Summer is nearing and like every year, you may have forgotten to work out extra hard to show a toned and flat belly by summer! When it comes to external beauty, what you should be aiming to look like, is healthy. So I’m going to take you through a journey filled with secrets to a smaller waistline, with a heavy side of healthy glow!
What Causes a Big Belly?
It’s important to find out exactly what is causing your enlarged stomach so you can find the correct natural ways to lessen the bulge! So I’ve organized healthy and natural solutions according to the causes of a big belly!
Before I continue, if you haven’t tried reducing your alcohol and carb intake, you might want to consider doing this along with any of the other following things that might be making your belly size worsen.
Pregnancy
You should probably check to make sure you aren’t pregnant first. There are cases where women don’t know they’re pregnant after several months due to irregular continued menstruation throughout a healthy pregnancy.
Nevertheless, don’t forget to talk about safe exercises and eating habits for pregnancies the next time you visit your OB/GYN or family doctor, because you’ll want two things: A healthy baby and a healthy labor! P.S. Maybe an easier post-natal phase, too?
Here is a video on some safe pregnancy exercises:
Stretched Stomach
Your stomach can stretch (as seen when you eat until you’re completely full), but it can also go back to its original size, but depending on how overstretched it has been and for how long, it can be difficult for it to return to its original size.
This is usually what I personally suffer with specifically after holidays with feasts that seem to go on forever! The tips I am sharing for bringing back elasticity to your stomach are personal solutions that have worked for many of my friends, and have no bad side effects!
My Technique #1:
Flex your abs about 50%, not too flexed, but not completely relaxed. Every time you eat, make sure you are doing this the whole time you are eating. Your abdomen muscles will keep your stomach from over stretching and get you feeling full fast.
Don’t worry if you’ve eaten too little with the above technique because you’re going to have to make sure to eat again as soon as you are hungry. This is the best way to help your stomach get back to its healthy original state.
This is a great habit to form because if you get full fast, you’ll get hungry fast, and you won’t actually have to cut down on food- because you’ll be eating around 5-6 smaller meals per day compared to three big ones! This will improve your digestive flow! The Japanese are known to be amazing with their health, and it came from them to “Eat 75%” full. Keep your stomach fit and healthy!
My Technique #2:
Detox! This isn’t really my own technique, of course, but detox the healthy way! Natural ingredients that contain chlorophyll, the green pigment, are known to contain anti-oxidants that’ll help clean out your gut! So make friends with your toilet before starting a higher consumption of natural greens!
Fat Storage
If the extra bulge is caused by fat buildup, try to avoid liposuction as we will talk about how to healthily drop the fat, and easily keep it off. Depending on your body type, your belly may be the first place your body decides to store fat!
As a fitness trainer, it’s important I first tell you about the Law of Individual Differences in Fitness training. It basically means that by hard solid proof through each DNA, each person’s body responds differently to certain workout techniques, so when working out, make sure to continuously change up your routine to find what exercises and techniques work best for you. THEN just when your body gets used to it- change it up again! The element of surprise will get your muscles alert and bring them to life!
I suggest a diet of 35% protein, 15% fat, and 50% carbohydrates, with at least 3 workout days a week for anaerobic muscle building with weights, and with one day of aerobic HIIT (high-intensity interval training). If you aren’t familiar with HIIT, try this simple HIIT workout.
If you don’t have the time and money to learn and formulate your own workout, go ahead and try these workouts (you can do them at home).
Loose Skin
There are many ways to bring back elasticity to the skin without surgery! Whether you have loose skin around your belly due to post pregnancy or because you’ve lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time, natural aging, or you just seem to have loose skin, here are some natural ways to rehydrate your skin!
- Stay Hydrated- I can’t stress this enough! Your body needs water for many things, and with the number of organs in need, your skin won’t be your body’s priority.
- Moisturize! Three times a day until skin tightness is improved, then you can move to twice a day to really keep it beautiful!
Coconut oil works great, but it’s important to heat it up just a little bit (don’t burn yourself), or find a way to open your pores first, like immediately after a hot shower. You can also try whipping up these natural moisturizer recipes at home!
Check out this quick video for some ideas:
Hormone Imbalance
These different hormones flowing in your body can cause your stomach to bulge when imbalanced:
- Thyroid Hormones: There are three thyroid hormones (TSH, T3, and T4) that need to all be running well and balanced to ensure that your metabolism is flowing at a healthy rate. To find the right metabolism rate for you, or in fitness terms; your Basal Metabolic Rate, go ahead and calculate that here.
- Growth Hormone & Acetylcholine: These are released when asleep and helps to repair your muscles. Healthy muscles mean healthy fat burning, so build the muscle up around that area.
- Adiponectin: This lives in our fatty cells and increases our sensitivity to insulin. The more adiponectin, the faster your body will be burning fat! Keep it balanced! Lots of carbs and no exercise can cause your Adiponectin levels to drop!
- Adrenaline: Apart from giving you superhuman speed and strength when the situation calls for it, Adrenaline also helps you to get rid of extra fat and sugar that has been stored. It isn’t good to always have adrenaline going however because you might need this hormone in a fight or flight situation.
Get checked up by a doctor and ask if you two can pinpoint if the cause of your bulging belly is a hormone imbalance. Once you’ve figured it out and gotten a prescription, make sure to do research on natural ways to balance out the hormones that need it!
Parasites and other Serious Health Issues
I suggest that you immediately consult your doctor if you are experiencing symptoms such as
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea/ Constipation
- Nausea
- Heartburn
- Any other weird stuff that is accompanying your belly bulge.
Even if your symptoms are mild, urge your doctor that you’d like to do a stool sample test. Truth is, many people have bacteria and parasites living in their digestive system with symptoms that can be mild for up to a year! If you do have parasites, the sooner you get them out, the better!
Leaky Gut Syndrome is another thing to look out for. It’s caused by an initial intolerance to a certain food which has been ignored or unnoticed leading to continuous consumption of the food you are intolerant to. This ruins the protective inner lining of your stomach and causes food to leak from your stomach and are seen as antigens by the body, in which your immune system will continue to attack. This also leads to simple colds and cases of flu to worsen as the immune system is kept busy.
