Cutting a few inches off your midsection has more benefits than enhancing your appearance. It can also help you live longer. Losing belly fat improves blood sugar levels and provides a good night’s sleep. It also maintains a healthy liver, improves blood vessel functioning, and significantly reduces the risk of cancer. Protruding tummies generate a sense of insecurity and are linked to a higher risk of diabetes, arthritis, and various heart diseases.
A fitness coach pays special attention to the dangerous layer of visceral fat as it heightens health risks. Hence, maintaining your midsection should be seen as a priority for its health benefits rather than emphasising the visual benefits. Let us have a look at some dos and don’ts of maintaining a flat belly:
Dos
- Keep a check on food habits
It is rightfully said that abs are made in the kitchen. Excessive workouts and fad diets will do no good unless you check what enters your body and what amount. Keeping yourself hydrated is another key factor, along with maintaining a healthy balanced diet.
- Intermittent fasting
Intermittent fasting is another suitable method to reduce the overall fat composition of the body, thereby maintaining the waistline. Fasting for about 15-18 hours over scheduled intervals will burn fat as eating fewer calories deprives the body of an immediate energy source. Thus, the body switches to fat burning to meet energy needs.
- Professional guidance
Each body is unique, and so are its requirements for maintaining a specific lifestyle. While some might experience issues with hormones or deficiencies of essential nutrients, others may be victims of stressful work environments. It is essential to cater to your needs, which can be fittingly done through the guidance of a fitness coach.
Don’ts
- Sedentary lifestyle
Not including enough mobility in your daily life will lead to a protruding belly and invite all the hazards associated with it. Research has indicated that an obese person sits on average two hours more in a day than a healthy person. Hence, not including enough physical exercise in your daily schedule is the gravest mistake you can make in your flat belly journey.
- Fad diets
Fad diets are popular because they show desirable results but are usually short-lived. While they help lose a decent amount of weight initially, the restrictions they impose are unrealistic to maintain, and this eventually leads to their failure.
- Inconsistency
Often, people deprive themselves of their favourite food for so long that they binge eat. Due to this, all the efforts put into losing fat go down the drain. Hence, it is essential to avoid inconsistency to gain positive results in the long run.
