The majority of people nowadays instantly relate losing weight, to eating LESS. When in fact, in some cases eating MORE will help you lose weight.

You’re probably wondering “What are the best exercises to get abs…” Sorry, but doing sit-ups day in and day out will not give you the abs you’re looking for. There is no quick fix to achieving your dream body, it requires dedication to a healthy, balanced lifestyle. However, there are steps you can take that will give you a better chance at getting flat abs. Continue reading to find out a few things that you could be doing wrong when it comes to losing belly fat.

1. Lack of Sleep.

This is quite a common problem I have noticed in various peoples cases.

Getting a good night sleep is very important for so many reasons. Sleep is important for recovery of the CNS (Central Nervous System) which is CRUCIAL for FAT LOSS. Sleep is also a stimulate of GH (Growth Hormone) secretion. Growth hormone is one of the most powerful fat loss hormones in the body! Make sure you get at least 6 hours of sleep per night minimum to maximize your growth hormone release and increase your fat burning potential!

Try to aim for 8-9 hours of sleep a night, keep away from caffeine late at night – maybe instead treat yourself to a cup of herbal tea, such as chamomile (which helps you sleep better!) or peppermint (which aids digestion)

2. Feeling Stressed at all??

If you do happen to be feeling stressed, then your body could be producing more cortisol (stress hormone). Now do not fret, as it is perfectly normal to get stressed from time to time, and this isn’t typically the worst thing! However, if you are constantly feeling stressed out, then you may have high levels of cortisol in your body, which will make it more difficult to shed any type of fat.

This basically means your body is in a ‘fight, or flight’ mode and it may not have a chance to relax and digest your food properly.

Another quick point to take in consideration with stress is a lot of people will resort to comfort eating (As stressed as you are, try your hardest not to resort to this!!)

Now this may not really sound like an effective route to take towards weight loss, but believe me, it really is!

If you are feeling stressed out, then you must actively try to de-stress your life! Find things that calm you down when you’re feeling stressed, maybe go for a long walk, take up Yoga, talk to friends/family or simply taking some time out to read a book or watch a movie.

3. Are you Training Correctly?

The majority of people nowadays instantly relate cardio to weight or fat loss, when in fact this is nowhere near the best way to reduce overall body fat.

There are various types of training such as HIIT & Resistance training (Weights) which will cause your body to burn calories at a greater rate! (Read my blog on TABATA Training for an amazing way to burn calories)

After a long steady cardio session, your body will continue burning calories for the next 12 hours… Amazing, huh?

Keep reading.

After a hard weight training/HIIT session. Your body will continue burning calories for the next 72 HOURS!

I’m not saying to ditch the long steady cardio, but for weight loss, I do recommend focusing more so on the weights.

4. You’re just Training Abs

If you are one of those people who eat healthy and only train abs, you may find it’s taking you longer to lose belly fat than expected! Hate to break it to you, but it is not actually possible to spot reduce! What I mean is — just doing ab exercises will not give you abs.

Everyone has a nice set of defined abdominals, we just have to find the buggers. So instead of training abs, I recommend you find a workout that implements HIIT training & Resistance training (Check out my plan page.)

Keep at the resistance training!!

Remember, that achieving your dream physique isn’t going to be easy. It will take a lot of dedication and hard work, but trust me, anyone can do it! No matter what age, gender or race. Be patient with yourself and your body, and in time the results will come!

5. Eat More Food!

That’s exactly as it sounds! In some cases, people are not eating enough to get their body burning fat.

Everyone has a BMR (Basic Metabolic Rate) Once you have worked out your correct calorie consumption, then you must ensure you hit them bang on! This will really boost your metabolism.

Ensure you also hit your vitamins/minerals to further promote weight loss  (Each of my plans comes with £50+ worth of supplements)

The first questions or concerns of those starting to eat more food is about the number of calories or macros they are expected to eat. I understand it can seem quite strange to eat so many calories when you’ve been told all your life that the only way to lose weight is to follow a low-calorie diet.

Heres one such comment – “I’m 24. 175cm (5″10), 224 lbs. I am fairly active

(I workout 4-5 times a week) and your calculations put me at 2033 calories a day, 154c, 227p, and 56f.

I just think 2033 calories is fairly excessive and I’ve been on diets all my life and have never passed 1300 calorie range as I am considered overweight.

In this above example, this lady was accustomed to consuming 1300 calories each day. She would probably burn about 400 calories at the gym, which would only leave her 900 calories to fuel her entire bodily processes and general movements throughout the day.

According to my calculations, her sedentary calories are 2218 just to maintain her current weight. Therefore on exercise days, she is putting her body in a 1318 calorie deficit.

Now, the global basic understanding of weight loss principles would say, “Wow! She’s working hard, she is gonna make amazing progress in no time!” – But believe it or not, our bodies do not work quite like that!

Our bodies are an amazingly complex machine, and its main goal is to survive through any means possible!

So what’s your bodies solution when you’re only feeding it 900 calories a day when the poor bugger needs 2218 calories…

Time to enter starvation mode! (Not good)

 A few days of drastic calorie deficit are fine and cause no changes, but for those that consistently eat at dangerously low-calorie amounts, the body switches into a conservation state or what some people call “Starvation mode”

The body slows things down, slows the burning of fat, and actually begins to break down muscle tissue for energy especially if the dieter is also engaged in weight training.

So the solution is to EAT

Unless a dieter is dangerously obese and under the direct care of a physician, he/she should never have a calorie deficit of more than 500 calories from their Total Daily Energy Expenditure calories (TDEE)

So make sure you’re eating enough to support your bodily processes and the sustainability of your muscle mass. This will ensure your metabolism stays high, in turn slowly burning away at your body fat.