How To Lose Belly Fat
I recently sent out a short survey to my awesome email subscribers to find out their current health issues and to see how I could help them the most. (Are you subscribed yet? Click HERE to subscribe to my free weekly newsletter!) I got back thousands of responses and read each and every one. Thank you so much to those who participated in the survey. Your input was extremely valuable to me. Mostly, I loved getting to know you better. Many of your words had me sobbing like a baby – many happy tears from your kindness, encouragement and support. And there were some sad tears reading about the struggles you or your family are facing right now. I sent up a lot of prayers for you that day.
In the survey, the overwhelming majority of you told me that you were having trouble losing weight, especially that stubborn belly fat despite tremendous efforts. If you find yourself unable to shed belly fat, it usually means that something in your body or mind needs a little extra love and attention.
So today I want to help guide you on how to lose belly fat. This advice is based on my own success and from the success of many different holistic doctors and practitioners. It pertains to all ages – there is no age that’s too old for this to work at helping you shed that stubborn fat!
How To Lose Belly Fat
This weight loss and how to lose belly fat advice is not gimmicky, it’s not in a shake, a bottle or a pill (although I do have a few natural supplement suggestions below that can help you on your journey).
“Eat less, exercise more” is what we always hear, right? That’s what the mainstream media tells us. Many of our own doctors still give us this advice.
What if I told you that the method of eating less and exercising more actually makes the problem worse and signals your body to store more fat from the foods you eat, especially belly fat?
Let me give you an example of what that means. Studies have been done on twins, who eat the same exact amount of calories. One gains weight and has greater amounts of visceral (belly) fat. The other does not. When they measured each of the twins total body stress load, they found that the one who gained weight and had more belly fat had a greater total body stress load. Same calories, same genes, same environment. One is burning fat with those calories and the other is storing fat with those calories. One is in a survival mode, one is in a thriving mode.
What Does It Mean To Be In A Mode Of Surviving Or Thriving?
If your body is in a thriving mode it means the food you eat gets used as energy. It’s not easily stored as fat. When you are in the thriving mode you’ll have less belly fat, more energy, less anxiety, better sleep and a healthier immune system. Sounds great, right? It is! Weight loss comes easily, with little effort. You’ll feel energized all day and sleep deeply at night. You’ll even handle the stresses of life better.
But let’s say your body is in a survival mode, which sadly, most of us are in these days. When your body is in survival mode, the food you eat gets stored as fat. Hormones are out of whack, hunger increases, energy decreases and we start to crave the foods that make us gain weight quickly. The body holds onto calories and converts them to belly fat. It’s close to impossible to shed belly fat when your body is in a mode of survival.
How Do You Get In Survival Mode?
To understand how we get in survival mode, you’ve got to understand the adrenals. Our adrenals are tiny glands that sit above the kidneys. And they are the master controller of these two modes. Adrenals are like a light switch that tell your body whether you are thriving, meaning you burn fat and feel energized or surviving, meaning you store fat and feel tired.
When your adrenals get too stressed because of the demands placed on them, they flip on the switch to tell your body it’s in survival mode. That signals your body to start storing fat.
Think of it like this — if you lost your job, you wouldn’t go on a luxurious, super expensive vacation, right? You would probably cut your spending and save your money. It’s the same thing when your body is in survival mode. It tries to preserve energy. It stores up fat. And metabolism starts to shut down. Instead of sending foods to nourish the muscles and brain, it sends them to your belly fat where they get stored. And because your brain isn’t getting the necessary nutrients, you are very apt to experience anxiety, depression, irritability, bad moods and feeling easily overwhelmed. Yikes! Survival mode is not a good place to be. Yet that’s where many of us are because of the large demands placed on the adrenals.
What Stresses The Adrenals?
If the adrenals are the master controller of telling you’re body if you’re going to store fat or not, you’ve got to take good care of them! Because when your adrenals are too stressed, they turn the switch to survival mode that signals your body to store up that belly fat.
The term stress is often misunderstood. Stress is considered any event that triggers the adrenal glands to release stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. Your body doesn’t distinguish between different kinds of stress. It responds to every stress the same way. So let’s learn what stresses the adrenals.
Here are the 6 things that stress the adrenals:
Food stresses from processed foods, synthetic chemical flavors, artificial colors and undiagnosed food intolerances or allergies
Environmental stresses from toxins like synthetic chemicals, pollution, pesticides, etc.
Excessive exercise
Not getting enough deep, restorative sleep.
Stresses of life like financial, family, relationships, work, deadlines, etc.
Negative thought patterns and beliefs, lack of joy and happiness
Identifying your body’s top sources of stress is a really important key for helping your health and waistline. It’s important to note that stress itself doesn’t cause weight gain unless our switch is turned to survival mode. The body is designed to handle small amounts of these stresses. The problem arises when your body is under a constant source of one or more of these stresses. Because of the fast, demanding pace of modern life and the onslaught of toxic chemicals in our world, many of our bodies are in a state of constant stress. Is yours?
The Good News About How To Lose Belly Fat
Here’s some great news: YOU have the power to flip the switch to thriving mode!
That’s pretty amazing, right? That means you’re not doomed to be fat because of your genetics and it’s certainly not your lack of willpower. The reason you are holding onto that belly fat is because your switch is turned on to survival mode, which makes you store fat, increases hunger and makes you crave the foods that make you fat.
