How to Lose Lower Belly Fat

How to lose lower belly fat is probably one of the top questions I receive from both men and women. It can be the most frustrating part of your body transformation because often times it is the last place you will lose fat and the first place you will put it on.

With the inception of the internet, so too came the fitness bloggers with quick fixes and in depth analysis on the topic (if you detect sarcasm then you’re on to it!). This resulted in highly educated and informative posts the net sum of which implored you to exercise and eat right.

Thanks, Tips…

Welcome to the shallows. The emergence of the quick and distracted. The deluge of information that is neither anchored in theory nor a background in the practical.

Many of these people would literally copy and paste the first thing they read on a Friday morning and regurgitate it as gospel by Friday afternoon, giving you “something to think about” over the weekend.

Now if you happened on that same Fit Pro on Monday you will likely have seen that they have done a complete 180 which leaves you, the frustrated reader searching for a solution, both confused and bewildered.

I’m not going to write a 1500 word rant on the proliferation of bullshit internet fitness trends which are shallow and short lasting, but rather my goal is to give you some actionable information you can consider and implement if you choose.

How to Lose Lower Belly Fat…Really

What is fitness…I mean actually what is it?

Whether you are wondering about how to lose lower belly fat, how to get a flat belly or even improve your performance so you can feel better, it boils down to one thing…

Look, I know that the shallow swimmers on the internet will be screaming…Todd you dumbass! It takes 2 thingzzzz (yeah they’ll use tricky spelling to drive home their point).

Whyyyyy…. fitness is the combination of exercise and nutrition… Isn’t it?

Indeed, that’s all there is to it for the shallow swimmers.

And to be fair, they are partly correct. (don’t start chest bumping yet my fitness pro friend).

The fact is…the TRUTH is….these two disciplines combine to make you fit through the intentional manipulation of hormones.

Doesn’t matter if you are a man or woman. If you breathe air on this planet, your hormones are responsible for how you look and feel.

From your good mood, to your attraction to your partner to wanting to maim your coworker for their stupid comment about your clothes (we’ve all got that tool at the office don’t we…amazing in 2016), your hormones are driving the bus.

Thus it stands to reason that as a trainer, when it comes time to lose lower belly fat, we must intentionally manipulate your hormones to produce the desired effect in a way that is both easy to follow and one that supports your health long term.

In my own case for example, I primarily had to focus on bodyfat transformation. I was able to manipulate two macronutrients in my nutrition plan, carbohydrates and fats, to reduce my 20% body fat down to 5.2% which is where I stay most of the time.

This process works successfully for most guys so I documented the process in my TCycle Diet . This takes the process of hormonal manipulation to the next level as it focused on natural testosterone production (hormone!) through diet, estrogen blocking and excretion through diet (hormone!) and production of nitric oxide.

The reason my nutritional profile of this plan went so deep is because we know that improved testosterone profile in men reduces low belly fat.

Consider the findings of this study  for men:

Recent studies in men have shown that abdominal fat increases with age and decreasing testosterone concentrations. Furthermore, in cell culture, testosterone expresses an increased lipolytic potential and depresses lipoprotein lipase activity (LPL) in adipose cells.

These metabolic characteristics are found in abdominal adipose tissue in young men. In order to see whether abdominal fat masses in moderately obese middle-aged men might be diminished by testosterone, this hormone was given either as a single injection (500 mg) or in moderate doses (40 mg X 4) for 6 weeks in an oral preparation, bypassing the liver.

When measured 1 week after the single dose, abdominal LPL tended to decrease. After 6 weeks a dramatic decrease of abdominal LPL was found, as well as an increase in the lipolytic responsiveness to norepinephrine, both changes confined solely to the abdominal, and not femoral adipose tissue regions.

The waist/hip circumference decreased in 9 out of the 11 examined men. No untoward effects were seen in behavioural variables, blood pressure, triglyceride or cholesterol values, and liver function tests. These preliminary results suggest that administration of testosterone in moderate doses to middle-aged men lead to adaptations of the metabolism of adipose tissue expected to be followed by a diminution of this mass.

As a man, your goal through both your nutrition and exercise programs should be to improve your hormonal profile by increasing your testosterone levels. That is accomplished through eating specific foods, at specific times in specific quantities.

Now in this study you will note that the subjects were given testosterone injections. We aren’t doing that here. It is my personal belief that, generally speaking, your hormonal profile can be improved primarily through what you eat and then supported by the way you train.

There are certainly exceptions to this rule and if your doctor says you need testosterone replacement therapy, then so be it. My suggestion to that would be to educate yourself, get a second opinion, seek out a naturopath, educate yourself more and get a third opinion!

You must focus on your hormones in a strategic way following a very precise blueprint if you truly want to change your appearance and your performance.

Guys you may want to show your wife or girlfriend or even your mom this piece of the article. For women consider this study

Progesterone and estrogen both play a role in keeping the waist of women smaller. This is due to the fact that insulin sensitivity is promoted when these key hormones are in balance.  Insulin and cortisol, together with testosterone and low estrogen, are key factors in belly fat deposition in women.

Estrogen is the biggest factor in increasing fat storage at the hips and thighs providing the hour-glass shape. Progesterone with estrogen halts the storage of fat around the waist.

My point for this discussion is that it is time to stop swimming in the shallows and move out into the deep water when it comes to your health.

Training should be fun, eating should taste good and the combination of the two MUST support and enhance your hormonal profile to improve your health over the short and long term.

Without taking this layered approach you are only going to continue to be frustrated and quite frankly you may never lose your lower belly fat.

My goal is to transform the lives of 1 million men and that requires guys to be educated and take a serious approach to developing themselves on a deeper more effective level both mentally and physically.

You can start by getting into the deep water.