Lose that belly for the wedding!

Source: itheedread.jezebel.com

I am getting married in a mermaid style dress and one of my biggest concerns is my belly.😑 Call me vain and maybe I am but wedding pictures last forever and I don’t want to spend forever wondering if I could have looked better on that day. Plus having a lot of belly fat is not that healthy anyway!😅 I know a lot of other brides-to-be have this same concern so I’ll be sharing a few tips on how you can lose the belly for the wedding and keep it off long afterwards.

Before I start, it is important to realise that doing thousands of crunches or planking for several hours will not flatten your belly. I see people doing this all the time in an effort to burn belly fat but it never works. All they are really doing is building and strengthening their abdominal and core muscles and building an impressive set of abs. But those abs will still be covered in fat so what is the point of all the hard work? 

I believe that instead of exercising in futility, all you need to do is tweak a few things here and there and you can get reduce your belly fat in a few weeks. How? Here we go…

• Cut down on starchy carbs and sugar. Just reducing your portions of starch and eliminating artificial sugar from your diet will give you a flatter belly in as little as 3 days! What you should do is aim to eat half your fist size in starchy carbs per meal and if possible eat your last starchy meal at least 2 hours before you go to bed. To make up for the reduction in starchy foods, feast on fibre from greens and other non-starchy vegetables and if you crave sweets, have a piece of fruit or two per day. Also cut out sugar totally or at least reduce intake of them and this includes natural sugars like honey, coconut sugars, agave syrup etc. 
• Eat enough good quality proteins. Eating enough good quality proteins will help you reduce belly fat because it is satiating and this means less food will fill you up. Apart from this, digesting proteins requires more energy than digesting either carbs or fats. This means you get to burn a few extra calories just by eating proteins!
• Add good quality healthy fats too! Fats will not make you fat or sick except you eat bad quality fats or you stuff yourself with fatty food. Fats are not bad so strike a balance and eat the good stuff like nuts, seeds, unprocessed oils, avocado etc in moderation. It will help you burn belly fat.
• Combine cardio and strength training or do high intensity training. It is okay to run or do zumba or power walk but make sure you strength train too. Do either activity at least 2x a week for at least 45 minutes. If you don't have time to do both, aim to do short high intensity workouts for at least 25 minutes at least 3x a week. Ensure your workouts involve compound exercises that train many muscle groups at the same time e.g. squats, push ups, lunges, planks, burpees etc. If you use a gym, feel free to lift weights and go beyond the pink 2 pound dumbbells 😊 Belly fat responds more to resistance training and/or high intensity training than to just doing moderate intensity cardio.
• Scrimp on all drinks except water. Water is the only drink that is unprocessed, calorie free, sugar free and fat free all at once so drink loads of it if you are thirsty. Other calorie free drinks include plain coffee and tea (no cream, milk, creamer, sweetener or sugar added) but these drinks dehydrate so be careful. Skip fruit juices. They are sugar and calorie bombs. Eat the fruit(s) instead. Limit alcohol intake to special occasions and when you indulge watch your portions. All in all, try to eat your calories rather than guzzling them at least your belly will feel full.

So here’s wishing you good luck in losing that belly for dress!