Belly fat – rrrrrrr!  It’s frustrating and makes you feel like crap.  When your belly feels fat – you suddenly feel chunky all over!

You can thank a decrease in your hormones, that starts in your 40’s.   Oestrogen and progesterone for women and testosterone for men.  Giving you that belly you seem to have no control over!

Stress is not your friend!

Your life might be stressful in this age bracket. You could be dealing with ageing parents, or even with young kids.  Add to that career pressures and financial responsibilities……and the stress factor kicks in.

Cortisol is released in response to stress.   As part of the ‘fight or flight’ trigger. This hormone is NOT kind to your increasing belly fat.  It stimulates your cravings for more starchy, sugary foods!

Knocking back sugary foods stimulates a release of insulin.  And the combo of insulin and cortisol is a bad recipe for belly fat in your 50’s!

Should you go on a diet?  Consume less calories? Start exercising longer and harder?  No!  This just causes ‘stress’ in your body.

Your body can’t tell the difference between good stress and bad stress.   So you’re back in that vicious cycle of trying to lose belly fat in your 50’s!

Can you blame your Mum or Dad?  Genetics play a part too.  So check out your Mum and Dad and see how they’re fairing in the belly fat region!

But NO – you can’t totally blame them!

6 Ways To Tackle Belly Fat….

1.  Get Your Hormones Tested!

Unfortunately if your hormones are ‘out of whack’ you’ll struggle in this age bracket to change your body.

Get tested by a Specialist who deals in Bio Identical plant derived hormones. Preferably dealing in troches.   Do your research and feel comfortable with whatever decision you choose to make.

2. Look At What You’re Eating

Are you……………

• Eating clean, organic foods?
• Including lean protein with every meal?
• Having green vegetables with every meal?
• Limiting fruit to one or two pieces per day? Fruit is fructose (sugar). Your body treats it the same way as sugar from a packet.
• Are there packets and tins in your cupboards and fridge that have all sorts of numbers….and unidentifiable ingredients listed on them?  And you’ve no idea what they mean?

You ‘are what you eat’.  Put rubbish in your body and your body will battle to process it.  Your metabolism slows down and you struggle to shift weight.

So clean up your daily eating but don’t go on any crazy diets!

3.  Train Smarter NOT Longer and Harder!

Suddenly joining a boot-camp, if you’re not used to that type of training, might not get you the results you aimed for!  You’re once again putting your body under stress.  And stress = cortisol release = belly fat!

Choose an exercise program that gets you to bend, reach, twist, pull and push all within one workout.  While protecting your joints at the same time.

A program that’ll strengthen your body BUT will lengthen your muscles too.  A program that gets your heart-rate going.  Getting your metabolism fired up and burning fat for the rest of the day.  Click the link here to check out my programs –  CoreStrength50plus Programs

4.  Lift Heavier Weights

Heavier weights will change the shape of your body.  And by increasing the size (tone) of your muscles, you’ll be increasing your metabolism.

A fully formed muscle is still burning energy.  Even at rest.  So, in layman terms, if you’ve good lean muscle on your body, you’ll be burning body fat even just sitting there!

5.  Ab Exercises Won’t Reduce Your Belly Fat – But…

You can do ab exercises until you’re ‘blue in the face’.  But it won’t change your belly fat issues!

However, if your abs are strong and you’ve trained your muscles correctly, it changes your posture and makes you stand taller.  Your belly always looks bigger if you’ve been a bit of a sloucher. Getting strength and support through your core/ab area, lengthens your body.   It’s an optical illusion – but it works!

6.  Chill-Out Your Body AND Mind!

Stress is not your friend when dealing with belly fat.

You MUST have rest days built into your exercise program. This is when your body is repairing itself.

Calm your mind!  Meditation is a ‘life changing’ practice. It’ll change the way you look at life and how you cope with things.

Start with just 5 minutes a day if you’re new to it.

You’re unique! What works for someone else might not work for you.

Be patient, be kind to yourself.

Put the effort in to find what works best for YOUR body!