One of the most common questions we get asked is “How can I lose belly fat”?

Unfortunately the answer is not from any one special diet or a pill. Belly fat is one of the places where people hold the largest percentage of their body fat and can also be the hardest to shift.

So if your thinking no carbs or lots of running is the answer to losing belly fat then think again. You may see scale weight coming down in the short term but you wont be losing anywhere near the amount of actual belly fat you expect. We have to remember that scale weight and body fat are two separate things and when you lose scale weight, if not done correctly, this will mostly come from water and muscle wasteage and your not actual losing belly fat. This is why you see people who have lost a large amount of weight yet there belly fat is still visible.

Here at Hustle one of our most valuable tools is not a dumbbell or bike but our Tanita biometric scales. With these we can measure internal and external body fat, muscle mass, bone density and water levels. If the body fat is coming down and muscle mass is increasing we are heading in the right direction to losing belly fat if its going the other way then this is a sign that you actualy require more food.

Yes, that’s right! More food! Keeping your calories too low wont end with a positive change to your body composition and loss of belly fat. With our fat loss clients at Hustle personal training our goals are to retain or even build muscle whilst losing body fat. So the answer to losing belly fat is in the tracking of body fat not scale weight.

I know you were all looking for the magic answer to losing belly fat but the truth is its not something that can be rushed. Your belly fat didn’t appear over night so we cant expect it to disappear quickly.

But here are the main 6 things that we look to optimise when setting up a new client for fat loss at Hustle:

  1. Optimise your digestive health
  2. Optimise your sleep – ideally 7 hours per night.
  3. Strength train 2-3 times per week – aim to get stronger as well as performing the exercsies correctly.
  4. Have regular body fat measurements which allows you to see if you are actually losing body fat.
  5. Be patient aim for 1-2lb weight loss per week.
  6. Eat between 0.8-1 gram of protein per lb of lean body weight.

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