How To Get Rid Of Stomach Overhang
Stomach overhang comes in many names some that sound good while others are a bit more on the mean side of the scale. Belly fat is a common occurrence in most of us nowadays. It is a source of shame for many people and you understand why. We all want that flat tummy. Six packs at this time can even be considered a luxury. You can either sit down in your shame or do something about it. Here are some tips on how to get rid of stomach overhang.
Getting rid of stomach overhang is not that easy. This is because first of foremost, you cannot tell your body where to lose weight. To lose belly fat, you may be forced to reduce your overall weight altogether. However, that does not mean that shrinking your belly is out of the realms of possibility. Keep on reading to find out how you can make your stomach overhang disappear without going to extremes or wreaking havoc on your health.
What Causes Stomach Overhang?
Before we can go giving expert tips on how to lose belly overhang, we must, first of all, know what causes it. This will help prevent regaining that extra tummy fat in the future. Some causes of belly fat are very common and well known, while others are not so common. Here are some of the things that make you grow a belly pooch:
Poor Diet
This comes as no surprise to many people. Poor diet is actually the most common cause of belly fat. What does a poor diet entail you may ask? A poor diet involves eating a lot of junk foods, fast foods, highly processed foods, skimping on vegetables and fruits. Some of the well-known unhealthy foods are pizza, hamburgers, sugary drinks, french fries and potato chips, ice cream, candy bars, processed meat, processed cheese, high-calorie coffee drinks, and the list goes on (4).
Consuming these types of foods affects your body functions. This leads to slow metabolism and chronic inflammation in the body. Chronic inflammation is associated with fat accumulation in the belly region (10).
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Drinking Too Much Alcohol
No, don’t stop reading. We are not about to tell you to completely get rid of alcohol consumption. Limited consumption of alcohol is fine. Things get bad when you consume more than sixty milliliters of alcohol everyday. How exactly does alcohol cause belly fat? Alcohol causes dehydration. Dehydration causes inflammation and inflammation-induced weight gain. Alcohol also gets stored as fat in the body if you don’t drink enough water and work out regularly (10).
Lack Of Exercise
Exercising is a good way to shed all that extra fat, plus it triggers the feel-good hormones. Most people don’t get nearly enough movement in a day. That’s no thanks to endless classes, long hours at work, time-consuming commutes, and preferred downtime activities. In order to keep your body healthy and active, you need to exercise every day. Your circulation, metabolism, digestion, sleep, and brain function will improve if you do so. This will also lead to reduced stress and chronic inflammation (10).
Stress
People usually wade through their lives riddled with stress. It could be pressure from work, relationships, school and so on. Stress increases the chances of accumulating fat in the lower belly region. The hormone cortisol, which is elevated in response to stress, influences metabolism, weight gain and fat distribution (7).
Pregnancy
Well, this seems rather obvious. You have just brought life into the world. Before the child could come to the world, your body had to create a home for them. This comes with many changes in your body (5). Some of these changes are mostly seen afterwards including the stomach overhang (10).
Genetics
Sometimes the belly fat is not caused by what you do or don’t do. Some things are hereditary and belly fat is one of them. On the bright side, even though you haven’t been blessed with the “skinny gene”, you’re not doomed to carry extra pounds around your midsection forever. A combination of a well-rounded diet and consistent exercising will do the trick (9)!
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How To Get Rid Of Overhang Stomach Fat
An experiment was done to show which of the various methods is effective in reducing belly fat. Thirty five volunteers were recruited and divided into four groups. Together with them were two experts, Fredrik Karpe, a professor of metabolic medicine from the University of Oxford, and Prof Dylan Thompson, from the University of Bath. Each had to come up with two methods to try with the four groups, aligned with their own areas of expertise. The thirty five volunteers all carried abdominal fat (6).
Before the experiment could commence, some health parameters were measured from each individual. They measured their resting heart rate, blood glucose, blood lipids, weight, blood pressure and of course waistline measurements. The most important measurement was of course the DEXA scan. The Dual X-ray Absorptiometry was used to get a really detailed picture of the amount of fat everyone had and where it was distributed. Professor Thompson took two of the groups through two types of exercises and Professor Karpe took two of the groups through dietary interventions (6).
The First Group
The first group under Professor Thompson was to wear monitors to check their activities throughout the day. They were instructed to eat as they would normally eat. He only gave them simple lifestyle changes with the aim to make them more active and increase their daily number of steps (6).
