| 6 minutes

Lose belly fat: Here’s how to fight your stubborn abdominal fat!

Written by Lena, M.Sc. Medical Nutrition | Reviewed by Hannah.T, PhD

If you’re looking for a flat stomach and better health, you’re in the right place! The fat on the abdomen is difficult to get rid of and can lead to health problems. With a little help from Almased, you can lose belly fat fast and support a long and healthy life

Topics at a glance

Reading time: 6 minutes

  1. Why is abdominal fat so dangerous?
  2. Measure your fat at home
  3. Body shape can predict health risk
  4. Unhealthy lifestyles are driving the rise in obesity
  5. Hormones from fat make you hungry
  6. 4 tips to lose excess belly fat and get a flat stomach
  7. Start burning body fat with Almased
  8. How to lose belly fat naturally in 1 week
  9. Which type of weight loss person are you?

Why is abdominal fat so dangerous?

Not all fat is the same. There are two types of adipose (fat) tissue: subcutaneous and visceral.1 Subcutaneous fat is located directly under the skin and can be pinched between two fingers.1 Visceral fat is located in the abdominal cavity around the organs.1 Visceral fat makes up only about 10% of the fat in your body, but it can have a big influence on your health.2

What many people don't know is that our fat deposits are one of the most metabolically active organs in our body.2 They emit messenger substances that have important functions.2 Belly fat sends signals to the liver to help with your metabolism (food breakdown).3 But some of these signals can be dangerous in high quantities.2 

Fat cells release molecules that cause inflammation and lead to serious health problems.2 If you have too much visceral fat, you may be at risk of some cancers, fatty liver disease, heart disease, and kidney disease.1 Excessive fat can also disrupt your sleep, lead to diabetes, or cause pain in your joints.1 

If you have too much subcutaneous fat, you also might have too much visceral fat.1 Extra belly fat is a sign that you might need to make a change toward a healthy lifestyle. But first, you need to know if your fat levels are too high.

 

Measure Your Fat at Home

You can tell if you have an unhealthy amount of abdominal fat in a few ways. One method is called the body mass index (BMI).1 This calculation takes into account your height and body weight. An online tool can give you an estimate of your BMI in seconds. If your BMI is above 25, you’re considered overweight. If it’s above 30, it may mean obesity.

Another method to measure your fat is with your waist circumference. To try it yourself, put a tape measure around the middle of your body near the belly button.1 If your waist circumference is too high, you may be at an increased risk of health problems. For women, health risks begin if it’s more than 35 inches (89 cm). For men, the limit is 40 inches (102 cm).1 Detailed instructions on how to measure abdominal circumference are on our blog.

Body Shape Can Predict Health Risk

The general body shape and location of overall body fat can also reveal a lot about health risks. When body fat accumulates on the thighs and buttocks, it’s called a “pear shape”.3 Fat deposits that accumulate mainly on the abdomen lead to an “apple shape”.3 

The pear shape poses fewer health risks than the apple shape.3 This difference is because belly fat has a bigger influence on visceral fat and metabolism than other types of fat.3 

People of all body types should, of course, pay equal attention to their health. But if you’re apple-shaped, even if you’re not overweight or obese, you should take steps to limit your belly fat.3

From menopause onward, women are increasingly prone to exhibiting the "apple shape". Postmenopausal women thus have more visceral fat compared to premenopausal women.2 Find out how Almased can help you lose weight during menopause!

Unhealthy Lifestyles Are Driving the Rise in Obesity

A lack of exercise and an unhealthy diet is the main cause of extra fat in the abdomen.2 Eating too many foods with added sugar and fat quickly leads to unhealthy weight gain.1

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 40% of adults in the United States are overweight or obese.4 Obesity-driven diseases such as type 2 diabetes are currently on the rise.4

The change in our lifestyles is part of why we are putting on more weight and becoming more unhealthy.5 Our sedentary lives are making us more and more inactive.5 Meanwhile, our diet has more fatty, fried foods, sugary drinks, and packaged foods.5

Following a healthy diet and increasing your physical activity is the best way we can tackle this growing problem. Easier said than done, right? The reason dieting can be so hard is because of the hormones that fat cells release.

Hormones From Fat Make You Hungry

The appetite hormone leptin is made in adipose tissue.6 Leptin signals to the body when it is full.6 If excess fat has built up, this signal becomes so high that your body starts to ignore it.6 That phenomenon is called leptin resistance, and it makes losing weight very difficult.6 Despite increased leptin levels, you feel hungry all the time, so dieting is a challenge. 

How can we tackle this? Break old habits and start a new healthy lifestyle! With Almased, it's easier than you think.

