The most common reason to start a diet and exercise is to lose weight. Many people find themselves lean, but they also have a few problematic areas where stubborn fat got stuck. Especially it is hard to reduce stubborn belly fat. What happens when your diet is good and your workouts are regular, but you reach the plateau and those fat cells aren’t burning anymore? Sometimes eating less and exercising more only make things worse and your fat become more stubborn. This is when you need a new strategy to reduce stubborn belly fat.

What kind of fat is stubborn fat?

The stubborn fat is just a regular fat placed on the different body areas. Women tend to store more fat on their abdominal area, thighs, hips, lower back, and upper arms, while men accumulate more fat on the abdominal area and lower back. Since body fat is the biggest energy storage in the human body, burned fat cells provide you energy. The process of mobilization of fatty acids from fat cells is called lipolysis. Fatty acids have to be released from fat cells, then brought by blood to another cell where they will be used for energy. Simplified, that fatty acid will burn. This final step is called lipid oxidation.

Science behind stubborn fat

Stubborn fat is not easy to be burned, but thanks to biochemistry it can be understood. The reason for stubborn fat inertia lays behind the receptors in the fat cells and their response to the hormones. The major fat releasing hormones are adrenaline and noradrenaline, which are known as catecholamines. Catecholamines bind receptors in fat cells. There are two kinds of receptors: alpha2 and beta. By binding to the receptors, catecholamines send a signal to the fat cells to release or slow down fat release. The alpha receptors slow down fat release since the beta receptors speed fat release. According to that, stubborn fat has a high amount of alpha receptors.

Also, a major problem is that stubborn fat has a greater insulin sensitivity. Refined sugars usually cause skyrocketing of blood sugar followed by a surge of insulin. After that, the body feels hungry again even if it has more than enough fuel. The proper way to correct that would be a balanced diet with food that doesn’t raise blood sugar that fast like non-starchy vegetables and meat, low-fat milk products.

Stubborn fat areas get less blood flow. Blood flow is crucial for mobilizing fat cells. More blood means more oxygen and oxygen is the key component of all aerobic metabolic burning. More cardio workout or any workout that will help bring more blood to the problematic regions. Massages became a popular way of bringing more blood to problematic areas. They have proven to be useful if done properly. Although massage won’t solve your stubborn fat, some massages like lymph drainage will help you reduce lymph residue and some of the unnecessary metabolic byproducts.

What will not help to reduce stubborn belly fat?

Starving, followed by high intensity exercise

There is nothing good with less food and more exercise. It would slow down your metabolism, harm your immune system and won’t actually help you to lose fat. Hard workouts produce high levels of the stress hormone – cortisol, so without proper nutrition and rest your body won’t be able to repair, which means you won’t get rid of stubborn belly fat, it will become even more stubborn.

High levels of insulin

Maybe sweets can trick you from time to time but using sugars as fuel tells your body there is no need to mobilize the fat.

Belief in supplementation

There is not a magic pill that will make your belly flat and your six pack visible. Supplementation is not a foundation of nutrition, it just supports for fat loss. Proper diet and regular exercise will give you the most, but supplements can make those gains even bigger.

What can we do to reduce stubborn belly fat?

Diet

A balanced diet that involves whole, unprocessed food is a foundation of every fat loss. Since the stubborn fat is very sensitive to insulin, try to avoid sugars.

Exercise

Resistance training shape muscles and preserve them of catabolism. The best type of cardio is HIIT ( high intensity interval training). Both of them will help you increase blood flow and trigger the release of hormones involved in lipolysis.

Supplementation

As I won’t recommend you to use alpha2 blockers or any other substance that could possibly endanger your health, try using only proven or natural supplements. The only supplement is not a key ingredient for fat loss, but it can enhance it. Green tea extract or caffeine supplements should work fine for that purpose.

As we see, the most stubborn fat is not a genetic problem. There is no curse behind your belly fat. Hard work will bring you those gains you dream about. Use these tips and prepare yourself for the big change and reduce stubborn belly fat. Good luck!