat as testosterone helps in maintaining lean muscle mass. So this is how hormonal imbalance and lack of cell communication causes belly fat accumulation. Let us look at a few lifestyle changes that you can start right away:

Stop overeating: If we like a particular dish, we tend to overeat. However, we have to understand that even the good stuff, when overdone, gets stored in the body as fats. Slow down and chew your food properly; this technique will help in reducing your portion size and managing calorie intake

Proteins: Many Indians majorly have snacks which are never balanced in protein, particularly for vegetarians. It is important that our meals and snacks are balanced with proteins, carbs, and fats, wherein the protein helps in fat burning and enhances satiation. For vegetarians, cereals lack one amino acid called lysine (and contain methionine) whereas pulses lack methionine (and contain lysine). Only when we combine pulses and grains together can we get complete protein. Incomplete protein will neither support growth nor allow maintenance of body tissues or support weight loss.

Add fats: Fats are important for production of certain hormones, but people stop eating fats thinking these are bad for the body. This leads to further hormonal imbalance. Going completely fat-free or opting for oil-less cooking can cause more weight and health problems, brain problems, immunity concerns, ageing skin, hair issues, etc. Having good quality fats in moderation is important to improve the body’s function. Bad fats like refined oils, fried and junk should be avoided.

Sleep: With sleep, we actually detoxify, heal, repair, and even reduce weight or fat. Fat burning is directly connected to one’s quality of sleep.

Exercise: Doing simple exercises consistently can lead to fat loss. Constant exercise can increase inflammation, cortisol, estrogen levels, and you end up losing weight everywhere else except from your belly. Rest, as this is very important for recovery. Get up every hour to move, stretch, touch the toes etc., to improve the metabolism.

Chronic stress: High stress can trigger high cortisol levels, high estrogen levels, and then you cannot lose belly fat. When we are chronically stressed, we tend to choose fried, sweet foods, and eat more sugar etc., which affects metabolism. We give up on our sleep due to overthinking. No sleep means the body will feel lethargic, so no activity as well, which then puts you in a vicious cycle. Break this pattern with the help of deep breathing, meditation, Pranayama, and Yoga to feel better gradually.

Deepika Rathod
Chief Nutrition Officer, Luke Coutinho Holistic Healing Systems. The writer is a clinical nutritionist with a focus on healthy lifestyle choices.

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