Get Rid of Your Muffin Top - Lose Belly Fat

First of all, it's important to understand that developing a bit of a midriff bulge is an inescapable change for many menopausal women. Following these tips should help improve the situation, but you may not lose the belly fat altogether. But stay positive - even if you don't achieve the figure you want right away, these tips all have multiple benefits beyond your physical appearance.

Exercise for Fat Stomach

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Like it or not, exercise is an essential part of losing weight for the long term. If you try to shed the pounds through diet alone, your body will eventually adjust to your new calorie intake and burn calories more efficiently, meaning you have to starve yourself more and more if you want to continue to lose weight.

This inevitably leads to a junk food binge and the weight piling back on. So you need to make exercise a regular part of your routine.

But it's not just doing the exercise, but also the type of exercise you do that makes a difference.

For instance, kickboxing is particularly good for losing belly fat and improving an apple-shaped body because it uses rotational and sideways movements, so it works every part of your body.

An activity like running, while still good for you, doesn't give you as much of an all-body workout.

Healthy Diet to Lose Weight

A healthy menopause diet does not mean starving yourself - in fact, it can mean eating more than you do already. The point of a good diet is that it's less about restricting quantities and more about making sure you eat the right foods.

What are the right foods for losing that muffin top? Limit processed foods, caffeine and alcohol as much as possible. The closer a food is to its natural state when you eat it, the lower in chemical additives, fat, sugar and salt it's likely to be.

Eat a diet that's low in sugar and saturated fats and high in fresh fruit and vegetables, wholegrains, pulses and lean proteins.

Drink plenty of water to keep yourself well-hydrated and ensure your digestion and bowels are working efficiently.

Reducing Stress

Mental factors also make you more likely to gain weight. Stress during menopausal years makes your body release cortisol, a hormone which ups the body's blood sugar level. If that extra energy isn't then burned, it will be stored as menopausal belly fat around the stomach.

There are plenty of ways to reduce stress, and it can really enhance your life to learn to use relaxation and meditation techniques to calm yourself down.

Muffin top fat can be extremely stubborn in mid-life, so even if you follow all these pointers it can still be tough to shed the weight. Even so, exercise and healthy diet are essential for improving and maintaining your overall health, so persevere with them, even if you can't be quite as slim as you were 20 years ago.

Go from Muffin Top to Lose Belly Fat.

Go from Muffin Top to Beat Menopause Weight Gain.