Setback often lead people trying to lose weight to give up — but there is a solution.
This can actually melt belly fat.
This can actually melt belly fat.
The best way to shed belly fat is exercise, according to the research.
People lose more visceral (belly) fat while exercising than they do taking weight loss medication.
Exercise can actually melt belly fat.
One reason is that exercise stimulates the release of a signalling molecule called interleukin-6.
It is released from the skeletal muscle and plays an important role in breaking down fats in healthy people.
High levels of belly fat are linked to cancer, dementia, cardio-metabolic disease and early death.
Dr Anne-Sophie Wedell-Neergaard, the study’s first author, said:
“The take home for the general audience is ‘do exercise’.
We all know that exercise promotes better health, and now we also know that regular exercise training reduces abdominal fat mass and thereby potentially also the risk of developing cardio-metabolic diseases.”
The study involved 53 people who did several 45-minute sessions per week on an exercise bike.
The results showed that fat was reduced by 8 percent, or 225 grams in 12 weeks.
However, some people were given a drug that blocks the action of interleukin-6.
Instead of losing weight, this group gained 278 grams of fat, despite exercising.
The study helps show that it is interleukin-6 that is causally involved in weight loss.
Dr Wedell-Neergaard said:
“To our knowledge, this is the first study to show that interleukin-6 has a physiological role in regulating visceral fat mass in humans.”
Diet, of course, is also helpful in shedding belly fat.
Unfortunately, there is no miracle food that can reduce belly fat on its own.
However, eating a heart-healthy diet high in fibre can help to reduce abdominal fat.
Dr Wedell-Neergaard said:
“It is important to stress that when you start exercising, you may increase body weight due to increased muscle mass.
So, in addition to measuring your overall body weight, it would be useful, and maybe more important, to measure waist circumference to keep track of the loss of visceral fat mass and to stay motivated.”
The study was published in the journal Cell Metabolism (Wedell-Neergaard et al., 2018).
Some clinical trials have shown that weight loss is associated with improved mood, but that is not the whole picture.
Use this oil for cooking to achieve more weight loss.
Use this oil for cooking to achieve more weight loss.
Consuming 15 to 30 g of coconut oil in the daily diet can reduce belly fat, research finds.
Coconut oil can also reduce hunger pangs and appetite and this can help with weight loss.
A meta-analysis of different studies suggests that replacing long-chain triglycerides (LCTs) with medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) over the long-term can lead to weight lost and reduce belly fat.
Coconut oil, palm kernel oil, desiccated coconut and raw coconut meat contain good amount of MCTs.
Most fats and oils in our diet, such as soybean, sunflower oil, and olive oil contain LCTs.
MCTs, though, can increase the body’s ability to burn calories since they break down easily and are absorbed by the cells rapidly.
As a result MCTs are not stored as fat in the body and are sent quickly from the digestive tract to the liver to turn into energy or ketone bodies.
Visceral fat lies deep in the belly and is wrapped around the organs including the stomach, liver, pancreas, and intestines.
Visceral belly fat is also called “active fat” since this type of fat can build up in the arteries and also lead to dangerous health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer.
This fat is different with the subcutaneous fat that is stored under the skin and you can feel it in different parts of your body, such as the arms and legs.
If the belly is sticking out then it is likely that you have stored visceral fat.
If a man’s waist measures 40 inches or more and if a woman’s waist measures 35 inches or more that indicates an excess of visceral fat and health-related issues.
Making changes to diet and lifestyle towards losing weight can help get rid of this active fat.
The study was published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (Mumme & Stonehouse, 2015).
Overweight people who took this antioxidant supplement managed to slim down without diet or exercise.
Overweight people who took this antioxidant supplement managed to slim down without diet or exercise.
Lipoic acid, also known as alpha lipoic acid (ALA), is a strong antioxidant which helps people to lose weight.
In a clinical trial, when this dietary supplement was given to overweight or obese people, it made them lose body fat and body weight.
Patients who took 600 milligrams per day of the R form of lipoic acid (R-LA) managed to slim down in 24 weeks without changing their diet or physical activity.
Dr Balz Frei, study co-author, said:
“The data clearly showed a loss in body weight and body fat in people taking lipoic acid supplements.
Particularly in women and in the heaviest participants.”
Lipoic acid is a medium-chain fatty acid that is naturally found in plant and animal products like broccoli, spinach, and organ meats.
Our body makes small amounts of lipoic acid, which is essential for regulating the metabolism and generating energy.
Supplementation of lipoic acid seems to offer some additional benefits irrespective of its role in energy production.
