In order to lose tummy fat you have to eliminate the blockers to weight loss – it could be food allergies, hormonal imbalances, gut dysfunction, burnt out adrenal glands, poor mitochondria function, estrogen dominance, etc.  I can go on and on about the things that get in the way of normal weight loss.  But that is not what this article is about 🙂

I am going to tell you the 2 things to do TODAY to help you lose tummy fat. 

But many people do things that sabotage their weight loss efforts over and over again. 

This is so simple that it sounds RIDICULOUS but it is SO IMPORTANT.

Stop Sabotaging Yourself With These TWO Effective and Affordable Tips to Lose Tummy Fat

Just the other day I was saying to my husband that he takes this one thing for granted and he sabotages himself by not giving himself enough of it.

Without enough on this one VERY IMPORTANT THING your body can:

• Suffer from inadequate hormone function
• Can impair immune responses
• Inadequately detoxify
• Suffer from poor digestion

Without enough of this particular thing it can lead to weight gain and can prevent your ability to lose tummy fat.  I don’t care how many crunches you do…..I don’t care how little you eat….I don’t care what fat burner you take. You need to stop taking this one thing for granted.

I will give you a few hints.

This one thing helps:

• RECOVER
• YOUR BODY TO RELEASE HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE which helps aid in weight loss.
• YOUR BODIES immune system function properly so you can fight off viruses and infections.
• Maintain normal cortisol levels which help you lose tummy fat.

And yet we take it for granted.

We deprive ourselves of this VERY IMPORTANT FUNCTION.

We purposely ingest chemicals to help us fight against the need for this VERY IMPORTANT FUNCTION.

We pride ourselves on our ability to go WITHOUT IT.

Have you figured it out yet?

SLEEP!!

Yes, I know.  Not very exciting or sexy.

But, studies say again and again how sleep has a huge impact on our weight.

Increases in food intake and decreases in physical activity are the two most obvious reasons for the alarming increase in prevalence of obesity but experts agree that other factors must also be involved. Among those, reductions in sleep duration has been proposed to be one of the most likely contributing factors [13]. Over the past few decades, nightly sleep duration (by self-report) has decreased in a mirror image with the increase in the prevalence of obesity. In 2008, the poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation [14] revealed that American adults sleep on average 6 h 40 min during weekdays and 7 h 25 min during the weekend. In contrast, in 1960, the average sleep duration was 8.5 h

It’s Free.  It’s CHEAP.  IT’S EFFECTIVE.  And it can help you lose tummy fat and lose weight quickly.

Without sleep you cannot give your body a chance to recover.

Yet, we don’t know what that means. 

Our bodies have to come back to baseline.  We put ourselves through a lot each day.  We have to deal with work stressors, family issues, financial hardship, sick family members and our own ills in life.  This is HARD STUFF. 

And we need the time to let our bodies recover and repair from these normal every day life stressors. 

From 10:00PM to 2:00AM is the time that the body’s immune system works hard to regenerate cells eliminating cancer cells, bacteria, viruses and other harmful agents.  Yet, we cheat ourselves out of this very important time to watch a recorded sitcom like SHARK TANK ( at least that’s how it is in my house ). 

And it’s not like we can change the circadian rhythm of our bodies!!!! We think we can.  We think that this process will occur when we fall asleep…..but it just isn’t so, sista!!!

Nope….then you just have a hard time falling asleeep…. You have a hard time staying asleep and then you miss out on the next cycle which helps your brain regenerate.  And this occurs from 2:00 AM – 6:00 AM

R.E.M. – which also helps you enter a stage of psychic and mental regeneration so you are not a CRAZY PERSON the next day.

Look, there is enough research out there that link obesity to lack of sleep.  INSERT STUDY

A lot goes on when we sleep……and a lot happens to our bodies when we deprive ourselves of it. 

Be kind to yourself and give your body the sleep it needs……and enjoy it!!

Do you know what the SECOND thing is that we do which also sabotage our efforts at weight loss?

We again, purposely go without it. 

So many other things come first…..cleaning the house, answering emails, going on FB, meeting a friend….even working out.

Then by the time we actually give it to ourselves….it is usually poor quality and inadequate for what our bodies need.

You probably know what it is…….

Let Food Be Thy Medicine

IT’S FOOD.

How many people actually eat 3-4 REGULAR , WELL BALANCED MEALS EACH DAY??

Instead….we grab things.

A Nutri Grain Bar and call it breakfast.

A POWER BAR and call it lunch.

A Pizza and call it dinner.

A Coffee and call it hydration.

A cookie and call it a snack.

Or we think if we go without eating we will then eat less and LOSE WEIGHT.

Or we work for 10 hours straight without eating only to find ourselves depleted, low on energy and low on blood sugar.

Then we gorge ourselves.

Not only is this just a bad habit……but this too has a tremendous effect on our hormonal state….

And as we know it……our hormones RULE OUR WEIGHT LOSS EFFORT AND SUCCESS.

How many times does your meal include a:

• Lean protein
• Green, leafy vegetables
• Healthy fat
• And a complex carb

Or to make it easy – a 4 oz. piece of salmon, a side of spinach greens (sauteed), a 1/2 sweet potato and a 1/2 avocado?

Or 1 egg, 3 egg whites + greens + 1/2 cup oatmeal?

How often do your meals look like that? 

If you are eating 4 meals a day x 7 days per week……which = 28 meals PER WEEK.

Your meals should look like that for 25 out of the 28 meals. 

You have to eat….don’t you?  So make it count.

The benefits of eating regular meals are:

• They help keep blood sugar levels stable – which help keep your stress hormones balanced (which in turn help you lose tummy fat).
• They provide the necessary nutrients to your body (which help keep your hormones balances which in turn help you lose tummy fat).

Stable blood sugar + nutrients give you energy so you can have the energy to workout so you can lose weight quickly.

Working out helps increase your metabolism and increase human growth hormone – which helps you lose weight.

Do these tips help you lose weight quickly?

No.  But to be honest, anything that is going to make you lose weight quickly is most likely going to cause a whole host of unwanted issues.

So do the right thing by your body and stop sabotaging it.

Eat, Sleep and Be Merry!!