Belly fat for most is where we begin to gain weight and it is also where it’s last to go. Whether you have tried before and failed or are on a mission to get the last few lbs off the belly to show your abs. These top 5 simple ways to lose belly fat will help you in the short term but more importantly, they are actually long-term solutions too.

1. Speed up your gut movement:

By speeding up your guts digestion you are essentially speeding up your metabolism. Your metabolism is responsible for converting the food you eat into usable energy for your body to use. So, when you’re eating the right food and eating it slowly, chewing a lot, drinking enough water, being active etc your speeding up your metabolism. Think of your digestive system as a plumed pipe in a house toilet that goes in a zig-zag around bends carrying stuff (crap)

Your digestive system is just like that only longer, 30 feet on average all packed into the trunk of our bodies. If you throw bits of chunky cardboard or rolls of toilet paper down the toilet it gets clogged up yeah!! or slows down the flow of water waste. It’s the same with eating junk food and not even chewing it enough to go down to your stomach smoothly. It will clog and slow down your digestion, metabolism and gains & fat-loss.

2. Sleep more

Get into bed 1 hour before you usually do, starting tonight. Instead of watching Netflix or scrolling through your Facebook newsfeed. Just go asleep. If this seems difficult-(You may even say) “watching tv or using my phone helps me nod off” Well it doesn’t get you quality sleep. The bright lights and exciting news really excites the brain and keeps it active when you should be winding down. Try changing your sleeping habits a little with these 3 simple steps.

1. Put all electronics out of your bedroom including TV’s and mobile phones (if you need an alarm put it on your phone and leave it in your bathroom or get an old-school alarm clock. The bedroom is for sleep, relaxing and sex and nothing else. Doing this gets rid of the temptation to check your phone too.

2. Sprinkle a few drops of lavender extract oil on your pillow this is a natural sleep aid and yes it really works.

3. Have your last meal about 2 ½ to 3 hours before bedtime and make sure its high in protein and fats and low in carbs. A carb-heavy meal can sit in your stomach and make you feel uncomfortable while sleeping plus carbs are usually needed for intense training and eaten before bed they are most likely going to be stored as fat as they won’t be used up. Especially if you’re the type of person that looks at bread and puts on body fat.

 3. Be aware of the liquid calories

If you struggle to lose fat and get lean and you think you eat healthily. Then your problem could be in the high-calorie drinks you have. You could swap them for less calorific options…

• Gin and tonics instead of sugary cocktails,
• Coconut/almond milk instead of Cows milk
• Light beers instead of Guinness,
• or fruit and veg juices/smoothies instead of cokes and other fizzy drinks

• Or drink less of them

• Or ditch them for much-needed water or green tea.

When you add up all the liquid drinks you could be easily getting in too much energy/calories from them and still feel hungry. Therefore, totally stopping your fat-loss goals. It is much better to eat food calories as this will fill you and provide less sugar and more protein.

For example, a 300 calorie chicken salad is going to be more nutritious, filling and healthier than a 300 calorie Starbucks Frappuccino

4. Use a training and food journal

Writing down everything that you eat and the exercises you do will keep you accountable and help you find the leaks in your lifestyle that need to be changed to help you see more progress. You will become more mindful of what you eat and how active you are. Then after a while, you can change it up slightly to help you speed up the results.

 5. Bodyweight HIIT to rev up the fat burning process

HIIT is great for burning fat, it’s fun, it gets you fit, but more importantly, it burns belly fat really quickly.

Combine this with bodyweight you really blow torch the fat burning process

So, bodyweight HIIT is mixing things up from burpees tuck jumps, push-ups,  jumping jacks, plyo lunges and a lot more, in high intensity interval training sessions

Example 20 seconds on 10 seconds rest (or the other way around if you’re a beginner) of burpees for 4 rounds. Simple and can be done anywhere. Plus, its can be made easier or header with more or less rest or working time or just changing the exercise.

So that’s it, if you do even one of these 5 tips you’ll make a difference but if you do all, you’re in for a nice surprise when you comfortably put on the old favourite jeans you don’t fit into anymore in the next week or 2. Or even reveal that 6 pack after 6-12 weeks.

Let me know how you get on with these I would love to hear If you were able to stick to the plan.

Stephen