Best Way to Lose Belly Fat for Women.
If you are a woman and want a flat tummy and you’ve tried everything but nothing works, we have the answer for you in this post.
Although a healthy diet and exercising are essential for a flat tummy, for women, losing belly fat includes one more factor; hormones.
The best way to lose belly fat for women is to balance their hormones, insulin, estrogen, and cortisol. Insulin resistance and high cortisol levels create an imbalance in hormones like estrogen, and hormonal imbalance often leads to belly fat gain.
So how do you balance your hormones? By getting rid of insulin resistance and lowering your cortisol levels.
This post lists the best ways to get your hormones in check and start losing that belly fat quickly and permanently. Continue reading to find out!
Which hormones do you need to balance to lose belly fat?
If you have a lot of belly fat, you may likely be insulin resistant.
Insulin
Insulin is the hormone responsible for transporting sugar from the blood into cells. If your insulin response stops working correctly due to overstimulation, your body becomes insulin resistant.
Eating lots of carbohydrates and sugar often leads to insulin resistance.
Insulin resistance is the main reason other hormones are out of balance.
The key to balancing hormones in a female body is lowering insulin levels and getting rid of insulin resistance.
Cortisol
Cortisol is the body’s stress hormone.
In small amounts, cortisol is helpful. However, cortisol gets triggered by high-stress situations, lack of sleep, anxiety, and other negative emotions.
Increased cortisol levels can lead to belly fat gain, especially in individuals with insulin resistance.
Estrogen
Estrogen is the female hormone, which is healthy and helpful in average amounts.
However, in women, if the estrogen levels are too high and out of balance, they can cause fat storage, and it is mainly around the belly region.
The higher the estrogen, the more fat accumulation. Too much estrogen causes a condition called estrogen dominance.
To learn more about Estrogen Dominance, click here.
Best ways to balance your hormones and lose belly fat:
Ketogenic Diet:
A ketogenic diet is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate, and moderate-protein diet.
Studies have shown that keto can lower insulin levels and cure insulin resistance.
Keto pushes your body into a state of ketosis; in ketosis, the body switches its primary fuel source from sugar to fat, resulting in significant fat loss.
Ketosis allows your body to tap into its fat storage and burn them off, including belly fat.
Intermittent Fasting:
Intermittent fasting involves cycling between periods of fasting and eating.
The most common intermittent fasting method is the 16:8, in which you fast for 16 hours and eat during an 8-hour window.
Numerous studies have shown intermittent fasting to be effective in lowering insulin levels, improving insulin resistance, and getting rid of belly fat.
In addition, fasting prevents the body from storing excess fat.
Get Enough Sleep
Lack of sleep can lead to increased cortisol levels.
Studies have shown that getting enough sleep can help decrease cortisol levels.
Furthermore, sleep deprivation has been shown to increase ghrelin, a hormone that promotes hunger.
Therefore, getting a good night’s sleep can lower cortisol levels, prevent belly fat storage, and lower your cravings and hunger for junk food.
to learn how you can create a great nightly routine for better sleep click here.
Meditation
Have you heard of “stress eating”?
When stressed, the body produces cortisol, which tells the brain to crave sugary foods and carbohydrates.
Sugar and carbs trigger the body’s dopamine response, which is the reward system, and make you feel good, temporarily.
Recent studies have shown that meditation can help to decrease cortisol.
In one study, participants who meditated for 20 minutes a day for eight weeks had significantly lower cortisol levels than those who didn’t meditate.
In another study, people who meditated for 30 minutes a day for three months lost more belly fat than those who didn’t meditate.
These studies suggest that meditation can be an effective tool for managing stress and preventing weight gain.
HIIT
High-intensity interval training is an exercise routine that alternates between short bursts of intense activity and rest periods.
Studies have indicated that practicing HIIT 2-3 times per week can be an effective way to burn fat, especially belly fat!
To learn the best 7 tips for weight loss click here.
Takeaway:
If you are a woman who is trying to lose your belly and get a flat tummy and nothing has worked so far, try the tips and tricks we provided you in this post! Combining a ketogenic diet with intermittent fasting is powerful for losing belly fat. Add two or three high-intensity interval training sessions to your weekly routine, get plenty of sleep, and meditate daily. You will see the belly fat melt away in no time. Thank you for reading!
References
Moyer AE, Rodin J, Grilo CM, Cummings N, Larson LM, Rebuffé-Scrive M. Stress-induced cortisol response and fat distribution in women. Obes Res. 1994 May;2(3):255-62. doi: 10.1002/j.1550-8528.1994.tb00055.x. PMID: 16353426.
Jackson SE, Kirschbaum C, Steptoe A. Hair cortisol and adiposity in a population-based sample of 2,527 men and women aged 54 to 87 years. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2017 Mar;25(3):539-544. doi: 10.1002/oby.21733. PMID: 28229550; PMCID: PMC5324577.
Taheri S, Lin L, Austin D, Young T, Mignot E. Short sleep duration is associated with reduced leptin, elevated ghrelin, and increased body mass index. PLoS Med. 2004;1(3):e62. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0010062
