How to Effectively Lose Belly Fat – A Walkthrough
When we talk about exercising with weight loss as a goal, we hardly ever think about walking.
Walking is relaxing, effortless, and anyone can do it. It is also the most underrated physical activity fat-burning-wise.
It may seem counterintuitive to try walking for a flat belly, as spot-reducing fat cannot be achieved that easily. However, walking regularly paired with a balanced diet is an easy way to reduce fat all over the body – especially in the abdominal area.
Spot exercising can help with tightening abdominal muscles, but the only way to reach visceral fat is by burning calories.
And walking just happens to be effective and easy to introduce to your routine.
Find out below a few things you should know to take your weight loss to the max and trim that waistline.
Appearance: It’s Not Just About the Looks
Losing belly fat is not only a matter of getting your dreamy summer body. It’s also a matter of health.
A little unknown fact: belly fat is usually the least healthy for the body. It surrounds all internal organs, so an excess of it with no treatment may lead to heart disease, diabetes, and liver problems.1
In comparison, a little fat on your buttocks and hips can actually be beneficial and protect you.
Walking is the perfect exercise to balance it all out.
The best way to achieve maximum results is by taking into consideration your body, your goals, and your preferences. The key is finding a workout created just for you.
The main difference between a personalized program and a generic one is that something that takes your needs and preferences into account can help you reach your goals faster.
You’ll not only start your journey into a healthier lifestyle, but you’ll also look the way you feel.
Mindset: Is Getting Fat Part of Getting Old?
The older we get, the more intrinsically we know that worrying about weight and restraining ourselves from eating what we love is part of life; especially if we want to keep it healthy and long.
The pounds and kilos won’t shed off as quickly as they did 20 years ago. However, with age comes more responsibility and tiredness, so we are naturally less active.
The numbers don’t add up, so the belly is here to say.
But the truth is that you can build muscle and joint strength at any age. This mindset of “old = fat” is not only wrong but also harmful.
There are many ways to combat this, and walking can be the answer.
The percentage of muscle cells decreases with age, and the only way to combat this is with regular exercise.
According to a study done with obese men and women aged 40 to 65 years, who lead sedentary lives, 12 miles every week was enough to make them lose weight – and waist circumference.2
A simple 20-minute walk every other day is great for your body in the long term.
As we mentioned before, a personalized plan with your age, health issues, and limitations in mind is the optimum solution if you want to be consistent and keep yourself motivated while being kind to your body.
Diet: Be Mindful, but Don’t Overstrain Yourself
Exercising by itself already provides great results, but along with a balanced diet, you can achieve even more, even faster.
The issue is that we are bombarded by miracle tea, diet hacks, DIY fasting, and other insane solutions by social media, so everything seems too hard to achieve or too good to be true.
These restrictive diets can also lead to overeating and the “reward after exercising” mentality, which, in turn, lead to weight gain instead of weight loss.
Even worse: many popular diets out there make us take them as gospel – what you should and shouldn’t eat and what is good or bad for you is absolute. That’s not entirely true.
A balanced diet can’t be a complete change from what we are used to. It has to be achieved by including as part of our routine healthy meals that have simple ingredients and are easy to make.
And most importantly: you have to enjoy what you’re eating, guilt-free.
Talk to a nutritionist or take that step by yourself.
Using an app, a food diary, and avoiding diets that “prohibit” you from indulging in the treats you love are the best way to eat healthier in the long term.
Intensity: Be Consistent and Go Harder
You already know walking is ideal for losing poundage, but trimming your waistline also takes time and effort.
Research indicates that consistently walking 3 times a week, around 50 minutes3, can not only reduce abdominal fat but also help with diabetes and other health issues. Additionally, the more calories you burn, the faster you’ll be able to see a change in the waistline.
To ramp up your weight loss, good options are increasing time, speed, and incline.
If you’re new to walking, slowly add extra minutes and give your body enough time to adapt. Then, you can start revving up your workouts.
If you don’t know how to start increasing intensity to boost your weight loss, an online program can do the hard work of picking proper exercises for you.
An app like Walking.Diet, for example, allows you to elevate your goals while maintaining consistency and keeping you motivated.
Sample workout: Begin your day with a short 10-minute warm-up walk. Then try to go faster for 45 minutes. You can also have a break midway through if you feel it’s too intense. After this mindset, 10 more minutes of relaxed walking to finish it up.
PRO TIP: if you can, use the breaks between sets to do squats and pushups to get even better results!
Start Now: Find the Right Program for You
Why not take this step and start getting slimmer now?
Online plans are an easy way to count steps, track progress and achieve your goals. Some even offer diets and motivational boosts to go with your daily workouts.
Apps for walkers and runners are everywhere, so it may be difficult to find one that has all you need.
First thing first: look for a good, easy-to-use interface. Having an app in the palm of your hand is life-changing, but you need something that is not difficult to navigate, and it’s right to the point.
Another perk is good tracking features. Allowing the user to access all kinds of data is essential to know how progress is going: how many miles you’ve clocked, calories you’ve burned, and so on.
Last but not least, the most important thing when looking for an online program is how customizable it is.
The only way you can be certain an exercise program works for you is if it’s made for you. A plan that allows you to input your goals, needs, and preferences is ideal.
If you’re already interested in losing weight and getting healthier, we suggest Walking.Diet! A professional-approved meal and exercise program with all the perks that other plans offer separately but in a single place.
You just need to fill in a quiz so a team of nutritionists and walking coaches can prepare a wellness solution for you.
No guesswork and no long hours of searching for the perfect tool. It’s all in here!
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I guess I’ll do more walking… not just walking to the fridge lol I weigh 226 pounds right now and I hope to lose some pounds by the end of November. After reading this post on here it got me extremely motivated so thank you all
I am on my second month of walking and already lost 5 lbs. That is by following the diet plan as well. It has been very relaxing and I plan to continue at least a mile a day.
I’ve been walking every morning for a few months now and I’ve dropped some lbs already….I started with 1 mile and with Walking Diet I kept adding over the weeks…I never knew how much I enjoy being outdoors until covid and the weight loss has me feeling so good NOTHING can make me stop!