Hey guys!
I’ve spoke a lot about this topic on my Instagram but I’ve never wrote a specific blog on it for people to refer back to, so I thought it was about time!
I’ve managed to lose a lot of “belly fat” over the last 2 years so I thought I would share in detail how I did that.
Disclaimer: These are all tips that I’ve self taught myself from professionals and applied to my routine to see results. I’m just sharing them with you as I’ve found they have worked for me. 🙂
- BE IN A CALORIE DEFICIT. This is the most important factor in losing belly fat. You need to lose weight overall!!! I can’t stress this enough guys! You can do all the crunches you want, drink green tea, but if you are not in a calorie deficit and losing body fat, you won’t lose your belly………………Being a calorie deficit means eating less than your body burns. That doesn’t just mean what you do in the gym, it means everything! Breathing, thinking, blinking, walking, talking, sleeping, driving, taking your kids to school, going to work, yawning, laughing, having sex, reading a book…literally everything! How many calories you need to eat in a day to lose weight will also depend on factors like your height, age, how active your job/lifestyle is, how many times you workout, how long for and to what intensity you work out.
This is called your “total daily energy expenditure” (TDEE- I talk about this a lot on my instagram). I use the free TDEE calculator on the “ iifym” website and it’s never been wrong for me. Sometimes you have to do it twice and it doesn’t always work the first time.
This will also give you your BMR number (what your body burns if you were to lie in bed all day and do nothing) which is also important to know but I focus mostly on TDEE as I never lie in bed all day.
Take your time and answer the questions honestly. You’d be so surprised how high your calories will be just to achieve your total daily energy expenditure and maintain your current weight.
For example my TDEE is 2050 worth of calories so to lose weight I eat 1850-1900 calories.. That’s still a really good amount of calories/meal sizes if you don’t eat “calorie dense” foods like fast food.
But please work out your own TDEE number as it depends on so many individual factors.
No need to starve yourself with shake or soup diets!! YEY!!!!!
(VERY IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: Over the last 27 months, I’ve been vegan, veggie, dairy free, pescatarian and a meat eater so my carb intake has really fluctuated throughout the last 2 years and it’s made no difference. What has made the difference to me is whether or not I’m a calorie deficit)
- DRINK WATER. Hunger can often be confused with thirst and drinking enough water can help your body let go of excess water weight which we often hold around our stomachs as it isn’t in “drought” mode.
- AVOID FIZZY DRINK. Even if it’s zero calorie. This is just a personal tip, I find if I stop drinking fizzy drink completely, I look a lot leaner and less bloated in my face and stomach.
- HAVE PATIENCE. My second most important tip from this blog. You could be doing all of these things but you also need patience. It took me 15 months of solid training and a good diet to lose my “belly”. You won’t be transformed in 8 weeks if you have a long way to go like I did.
- BE BRUTALLY HONEST: I was in denial for a really long time about what I was eating and the minute I held myself accountable and really looked at what I was eating then I saw results. It’s easy to forget the little things we snack on that are “too small to count” but sometimes they are the reason we aren’t losing weight.
- EAT REAL FOOD AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE: You may have heard the saying “If it grows in the ground, on a tree or has a face, it’s real food.” That’s what I mean by real food. I’ll admit I love to have stuff that comes in a box for convenience as I can’t always be at home cooking “from scratch” food all day everyday but I try my absolute best. Sometimes highly processed food that is ready made or comes in a box is high in sodium. Excess sodium in our diets can sometimes be a reason for bloating around the stomach. Try making your food as much as possible rather than buying it pre-made and if you are anything like me, you’ll notice a huge difference. For example- sandwiches, sauces, soups, cakes etc.
- ABS ARE MADE IN THE KITCHEN: This refers back to my first point. It’s mainly down to diet rather than 500 daily crunches. I used to train my abs a lot in the first year and barely saw a difference. It wasn’t until I lost a further 14lbs that I saw ab definition so diet was key for me.
Those are most important things in my opinion to worry about when trying to lose belly fat.
Getting enough sleep, trying to enjoy the process and not stress about it is also important to see results and feel the urge to stay consistent.
There is just one thing I feel that has also helped me but you DO NOT have to do this to see results.
- BEING DAIRY FREE: The reason it’s helped me is because so many high calorie temptations like cheese and chocolate are automatically out of the equation. Of course I have dairy free chocolate and various dairy free cheeses at home but they aren’t as readily available everywhere like normal cheese and chocolate is so it stops me from coming off track mindlessly.
I have lots of other blogs on here about what I eat and my diet to lose weight and stay lean on my stomach which you might find helpful to read!
I really hope this helped someone to realise that diet is really key here with losing belly fat and you don’t have to starve yourself!
Thank you for your continued support on my Instagram because without it, I would have stopped blogging a year ago!
Lots of love
Danni
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(Instagram: @daniellapetersfit
Daniella Peters FIT 