Lipoic acid supplements sold over-the-counter assert benefits including blood sugar and cholesterol level reduction, and powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.
It is also used as an additional treatment for diabetes, age-related cognitive decline, and heart disease.
Dr Alexander Michels, study co-author, said:
“Scientists have been researching the potential health benefits of lipoic acid supplements for decades, including how it might enhance healthy aging and mitigate cardiovascular disease.
In both rodent models and small-scale human clinical trials, researchers at the LPI have demonstrated the beneficial effects of lipoic acid on oxidative stress, lipid metabolism and circadian rhythm.”
According to Professor Tory Hagen, the study’s lead author, this research looked into two issues that have often been ignored in past clinical trials.
Professor Hagen explained:
“Many existing clinical studies using lipoic acid have focused on volunteers with pre-existing conditions like diabetes, making it difficult to determine if lipoic acid supplements simply act as a disease treatment or have other beneficial health effects.
Another issue is the formulation of the supplement.
Many previous studies have used the S form of lipoic acid, which is a product of industrial synthesis and not found in nature.
We only used the R form of lipoic acid — the form found in the body naturally.”
The research team saw that those patients who lost weight had reduced blood triglyceride levels, the main component of body fat.
Professor Hagen said:
“By the end of the study, some markers of inflammation declined.
The findings also suggest that lipoic acid supplementation provides a mild reduction in oxidative stress.
It is not a perfect panacea, but our results show that lipoic acid supplements can be beneficial.”
The study was published in The Journal of Nutrition (Bobe et al., 2020).
The hours of fasting suitable for most people who want to lose weight but keep their energy and mood high.
The hours of fasting suitable for most people who want to lose weight but keep their energy and mood high.
Eating within a ten-hour time frame is feasible for most people and they feel less hungry, more energetic and have a better mood, a study suggests.
Intermittent fasting is an umbrella term for dietary restriction plans that follow different meal timing schedules for a period of time.
In recent years, restricted eating set within a specific time window has become a popular weight loss plan.
Researchers from King’s College London, evaluated the health benefits gained from intermittent fasting.
They noticed that most people can adhere to eating meals within a ten-hour window of the day and fasting for the remaining 14 hours.
In that case, if your first meal is at 9 am, your last meal must be by 7 pm, then you avoid eating until the next morning at 9 am.
While some recommend a six-hour eating window for an intermittent fasting regime, this study shows that restrictive eating within a ten-hour time frame offers several health benefits such as reduced hunger, increased energy, and positive mood.
Furthermore, they found that participants who stuck to their eating window consistently benefited more than others who changed their daily eating schedule.
Dr. Sarah Berry, the study’s senior author, said:
“This is the largest study outside of a tightly controlled clinic to show that intermittent fasting can improve your health in a real world setting.
What’s really exciting is that the findings show that you don’t have to be very restrictive to see positive results: a ten-hour eating window, which was manageable for most people, and improved mood, energy levels and hunger.
We found for the first time that those who practiced time-restricted eating, but were not consistent day to day, did not have the same positive health effects as those who were dedicated every day.”
For this study, about 38,000 participates were assigned to use the ‘ZOE Health’ app for a period of three weeks.
For the first week, subjects followed their usual diet and then for two weeks they had to eat within a ten-hour window.
The health benefits were also greater for those who had adapted to a longer eating window prior to the study.
Dr Kate Bermingham, study co-author, said:
“This study adds to the growing body of evidence showing the importance of how you eat.
The health impact of food is not just what you eat but the time at which you choose to consume your meals, and eating window is an important dietary behaviour that can be beneficial for health.
Findings shows that we don’t need to be eating all the time.
Many people will feel satiated and even lose weight if they restrict their food to a ten-hour window.”
The study was presented by King’s College London researchers at the European Nutrition Conference in Belgrade, Serbia (Berry et al., 2023).
How to burn belly fat without eating less or trying to lose weight.
How to burn belly fat without eating less or trying to lose weight.
Swapping fatty foods for lower fat alternatives can reduce weight and belly fat, research finds.
Weight loss of around 3.5 pounds was achieved by people in many studies without going on a diet.
People lost weight without eating less or specifically trying to lose weight.
Those who reduced their fat intake also enjoyed lower blood pressure and lower levels of bad cholesterol.
The more fat people cut out of their diet, the greater their weight loss, researchers found.
Dr Lee Hooper, the study’s first author, said:
“The weight reduction that we found when people ate less fat was remarkably consistent – we saw it in almost every trial.
Those who cut down more on fat, lost more weight.
The effect isn’t dramatic, like going on a diet.