4 Tips To Lose Excess Belly Flat and Get a Flat Stomach

      1. Start Replacing Meals With Almased

In most cases, a complete change in diet and exercise is the best way to lose excess belly fat.1 Nutritionists recommend a diet high in lean proteins and low in sugars and refined carbs.1 This can be done easily by replacing 1–2 meals a day with an Almased shake.

Almased is a meal replacement shake made from all-natural ingredients. The combination of soy, honey, and yogurt brings 27 grams of protein into every serving. With this high-protein formula, Almased helps restore the hormonal balance in your body.

Almased helps to support that “full feeling” once again. A recent study shows that Almased brings down leptin levels and other hormones involved in appetite regulation.7 People who replaced their meals with Almased lost weight, had more energy, and didn’t feel hungry.7 Another study confirmed those results and found that leptin decreased more with Almased than with other diet plans.8 That led to significant weight loss for the Almased dieters.8

       2. Eat a Balanced Diet

Complement the shakes with a selection of high-quality foods and a balanced composition of meals. With the Almased plate principle, this can be done without much thought!

Simply divide your plate into different areas. Half is reserved for vegetables in boiled or raw form. One-third of the plate should be filled with a high-quality lean protein source. These include, for example, lean meat or fatty fish, cottage cheese, legumes, or tofu. The remaining space can now be filled with complex carbohydrates. Whole wheat pasta, potatoes, or whole grain breads are good choices here. Finally, include healthy fats and high-quality vegetable oils such as linseed, rapeseed, or walnut oil. There’s no room for processed foods or sugar sweetened beverages.

      3. Exercise for a Flat Tummy

If you want to lose abdominal fat, you should not only have a healthy diet but also be physically active. High-intensity interval training is a great way to burn belly fat and burn calories in a short time.9 If the body is in an energy deficit, the pounds start to fall off.

Strength training is also ideal for losing belly fat.10 People who do resistance training have a higher metabolic rate.10 That means fats ingested with food are used as an energy source rather than stored. Plus, intense exercise builds muscle mass all over the body, and the fat distribution is altered.

If exercising alone seems daunting, consider joining a program. Research has shown the positive effects of training in group programs.11 No matter how much extra belly fat you have, or how old you are, you can lose weight with an exercise training program.11

Combining Almased shakes with physical activity is the best way to reach a healthy weight. A large trial showed that adding Almased to an overall healthy lifestyle change helped people lose more weight.12 Participants who took Almased saw their waist circumference shrink in just 4 weeks!12

Another study looked at resistance training in middle-aged men.13 Almased and training together made their waist circumferences smaller and led to muscle growth.13

        4. Reduce Stress and Lose Belly Fat at the Same Time

A lifestyle factor that also has an impact on our metabolism is stress.1 Those who do not rest in everyday life can have high cortisol levels.1 An increased cortisol level stops the breakdown of fat, so it all gets stored in your body.1 

So, incorporate relaxing activities such as yoga or a walk on your way to a flat stomach. Also, make sure you get enough sleep. You can also use supplements to reduce belly fat and cortisol. An Almased shake in the evening can improve your sleep and boost your metabolism overnight.14

Start burning fat with Almased

If you want to lose abdominal fat, you can make it a lot easier with Almased. The high level of protein has a beneficial effect on subcutaneous and visceral fat.

In a 2015 study, researchers looked at the effect of Almased on visceral fat loss.15 They took images of the internal organs using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).15 They found that people who used Almased had big declines in their internal abdominal fat.15 As the visceral fat drops, the risk to your health goes down, too. Almased is diabetic-friendly and decreases metabolic risk factors like cholesterol and triglycerides.15–17

While you reduce belly fat, the filling shakes contain all the important vitamins and minerals. The key nutrients in Almased can boost your metabolism, support cognition, and strengthen your immune system.18

How To Lose Belly Fat Naturally in 1 Week

Enjoy Almased smoothies to lose belly fat fast with the 4-phase figure plan! This plan is a great introduction to a long-term change in your diet and can help you get the figure you’ve always wanted.

Begin with a fasting phase, in which all 3 meals are replaced by Almased shakes each day. With fewer calories, you optimally prepare your metabolism for losing weight in the first few days. 

In the second phase, the focus is on continuous weight loss until you have reached your personal goal. An Almased shake in the morning and evening creates the best conditions for reducing belly fat. At lunchtime, eat a delicious, balanced meal to slowly start changing your diet.

With 2 healthy meals and one shake a day, phase 3 begins. Now it's time to stabilize your weight and integrate healthy eating habits into your everyday life for the long term.

Phase 4 is also what we call the life phase. You will be a real professional when it comes to healthy eating, so put together 3 delicious meals a day. If you gain weight back, you can always find suitable weight loss recipes on our website. Almased can continue to accompany you as a flexible meal replacement when you need it. 

Which Type of Weight Loss Person Are You?

