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The Real Reason We Can’t Get Rid Of The Apron Gut
So you work out 5 times a week, cut your calories, follow your macros, and sacrifice eating the foods you love to get fit, and you still can’t seem to shake the belly fat. This is the story of many men and women who struggle to get a flat, muscular stomach.
Many have even thought of doing it the easy way (plastic surgery, freeze therapy, and diet pills) because they are tired of working at it with no results.
For women, it could also be a matter of where they are in their menstrual cycle.
Today, I will shed some light on what it really takes to get the flat, lean, cut stomach you want.
Being a fitness consultant for close to 20 years, I have met many people who have this struggle. Some are even in great shape but still can’t seem to get rid of the bicycle tire. They put in the workout and go hardcore with their diet and still have excess fat around their midsection.
I’m here to tell you that while exercise and diet do play a role in getting into shape, there are many things that one has to do to achieve the six-pack abs package.
Let’s start with understanding what belly fat actually is.
What Causes the Fat Gut Anyway?
The fat around the midsection, in most cases, is a combination of fat, visceral fat, water retention, and abdominal distention. Fat is the extra layer of padding that you see in the mirror. Visceral fat lies deeper inside the abdomen. It surrounds the inner organs, which automatically increases the circumference of your stomach.
Bloating and water retention result from synthetic sweeteners, processed foods, allergens, lactose, and even wheat and gluten products.
Abdominal distension happens as a symptom of underlying disease or some form of imbalance in the body. It is essentially gas or fluid that causes the belly to expand or pushes the diaphragm down that causes the abdomen to push forward.
More On Visceral Fat
Excess Visceral fat is a real problem as it contributes to heart attacks, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, certain forms of cancer, and even Alzheimer’s disease.
Visceral fat can have an impact on how the hormones function in the body. This can increase insulin resistance. This means that the more you overeat something or consume something that doesn’t work for your body, your body will begin to respond by lowering how much glucose from the blood can be used for energy.
This causes the pancreas to produce more insulin and will eventually cause an imbalance in hormones and the onset of type 2 diabetes.
It poses a threat to the nerves and hormones, which signals the brain to release cortisol from the adrenal glands. In other words, your body is in fight or flight mode internally, which will increase inflammation.
Don’t get it twisted. This doesn’t only apply to those that are overweight. It can happen to anyone, any size, any shape, any background.
While exercise and diet is the best way to diminish visceral fat, we need to understand the foods and corresponding behaviors that cause it.
The less visceral fat you have, the better chance you have at avoiding these ailments. But it all starts with knowing what works for your body.
A Great Start is the Elimination Diet
The elimination diet is an excellent start at determining which foods are causing inflammation in the body. It is the difference between understanding food allergies and food intolerance.
A food allergy is when we eat something that causes our eyes to itch and our throats and faces to swell up.
Food intolerance is less severe. For example, one who is lactose intolerant may bloat after they eat a dairy product or have an onset of constipation or diarrhea.
The elimination diet essentially guides you through a process of removing foods from your diet that could be possible culprits of intolerance...Read More