Excess belly fat is a common problem for many women. It is considered as the most dangerous kind of fat, since it greatly increases the risks of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some types of cancer. What’s more, belly fat is heavily influenced by your hormones. That’s why doing rigorous abs workouts and following a healthy diet for weeks on end may not yield the results you are hoping for. If you’re trying to do everything you can to lose belly fat, but are progressing very slowly, check out these seven tips to rid your body of that excessive fat once and for all.

Exercise in bursts

You may be tempted to jump on the treadmill every day, thinking that the more you run, the more fat you burn. But it turns out that running on the treadmill for an hour isn’t only boring, but it doesn’t even help you lose much fat. According to experts, your best shot at losing belly fat is actually interval training, which means incorporating quick sessions of high-intensity workouts into whatever you’re doing, whether it’s squats, lunges, or running. Interval workouts greatly boost your metabolism, allowing your body to burn calories long after you’ve stopped training.

Don’t forget to warm up

One of the most common mistakes you can do before an ab workout is jumping in without warming up. Your core muscles will be harder to activate when the areas around it are still tense, making the workout less effective. So it’s always wise to loosen up by stretching and doing some bending exercises, especially on the middle part of your back.

Drink plenty of water

While you can’t target belly fat in particular by drinking water, you can drink up to help you lose weight overall. Water helps increase the metabolic rate and the functionality of your body’s fat-burning mechanisms, making your workouts and healthy eating habits way more effective. Consuming the recommended eight glasses of water daily will suffice to help your body carry out metabolic processes more efficiently .

Relax

One of the top reasons behind belly fat building is stress. Whenever your body experiences any type of stress, whether it’s physical or mental, it automatically starts producing cortisol – a hormone that can seriously compromise your health and stimulate extra fat storage in your belly. When you’re feeling overwhelmed, try taking long and deep breaths for about five minutes. You’ll start to feel more relaxed, which should reduce the cortisol levels in your body so that it has better balance.

Eat more frequently

That’s right. You might be under the delusion that passing on breakfast or lunch will save calories and help you lose fat more quickly, but this is far from being true. Going for long periods without food will send your body into starvation mode, meaning it starts storing everything you’ve already eaten as fat. Nutritionists recommend that you have a small meal or snack every three hours to keep your body fueled and metabolism high.

Try dark chocolate

While milk chocolates contain very little nutritional value, dark chocolates are packed with monounsaturated fatty acids, antioxidants, and zinc, which helps increase your body’s levels of circulating leptin, a hormone that controls your energy expenditures and fat storages. It digests slowly and help stabilize blood sugar levels, therefore suppressing your appetite and making you feel less hungry. Obviously you’ll need to opt for the ones with low sugar and consume in moderation for optimal results.

When it comes to losing belly fat, it all comes down to maintaining a healthy lifestyle with good eating habits and a thorough exercise routine. If you want to learn how to lose belly fat fast, get in touch with our fitness experts today.