The Second Group
The second group under him was to do sit-ups. This is the go-to exercise for dealing with belly fat. Each individual was to do six exercises three times each – every other day over the six week period (6).
The Third Group
The third group was under the supervision of Professor Karpe. What they were to do was to drink three glasses of milk everyday. You’re probably wondering how drinking one liter of milk everyday and belly fat are related. Well, there is a research that suggests that dairy consumption might promote fat excretion. Fat comes out in the feces rather than being absorbed (6).
The final group was told to only reduce the amount of food or rather the portions of food they ate. They were also instructed to cut out snacks in between meals. A dietician was readily available to help out these individuals and guide them during the whole period (6).
Results After The Six Weeks
After the six weeks had ended, all the volunteers were tested again on their waistline, blood cholesterol, blood glucose, and blood pressure.
The first group whose goal was to be more active did not lose any fat. Before you check out this method, these individuals’ health markers improved vastly. There were significant drops in their blood pressure, and blood glucose. The second group who did sit ups, did not get any healthier through any of the parameters measured. They, however, did lose two centimeters (0.8in) from their waistline. This was likely due a stronger core and their abdomen muscles holding their fat better (6).
Now to the diet groups. The third group who were to drink three glasses of milk every day did not show any changes in health or weight. The good news is that they did not gain any weight even though four hundred calories a day had been added to their daily consumption. A simple explanation for this would be they were too full from drinking milk to eat the amount of food they would normally eat (6).
The Winner
The clear winner was the diet-control group. This group lost a collective thirty five kilograms (77lb) between them which was an average of 3.7kg (8.2lb) each over just six weeks. Their average waistline reduced by five centimeters (2in). The DEXA scan readings were the most interesting with 5% less body fat and an impressive 14% reduction of the dangerous visceral fat inside the abdomen. This group lost overall body fat as well as abdominal fat. They also saw improvements in the health parameters (6).
Read More: Belly Fat Workout At Home: Lose Belly Fat At Home With These Simple Yet Effective Exercises
Now imagine if you combined what group two and group four did? As you can see, there is a reason why experts advocate for dieting and exercising as a foolproof weight management method.
To lose belly fat, you also need to exercise more. Add different types of workouts to your routine other than sit-ups. You need to add cardio (8), strength training, and interval training.
Interval Training
Interval training is great for burning calories as well as building endurance. In addition to that, it is also a great way to target abdominal fat (1). Combining cardio and strength training is also a very effective way of burning belly fat. Each individually can work wonders when it comes to burning calories. When combined and done properly but with regulation, they can help you lose that stomach overhang.
Cutting down your calories is an effective way of dealing with belly fat. You can reduce the number of calories you eat every day by about five hundred calories (2). This will help you lose general body fat as well as belly fat.
Being active is also essential in the fight against stomach overhang. Move around every hour, take walks in the morning and evening (3). If you can walk to your destination, please do so. This will help you get rid of your stomach overhang. You should also work to avoid or reduce things that cause stomach overhang like stress, poor diet, and regular alcohol intake.
The Bottom Line
If you follow the expert tips on how to get rid of stomach overhang, you can work your way to the flat tummy you desire so much. It is always advisable to consult an expert in case you are not getting the expected results. Experts will lead you through a personal journey tailored to help you get rid of the stomach overhang. Apart from following a proper diet, physical exercise is also essential for your body and health.
DISCLAIMER:
This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not address individual circumstances. It is not a substitute for professional advice or help and should not be relied on to make decisions of any kind. A licensed physician should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any medical conditions. Any action you take upon the information presented in this
SOURCES:
- 8 Ways to Get Rid of Belly Fat (2019, verywellfit.com)
- 9 Tips + Workout to Get Rid of Lower Belly Fat (2019, gethealthyu.com)
- 10 Ways to Lose Overhanging Belly (2019, makeupandbeauty.com)
- 20 Foods That Are Bad for Your Health (2019, healthline.com)
- Apron Belly: Why It Happens and What You Can Do (2019, healthline.com)
- Belly fat: What’s the best way to get rid of it? (2016, bbc.com)
- Cortisol, obesity and the metabolic syndrome: A cross-sectional study of obese subjects and review of the literature (2013, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Exercises for an Obese Belly Overhang in a Man (2017, healthfully.com)
- How to get rid of belly fat – expert reveals where you’re going wrong and best tips for a flat stomach (n.d., mirror.co.uk)
- How To Get Rid Of Belly Pooch – 7 Best Ways (2019, stylecraze.com)
