The 9 Essential Ways of How to Lose Belly Fat Fast : Your Body, Your Health

The first step to fighting belly fat is to understand why your waistline has been increasing, what the health risks are, and why you should fight it.

Getting fat around the mid-section is a universal problem among women, and it’s a lot more serious than most people realize. It usually gets worse when women get older – a drop in estrogen levels causes women to build up more fat around the waist and even around the upper part of the thighs – which means you may just be eating the same amount of calories, but your waistline will still increase. 

Some women don’t even experience any weight gain in other parts of the body, but they’ll notice a steadily increasing waistline. It could also be genetic – some families have women who easily gain weight around the midsection after a certain age or even their whole lives. But whether you’ve only started to gain weight around the belly or you’ve struggled with it since childhood, you’ve probably noticed that belly fat is the most difficult kind of weight gain to get rid of.

The problem with belly fat is that the build-up isn’t just subcutaneous which means right under the skin (the way we gain fat for most of the rest of our body) but it’s also visceral which means that it lies deep within your abdominal cavity, the space where your organs are. In the case of visceral fat, it actually pads the space between your organs. The visceral fat is the heart of the problem when it comes to belly fat – it is very difficult to lose via spot exercising as doing sit-ups. It calls for an overall healthy lifestyle that includes a change in your eating habits, your sleeping habits, and your emotional health. 

To lose the belly fat, you have to start taking care of yourself (which we’ll help you with using detailed steps in the later chapters).

At this point, you might be thinking that weight gain around the waist is possibly normal (since it’s so common among women) and won’t cause you any discomfort other than not fitting in your old jeans. Unfortunately, a large belly has been linked to some serious health issues, including cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. A Harvard study on women’s health has also showed that having the belly fat being so close to a vein (the portal vein, near the intestines)

is dangerous because free fatty acids end up in your bloodstream and in your liver, driving up bad cholesterol and reducing good cholesterol.

Essentially, having a trim and toned stomach can actually be your key to a longer and healthier life. A study by the Mayo Clinic says that your waistline is a better and more accurate way of checking whether you have a weight problem than your BMI or your Body Mass Index, which doesn’t consider your muscle mass and that pesky visceral fat.

At this point, after having a better understanding of what makes up belly fat and why it’s so problematic beyond the aesthetics, we should check whether you’re still in good shape or if you’re starting to face some serious health risks.

Most clinics and universities have determined that a 35 inch waistline and above indicates a much larger risk of related health problems. Take a tape measure and place one end on your belly button then run it around your waist, ending on the spot where it started. If it reads less than 33 inches, you’re still relatively healthy. At 33 inches, you’re approaching the red zone. If it reads 35 inches or more, then you’re already putting a strain on your body and are facing some serious health risks.

Another way of measuring your waistline is by measuring your hips first, including the buttocks, then comparing the number to the measurement you get around your waist. If your waistline is larger than the number you get from your hips, you are also in danger of related health issues.

Now here’s the question that a surprising number of women ask after having all the facts about tummy fat – will liposuction help? 

Will just removing the fat that’s causing the body so many problems do the trick? Unfortunately, it won’t. In 2004, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study where they removed 23 pounds of belly fat in 15 women then monitored their health. After three months, it showed that removing the fat via liposuction didn’t really affect their blood cholesterol, their insulin levels, blood pressure, or blood sugar. Most importantly, liposuction doesn’t reach inside the abdominal wall which means you won’t be getting anywhere

near the visceral fat which is the real problem. A sure and steady approach, like the one that we’ve put together in this book, is more effective in triggering positive health changes and a longer lasting, trim belly.

With a better understanding of how much belly fat build-up is considered dangerous and why large deposits of 

belly fat is so problematic, you will also have a better understanding of our approach and why it will give you longer lasting positive results, both in terms of looking great and being healthy! By knowing what you’re up against, you’ll be equipped to deal with the problem head on and to stick to the goal of getting a tone and trim waistline and a body that you can be comfortable with.

This is an excerpt from the book: The 9 Essential Ways of How to Lose Belly Fat Fast