7 Reasons Why You Don’t Lose Belly Fat

If you’re one of the many seniors who retain belly fat, you’re at higher risk for disease than those who retain weight at the hips. Where you carry your body weight is key to your health. Although it’s sometimes hard to lose belly fat, you can do it with these seven belly fat tips.

It seems I see this shape everywhere I turn. For seniors, this is alarming. It’s not just beer drinkers who carry a paunch.

Why You Should Lose Belly Fat

According to an article on the MSN health and fitness site, the issue isn’t only losing weight, but rather reducing the invisible fat found around the middle of the body, called visceral fat.

There are two kinds of fat in the body, subcutaneous fat (under the skin) and visceral fat which surrounds the organs like liver and kidneys. Because fat is a repository for toxins, that’s the kind that is dangerous.

Risks of disease rise with more belly fat, including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, dementia and cancer.

How to Calculate Belly Fat with Waist-to-Hip Ratio

Here’s how to calculate your approximate belly fat: measure your waist circumference (between your hips and rib cage). Divide it by the circumference of your hips at their widest point. For men, the ratio should be no higher than 0.90, for women, no higher than 0.83.

Other medical sites say for women a measurement of 35 inches or more indicates an unhealthy amount of belly fat. For men, a measurement of 40 inches or more indicates an unhealthy measure.

7 Reasons You Don’t Lose Belly Fat

1. You don’t exercise enough. “Exercise disproportionately targets visceral fat,” Gary R. Hunter, a professor of human studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told the New York Times in 2015. Sedentary women who began a moderate exercise regimen lost 10 percent of their visceral fat another program.
2. You’re eating too many processed foods, sugar, alcohol, and high carbs. It’s better to eat natural foods like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, full of antioxidants with anti-inflammatory properties that prevent belly fat,
3. You’re eating too much, too often. Try going 5-6 hours between meals. Even better, stop eating in the evening after 6 or 7, and don’t eat anything for 12-14 hours until breakfast. This gives your cells time to cleans out toxins and avoid mitochondrial dysfunction.
4. You’re sitting too much. Sedentary habits like watching TV and computer screens lead to storage of fat. You need to move more and move more often.
5. You’re stressed out and emotionally reactive. Stress triggers the hormone cortisol. When stressed, you tend to reach for high-fat, high-calorie fare. The stress hormone cortisol may increase the amount of fat your body clings to and enlarge your fat cells.
6. You skimp on sleep. If you’re not getting 7-8 hours of sleep nightly, find out what you can do about.
7. You’re not motivated. When you are tired, malnourished or overfed, you may be experiencing hormonal imbalances that lead to faulty energy. It’s hard to do anything when your cells aren’t functioning well. See a doctor and get some lab tests.

Reducing belly fat isn’t complicated. But you do have to apply some discipline to diet and exercise. Seniors who struggle to lose belly fat should use at least two approaches: a low-calorie diet high in fiber and low in carbohydrates and sugar along with cardiovascular and weight training,

Okay, now you know, let’s get out there and do it!