The research specifically looked at people who were cutting down on fat, but didn’t aim to lose weight – so they were continuing to consume a normal amount of food.
What surprised us was that they did lose weight, their BMI decreased and their waists became slimmer.”
The conclusions come from a review of 33 separate randomised controlled trials including 73,589 people around the world.
The studies compared people who cut down on their fat intake with those who carried on eating as normal.
The results showed that those who cut down on fat intake lost an average of 3.5 pounds and also reduced their waist circumference by 0.5 cm.
Dr Hooper continued:
“We didn’t consider different types of fat in this study, but cutting down on saturated fat reduces our risk of heart disease and strokes, so the healthiest way to cut down on fat is to cut down on saturated fats.
This means having low fat milk and yogurt, cutting down on butter and cheese, and cutting the fat off meat.
Most importantly have fruit instead of fatty snacks like biscuits, cake and crisps.
And remember, this isn’t a diet, so don’t take it to extremes, but work out a way of eating that you can stick to permanently.
Keeping healthy is not just about fat and weight – but cutting down on fat, especially saturated fat, is a great start.
Being physically active, not smoking, drinking alcohol in moderation, eating plenty of fruit and vegetables, and drinking plenty of fluid also help to keep us healthy.
We just need to get in the habit of doing these things,”
The study was published in the British Medical Journal (Hooper et al., 2012).
People are hindered in their weight loss journey in three main ways.
The vitamin deficiency linked to increased belly fat.
The vitamin deficiency linked to increased belly fat.
Higher levels of vitamin D are linked to reduced belly fat, research shows.
The conclusions come from a study including thousands of people.
The researchers measured people’s total body fat and abdominal (belly) fat, along with their vitamin D levels.
The results showed that for both men and women vitamin D deficiency was linked to increased belly fat.
However, for women, low vitamin D levels were linked to both increased belly fat and increased total body fat.
For men, though, low vitamin D levels were linked to more belly fat and more liver fat.
More than half of people around the world may be deficient in vitamin D.
Dr Rachida Rafiq, the study’s first author, said:
“Although we did not measure vitamin D deficiency in our study, the strong relationship between increasing amounts of abdominal fat and lower levels of vitamin D suggests that individuals with larger waistlines are at a greater risk of developing deficiency, and should consider having their vitamin D levels checked.”
It is not yet known if low vitamin D levels are causing more fat to be stored or are a result of it.
Dr Rafiq explained:
“Due to the observational nature of this study, we cannot draw a conclusion on the direction or cause of the association between obesity and vitamin D levels.
However, this strong association may point to a possible role for vitamin D in abdominal fat storage and function.”
Vitamin D deficiency has also been linked to cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune diseases and a higher chance of getting colds.
Foods that are rich in vitamin D include oily fish and eggs, but most people get their vitamin D from the action of sunlight on the skin.
That is why levels are typically lower in the body through the winter months in more Northern climes.
The study was published in the journal Clinical Nutrition (Rafiq et al., 2018).
Do not be afraid of the extra calories at breakfast.
Do not be afraid of the extra calories at breakfast.
Having a breakfast high in protein, as well as carbs can potentially quadruple weight loss.
Dieters should include high quality proteins like eggs, Greek yogurt and lean meats for their breakfasts.
Do not be afraid of the extra calories at breakfast.
Having more calories for breakfast has been linked to more than doubling weight loss, one study has found.
Research has also found that having a breakfast high in protein lowers cravings for high-sugar and high-fat foods and suppresses appetite during the day.
Even having a desert at breakfast, such as a cookie or piece of chocolate cake, was linked by another study to lower levels of insulin later on and healthier triglyceride levels.
In general, people who consume their daily calories earlier in the day can double weight loss.
In one study, for example, dieters had a large meal for breakfast that was rich in protein and carbs.
They then stuck to a low calorie, low-carb diet for the rest of the day.
The results of the study showed that people following this diet lost four times as much weight as those just following a standard low-carb diet all day long.
The study’s author, Dr Jakubowicz said:
“Most weight loss studies have determined that a very low carbohydrate diet is not a good method to reduce weight.
It exacerbates the craving for carbohydrates and slows metabolism.
As a result, after a short period of weight loss, there is a quick return to obesity.”
Out of all the meals, breakfast is the most important one throughout the day, but 60 percent of young American adults skip it.
Skipping breakfast is common, especially for teenagers in which the habit is strongly linked to weight gain, increased BMI and obesity.
The studies were published in the International Journal of Obesity and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Bauer et al., 2015; Leidy et al., 2013).
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