As a fitness professional, I’d say that well over 90% of the questions I get is how to get rid of stubborn lower belly fat.
My answer is always, FOOD, and most ladies automatically think I will suggest a low carb diet.
Unfortunately, almost all conventional low carb diets that claim to fight belly fat use foods that “turn off” our fat burning mechanisms, which forces our body to burn sugars and carbs, INSTEAD of fat.
Not only that, people who try these trendy diets don’t have any knowledge of whether they’re losing water, muscle or actually burning fat.
Here’s a powerful example. For EVERY gram of active carbohydrates you consume on a daily basis, your body will hold nearly 3 grams of water.
Read that last sentence once again quickly so it “sinks” in.
So if you just cut carbs, the scale might trick you into thinking that you’re losing a bunch of weight — and you are. BUT – it’s water weight, NOT fat.
So you’re really just dropping a bunch of water.
Now you can see how and why almost every person who tries to deplete
carbs ends
up messing up their metabolism and forcing rebound weight gain.
But what if we could make most of that water loss = fat loss instead?
Well, we CAN.
All we need to do is make sure we deplete carbs with the RIGHT foods, at the RIGHT times, for the RIGHT durations.
1. Consume Zero Starches or Fruits for 3 or 4 Days in a Row During The Week.
This will help accelerate glycogen depletion and get your metabolism ready for the weekend fun. This should equate to a total of 25 to 50 impact carbs for the day. Consume protein in every meal to help increase satiety and keep your body in an anabolic high-energy fat-burning environment.
You’ll program your body to burn a ton more belly fat by using this approach in just a few days of the week.
2. Increase Your Fats and Double Your Servings of Green Cruciferous Veggies on the Deplete Days
When you lower carbs, you’ll automatically need energy from other sources. Friendly fats and cruciferous veggies should be your go to macronutrients to help provide this needed energy.
Some good examples to use are extra fish or krill oil, olive oil, coconut oil, grass fed butter and small amounts of raw nuts for fats — spinach, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus and cabbage are great choices for extra veggies.
This will help provide all the fiber, vitamins, and minerals necessary to maximize fat-loss during the carb deplete. It will also help you with appetite control.
Additionally, the veggies I listed above contain a unique compound (called DIM) that helps control bad estrogen inside the body, which will indirectly lead to more fat loss.
3. Double Your Daily Water Intake on Deplete Days & The Day After a Food Binge.
I know this technique isn’t appealing or “sexy”, but it works.
And most people simply underestimate how effective proper hydration can be for UNDOING the damage of over-eating, getting rid of post weekend carb bloat, and facilitating other metabolic processes that burn fat.
Remember, if you cheated this past weekend you’ll be holding almost an extra 3 grams of water for every gram of carb you consumed.
So if you had a few slices of pizza, some bread and a bowl of ice cream we’re talking an extra 700 to 1000 grams of water sitting under your belly skin.
So here are a couple fast fluid facts to help you understand how water can help you look and feel leaner.
- First, the more water you “give” your body, the less it will hold onto. So if you feel like you’re holding water or bloated, drink MORE water. It will help you look and feel leaner.
A good rule of thumb is to consume 60 – 70% of your total body weight in ounces of water on your carb deplete days. So if you weigh 150 pounds then you should be shooting for 100 to 120 ounces of water – minimum.
Now you can clearly see why a short-term, science based low carb approach can work big time. But make sure you do NOT abuse the “deplete” day strategies above or they’ll backfire – just like exercise and cheating.