If you’ve about given up on losing weight and eliminating that roll around your waist, it’s time to find a new strategy. You can get rid of stubborn fat, but it will mean rethinking your previous strategy. Start with healthy eating. Healthy eating isn’t dieting. In fact, dieting may be one of the reasons you’re packing on the pounds. Some people starve themselves for days on end, only to go back to eating normally and regain not only the weight they lost, but also extra pounds. The second time shedding weight is more difficult. That’s because your body now clings to the calories and slows metabolism. Eating healthy means eating more, while getting more nutrients and fewer calories.
Stubborn fat is different from regular fat.
You may work out regularly, but still find that stubborn roll of fat around your middle that simply won’t disappear. That’s because the fat burns slower. If your body is going to burn fat, it needs biochemicals called catecholamines. These biochemicals are created and released to the blood where they latch on to the receptors in the fat cells. That sets in motion the process of releasing the energy stored in the cells. Cells have two type of receptors for the catecholamines to attach. One is the alpha-receptor and the other the beta-receptor. Stubborn fat has alpha-receptors that slow the breakdown of fat, while fat that comes off quickly has beta-receptors.
Train in a fasted state.
People who workout the first thing in the morning, while their body is in a fasting state, tend to get more results than people who workout after they’ve eaten. That’s because the fasted state means you’ve burned off the calories of the previous meal and it’s time to burn the fat stores. It also means that your fasted state, the blood flow to the abdomen—one place where stubborn fat often lingers—is greater. That helps to burn those fat cells quicker. Of course, you still have to eat healthy, which includes eating fewer calories than you burn.
Include adequate protein in your diet when you’re trying to lose that stubborn fat.
There’s a number of reasons extra protein helps burn the fat and also should be boosted in your effort to lose those stubborn fat cells. Extra protein helps prevent losing muscle tissue. That’s important. Muscle tissue requires more calories for maintenance than fat tissue does, so the more you have, the higher your metabolism. That increases your energy expenditure, while also helping you repair muscles after a workout and recover. It also keeps you fuller longer.
- Strength—resistence—training helps burn calories fast and can help you shed pounds quicker. It builds or preserves muscle tissue and burns fat cells.
- High Intensity Interval Training also burns calories and is especially good for fat loss when combined with a healthy diet.
- Drink a cup of coffee before you workout. Caffeine not only boosts your performance, it speeds the process of burning fat.
- If your stubborn fat is abdominal fat, eliminate stress. Cortisol, one of the hormones, is associated with the creation of abdominal fat. Of course, living a stress free life may be impossible, so burning off the hormones created by stress is the next best thing to do.