How To Lose Belly Fat: 6 Key Secrets

by eMedExpert staff
Medical references reviewed: August, 2018

"More die in the United States of too much food than of too little."
John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society

While putting on weight has negative effects on the health, abdominal weight gain (visceral fat) is particularly hazardous to health. Since visceral fat is buried deep in the abdomen, it may seem like a difficult target for spot reduction. But this fat is actually quite sensitive to exercise and calorie reduction.

When you are trying to lose weight, you will likely lose more weight from the abdominal area than from other parts of the body.

Why does this happen? Abdominal fat cells are more metabolically and biologically active and have a higher turnover than subcutaneous fat cells.

But what if you exercise and eat right, but you still have a belly fat? Here are several surprising reasons why – and how to fix the problems.

1Whole grains

The study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition4 showed that a calorie-controlled diet rich in whole grains helped reduce excess fat around the waistline in overweight people.

Study participants who ate all whole grains in addition to healthy diet rich in vegetables, fruits, low-fat dairy, fish, and lean meat, lost more weight from the abdominal area than another group that ate the same diet, but with all refined grains.

Eating a diet rich in whole grains while reducing refined carbohydrates changes the glucose and insulin response7 and makes it easier to mobilize fat stores.

When you eat refined foods like white bread, it triggers a series of events, starting with elevated blood sugar levels followed by an increased insulin response, which can cause fat to be deposited more readily. But eating whole grains rich in dietary fiber helps improve insulin sensitivity. This, in turn helps the body more efficiently utilize blood glucose, lowers blood glucose levels, and reduces fat deposition.

2 Monounsaturated fats

A diet rich in monounsaturated fats may help prevent the accumulation of belly fat.

According to a study published in Diabetes Care in July 20072, a diet rich in monounsaturated fats (MUFA) may help reduce abdominal fat better than a carbohydrate rich diet.

When study participants ate a carbohydrate enriched diet, they tended to accumulate fat in the abdomen. When they ate a diet that had more MUFA, abdominal fat concentration decreased, even without exercise.

Monounsaturated fats come from the healthy oils found in plant foods such as olives, nuts, and avocado.

Several health studies demonstrated that monounsaturated fats play an important role in a weight loss diet. Report published in the British Journal of Nutrition3, found that substituting olive oil, a monounsaturated fat, for saturated fat in your diet can translate into a small but significant loss of both body weight and fat mass. And these benefits can be achieved without changing anything else about your diet or increasing your physical activity.

3More stress = more fat

If your everyday life is full of stress, a flatter midsection will continue to elude you. That's because fat in the abdominal area functions differently than fat elsewhere in the body.

Experts do know that high cortisol levels contribute to abnormal accumulation of abdominal fat. The research at the University of California, San Francisco, shows that people with diseases associated with extreme exposure to cortisol (secrete more cortisol in response to stress), such as severe recurrent depression and Cushing's disease have more central fat, regardless of body weight5.

If you want to get rid of the midsection fat, begin by introducing stress-reduction techniques such as meditation, exercise, good night sleep.

4Avoid trans fats

Try to eliminate trans fats from your diet. Foods that are likely to contain trans fats are:

• Stick margarines and shortenings
• Packaged foods
• Bakery products (crackers, cookies, cakes)
• Potato chips, corn chips, popcorn
• Fried fast foods (fried chicken, fried fish, French fries, doughnuts)
• Hamburgers, cheeseburgers
• Desserts

Trans fat has a very powerful association with weight gain – more so than other types of fat. Diets rich in trans fat cause a redistribution of fat tissue into the abdomen and promote weight gain even when the total dietary calories are within normal limits.

Researchers at Wake Forest University found that trans fats increase the amount of fat around the belly1. Trans fats do this not just by adding new fat, but also by moving fat from other areas to the belly. In a 6-year animal experiment computed tomography measurements in selected monkeys showed significant abdominal fat deposits in the monkeys fed trans fats. In humans, that would be enough weight gain to significantly increase risk of diabetes and heart disease.

5"Cigarette belly": want a flat belly - don't smoke

If you press towards a flat belly - don't smoke.

Typically smokers weigh less than non-smokers. This feeds the misconception that smoking makes smokers thin. But there is an increasing evidence that cigarette smoking increases abdominal accumulation of body fat8.

A large population-based study of British men and women6 demonstrated a strong correlation between smoking and increased central fat distribution.

6Aerobic activity & weight lifting

A combination of aerobic exercise and strength training is a proven belly fat fighting formula9. Do some physical activity on a regular basis and avoid sedentary life!

References

• 1.Kavanagh K, Jones KL, Sawyer J, Kelley K, Carr JJ, Wagner JD, Rudel LL. Trans fat diet induces abdominal obesity and changes in insulin sensitivity in monkeys. Obesity. 2007 Jul;15(7):1675-84.
• 2. Walker KZ, O'Dea K. Monounsaturated fat rich diet prevents central body fat distribution and decreases postprandial adiponectin expression induced by a carbohydrate-rich diet in insulin-resistant subjects: response to Paniagua et al. Diabetes Care. 2007 Nov;30(11):e122;
• 3. Piers LS, Walker KZ, Stoney RM, Soares MJ, O’Dea K.Substitution of saturated with monounsaturated fat in a 4-week diet affects body weight and composition of overweight and obese men. Br J Nutr. 2003 Sep;90(3):717-27. PubMed
• 4. Katcher HI, Legro RS, Kunselman AR, Gillies PJ, Demers LM, Bagshaw DM, Kris-Etherton PM. The effects of a whole grain-enriched hypocaloric diet on cardiovascular disease risk factors in men and women with metabolic syndrome. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Jan;87(1):79-90.
• 5. Epel ES, McEwen B, Seeman T, Matthews K, Castellazzo G, Brownell KD, Bell J, Ickovics JR. Stress and body shape: stress-induced cortisol secretion is consistently greater among women with central fat. Psychosom Med. 2000 Sep-Oct;62(5):623-32
• 6. Canoy D, Wareham N, Luben R, Welch A, Bingham S, Day N, Khaw KT. Cigarette smoking and fat distribution in 21,828 British men and women: a population-based study. Obes Res. 2005 Aug;13(8):1466-75. PubMed
• 7. Giacco R, Costabile G, Della Pepa G, et al. A whole-grain cereal-based diet lowers postprandial plasma insulin and triglyceride levels in individuals with metabolic syndrome. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2014 Aug;24(8):837-44. PubMed
• 8. de Oliveira Fontes Gasperin L, Neuberger M, Tichy A, Moshammer H. Cross-sectional association between cigarette smoking and abdominal obesity among Austrian bank employees. BMJ Open. 2014 Jul 29;4(7):e004899. PubMed
• 9. Alberga AS, Prud'homme D, Kenny GP, et al. Effects of aerobic and resistance training on abdominal fat, apolipoproteins and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein in adolescents with obesity: the HEARTY randomized clinical trial. Int J Obes (Lond). 2015 Oct;39(10):1494-500 PubMed

Last updated: February 18, 2016
Created: January 03, 2018