How to Lose Visceral Fat
This is a guest post by Kalvin C. Chinyere, M.D. of Dr. Kal’s Weight Loss Tips. I enjoyed reading the post about preventing visceral fat gain here on Lose That Tyre tremendously. On every weight loss blog the authors discuss weight reduction, but rarely do they ever address waist reduction, which is far more important. Waist reduction is more important than weight reduction because the most dangerous type of fat you have is the fat around your abdomen or your “stomach”. This fat goes by many names including belly fat, intra-abdominal fat, abdominal fat, and omental fat. However, the most accurate name is visceral fat. Visceral fat has many ill effects on the human body. These ill effects include predisposing you to many chronic diseases including obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, the metabolic syndrome, coronary artery disease, stroke, hypertension, sleep apnea, and various types of cancer.
Lose Visceral Fat
Waist reduction and losing visceral fat are possible, but there is no magic bullet. You must create a comprehensive plan to achieve your goals. To lose visceral fat, you must:
- Eat fewer unhealthy foods,
- Move more,
- Stress less, and
- Sleep more
Eat Fewer Unhealthy Foods
We gain visceral fat by eating too many unhealthy foods. So, we must do the opposite to lose it. To lose visceral fat, stay away from unhealthy carbohydrates. “Bad” carbs are your white foods: white bread, white rice, white potatoes, white flour, white sugar, white pasta, high fructose corn syrup, other syrups, and other sugars. Replace those with “good” carbs, such as vegetables, beans, fruits, and whole grains.
Move More
A sedentary lifestyle encourages visceral fat accumulation. As you become more active, you will burn the belly fat away.
- Get a pedometer and work your way up to 10,000 steps a day everyday.
- Do at least a total of one hour of strength training every week.
- Do at least a total of one hour of aerobic exercise every week.
Stress Less
Stress is a normal part of everyone’s life. But, too much stress can be bad for your health. Don’t sweat the small stuff and remember that it is all small stuff. Eliminating stress will keep your hormones balanced, stabilize your blood sugar, decrease your hunger, and get rid of your gut.
Sleep More
We spend more time sleeping than we spend doing any other activity. However, most of us do not realize how important our snoozing hours are to our overall health. Sleep at least 7 hours each and every night. This will also keep your hormones balanced, stabilize your blood sugar, decrease your hunger, and get rid of your gut.
Visceral Fat Loss
To lose visceral fat and keep it off, you must change all aspects of your lifestyle. You must eat healthier foods, exercise more often, decrease the amount of stress in your life, and get an adequate amount of sleep. However, these changes do not need to be made overnight. You should make small changes and incorporate them into your life slowly. Large lifestyle changes lead to fast temporary weight loss. Small lifestyle changes lead to slow permanent weight loss. You choose. Learn more about visceral fat at my site, Dr. Kal’s Weight Loss Tips. Photo by malias
