How to get rid of stubborn stomach fat

The resounding question we hear most mums ask us is: how do I get rid of tummy fat?

We all know it… removing stomach fat is hard!

Stomach fat is one of the most stubborn areas of your body to tone up and this can be extremely frustrating! It’s an area of your body that does need hard work and patience to tone, but it can be done (and it’s worth it too).

Can I just focus on stomach fat reduction?

Unfortunately, you can’t ‘spot fat reduce’. In other words, you can’t do abdominal crunches alone and hope your stomach fat will disappear. Due to the various stomach fat causes, body fat is only reduced through a ‘whole body’ fat loss approach where stomach fat is also targeted – unfortunately, it’s often the last place for the fat to go as stomach fat is hard to budge! But never fear – here is some advice to help you beat the belly bulge.

How to approach losing tummy fat

A healthy diet and a targeted stomach fat exercise regime work hand in hand.

Whilst eating healthily will boost your fat loss, it won’t help you to tone up or lose tummy fat. Exercise is key to toning your body and will help produce lean muscle mass, thus the scales may say you’ve stayed the same weight in kilos (muscle is heavier than fat) but visually you will shrink with the help of exercise. Equally, you cannot rely solely on exercise to keep your weight in check – whilst it helps you lose some weight, you will fail to maintain weight loss by exercising alone.

What should a healthy diet look like?

A healthy weight loss diet is usually based on a calorie intake of around 1300-1600 per day, depending on your starting weight, end goal and BMR. Calculate your BMR here

A diet of fewer than 1000 calories per day is a very low-calorie diet and could cause severe weight gain when you start to eat normally again, so doctors only recommend low-calorie diets to individuals who are very overweight or who are under close supervision, to ensure they remain healthy whilst on the diet.

What does a healthy diet include?

Stomach fat burning food should include lots of fruits and vegetables, healthy carbohydrates such as wholemeal pasta, quinoa, brown rice, legumes and sweet potatoes, lean protein such as chicken, beef or game and plenty of low-fat calcium.

You also need to include healthy amounts of fat in your diet, as this helps hormone production and cell renewal. It’s important you keep well hydrated by drinking plenty of
water on a regular basis as part of your stomach fat diet.

Alternatively, you can also follow one of our healthy weight loss diets here, which takes all the hard work out of your diet and exercise plans, to help you lose belly fat quickly.

How to exercise for stomach fat loss

Once you’ve sorted out your diet, you can focus on a stomach fat exercise routine.

The best thing to do is introduce a cardio exercise routine, to help raise your heart rate and improve your overall fitness levels. When your fitness levels are improved, you can then introduce a regime of stomach fat burning workouts.

Now ladies, if your stomach fat is caused by pregnancy, it’s important to not be too harsh on yourself! Whether you’ve given birth vaginally or via caesarean, your stomach muscles are likely to be weakened or damaged, which means it will take time to strengthen them enough to be able to begin toning exercises and it’s critical to wait until you have your Doctor’s clearance before starting stomach exercises.

If you’ve had a caesarean, it’s unlikely you will ever get your pre-pregnancy belly exactly as it was, as your muscles will have been cut to deliver the baby. Scar tissue and stretch marks also play a part in making stomach fat loss more difficult. For more advice on toning your belly after your pregnancy, speak to your midwife or post-natal team.

Remember there is no magic pill for stomach fat removal–a balanced diet and consistent exercise plan will boost your stomach fat loss (breastfeeding also helps some mums too).

For everything, you need to know about how to beat stomach fat click here.

How can The Healthy Mummy help you with stomach fat reduction?

We get it! We’re mums too and understand that losing weight can be tricky with children, especially when you want to reduce tummy fat.

This is why we created our 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge where you can access healthy recipes for weight loss , exercises and food planning tools to shed kilos in just four weeks.

Our supportive community of mums from around Australia are also there in our exclusive online group to motivate you and share stories.

Join over 200,000 mums, just like you, who have lost weight successfully on the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge and discover a healthier you today.

For more information or to join The Healthy Mummy’s 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge, click here.