As we age, it becomes harder to lose fat whether by diets or exercise. Most of the time, we gain weight around our midsection and it can be very difficult to lose this fat. You may have noticed yourself developing a beer belly when you never touch the stuff; you are probably beginning to understand belly fat. This is where fat cells will typically settle in your body.
Your body has a natural drive to store energy in the form of belly fat to guard you against times of scarcity. Although in western societies, there is rarely if ever a risk of famine, our bodies have not kept pace with the progress of our society. Our bodies are still inclined to accumulate belly fat even when there is no shortage of food.
When you try to lose fat by dieting, the body's metabolism sends a signal to the brain that tells the fat burning or fat storing hormones that you are experiencing a famine and hold onto any empty calories you take in. The body thinks if you are taking in calories that are empty in nutrition, you have nothing else to eat, so it holds onto as many of those calories as it can, many times as belly fat. You have to fool the metabolism by eating different foods, so it will not think it is experiencing famine.
In times of extreme stress or when you are very busy, you may eat less and still gain weight. This is because your body sees the situation quite differently than you do. Your body thinks you are going through a period of scarcity - and the stress hormone cortisol also plays a role in encouraging belly fat formation.
A lot of diets do not allow you to get the variety of foods you need to keep up your metabolism and fat burning hormones. If you reduce the amount of calories you are taking in, your metabolism will typically respond by slowing down to match your lower caloric intake. This will have you hitting a plateau quickly and remaining the same weight. If you are dieting with the goal of reducing your belly fat, then you need to stay one step ahead of your metabolism by varying the foods you eat every few days.
To eliminate fat, you need to trick your fat burning hormones and your brain into believing that you are still taking in enough calories - this will cause your metabolism to go ahead and use the energy stored as fat, which helps you to lose belly fat.
When you diet to lose fat, you have to make sure to eat the right amounts of nutritional calories and fat burning calories to keep your metabolism and fat burning hormones working at peak efficiency. This allows you to lose belly fat while taking in fewer calories. Your body will only use your stored fat cells after using up the calories you are taking in, meaning that reducing your calorie intake is vital to losing belly fat.
Once you understand belly fat, it is easy to lose those excess pounds. You just need to eat a varied diet at frequent intervals to keep your metabolism burning off fat; the Fat Loss 4 Idiots diet does just that.