No matter what your reasons are for losing abdominal fat, it's best to get started right away. Grab a friend and easily find out which Almased diet plan suits you best in our type test. It’s always easier if you can motivate each other and, in the end, enjoy your successes together.

You can also find a lot of support and great tips on how to lose weight and burn belly fat in our Almased community on Facebook. Network with like-minded people and start your new lifestyle!

Try it today and see for yourself: Almased is the best addition to your lifestyle to help burn fat. 

Sources

  1. Subcutaneous fat. Cleveland Clinic. Updated August 7, 2022. Accessed February 6, 2024. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/23968-subcutaneous-fat

  2. Taking aim at belly fat. Harvard Health. Published August 1, 2010. Accessed February 6, 2024. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/taking-aim-at-belly-fat

  3. What your body type reveals about your health. Penn Medicine website. Published March 25, 2022. Accessed February 6, 2024. https://www.pennmedicine.org/updates/blogs/health-and-wellness/2022/march/body-shape

  4. Obesity is a common, serious, and costly disease. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Published July 20, 2022. Accessed February 6, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html

  5. Nurwanti E, Uddin M, Chang JS, et al. Roles of sedentary behaviors and unhealthy foods in increasing the obesity risk in adult men and women: a cross-sectional national study. Nutrients. 2018;10(6):704. doi:10.3390/nu10060704

  6. Leptin & leptin resistance. Cleveland Clinic. Updated February 23, 2022. Accessed February 1, 2024. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22446-leptin

  7. Oliveira CLP, Boulé NG, Elliott SA, et al. A high-protein total diet replacement alters the regulation of food intake and energy homeostasis in healthy, normal-weight adults. Eur J Nutr. 2022;61(4):1849-1861. doi:10.1007/s00394-021-02747-1

  8. Kempf K, Röhling M, Banzer W, et al. Early and strong leptin reduction is predictive for long-term weight loss during high-protein, low-glycaemic meal replacement—a subanalysis of the randomised-controlled ACOORH Trial. Nutrients. 2022;14(12):2537. doi:10.3390/nu14122537

  9. Wewege M, Van Den Berg R, Ward RE, Keech A. The effects of high‐intensity interval training vs. moderate‐intensity continuous training on body composition in overweight and obese adults: a systematic review and meta‐analysis. Obes Rev. 2017;18(6):635-646. doi:10.1111/obr.12532

  10. Aristizabal JC, Freidenreich DJ, Volk BM, et al. Effect of resistance training on resting metabolic rate and its estimation by a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry metabolic map. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2015;69(7):831-836. doi:10.1038/ejcn.2014.216

  11. Berg A, Berg A, Frey I, König D, Predel HG. Exercise based lifestyle intervention in obese adults. Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2008;105(11):197-203. doi:10.3238/arztebl.2008.0197

  12. Halle M, Röhling M, Banzer W, et al. Meal replacement by formula diet reduces weight more than a lifestyle intervention alone in patients with overweight or obesity and accompanied cardiovascular risk factors-the ACOORH trial. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2021;75(4):661-669. doi:10.1038/s41430-020-00783-4

  13. Deibert P, Solleder F, König D, et al. Soy protein based supplementation supports metabolic effects of resistance training in previously untrained middle aged males. Aging Male. 2011;14(4):273-279. doi:10.3109/13685538.2011.565091

  14. Oliveira CL, Boulé NG, Sharma AM, et al. A high-protein total diet replacement increases energy expenditure and leads to negative fat balance in healthy, normal-weight adults. Am J Clin Nutri. 2021;113(2):476-487. doi:10.1093/ajcn/nqaa283

  15. König D, Zdzieblik D, Deibert P, Berg A, Gollhofer A, Büchert M. Internal fat and cardiometabolic risk factors following a meal-replacement regimen vs. comprehensive lifestyle changes in obese subjects. Nutrients. 2015;7(12):9825-9833. doi:10.3390/nu7125500

  16. König D, Deibert P, Frey I, Landmann U, Berg A. Effect of meal replacement on metabolic risk factors in overweight and obese subjects. Ann Nutr Metab. 2008;52(1):74-78. doi:10.1159/000119416

  17. Röhling M, Kempf K, Banzer W, et al. Prediabetes conversion to normoglycemia is superior adding a low-carbohydrate and energy deficit formula diet to lifestyle intervention—a 12-month subanalysis of the ACOORH trial. Nutrients. 2020;12(7):2022. doi:10.3390/nu12072022

  18. Tardy AL, Pouteau E, Marquez D, Yilmaz C, Scholey A. Vitamins and minerals for energy, fatigue and cognition: a narrative review of the biochemical and clinical evidence. Nutrients. 2020;12(1):228. doi:10.3390/nu12010228

 

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