This bead above the belt, you curse it. It resists everything: squats, abs, cardio, even your new eating habits. You may sweat three times a week, your belly remains faithful to the post, as stuck to your hips. And the more you force, the more it seems to hang on. Frustrating? Worse: incomprehensible.
A fat like no other: the belly trap
Abdominal fat is not a simple reserve of energy. It is deeply linked to our hormonal system, to our emotions and even to our sleep. Unlike love handles or subcutaneous fats of the thighs, that of the belly-which is also called visceral fat-is lodged around the vital organs. And she is formidably tenacious.
It is especially Cortisolthe stress hormone, which maintains it. When you are tense, overworked, or you sleep badly, your body releases cortisol … which sends a direct signal to your body to store at the abdominal level. Doing sports without managing your stress? It’s like wanting to turn off a fire with gasoline.
Food also plays a more devious role than you think. Even if you eat “light” or “balanced”, certain foods-especially ultra-transformed products, artificial sweeteners or high glycemic index carbohydrates-can maintain a Chronic hyperinsulinemia. Result: your body remains in storage mode, and does not draw into fatty reserves.
Too much sport, not enough recovery: the vicious circle
The paradox is that do too much can worsen the problem. If your sessions are too intense or too frequent, without suitable recovery time, you push your body to produce … cortisol. Still him. And chain the Hiit, the intermittent fasting and the working days at 100 an hour, it’s a winning combo not to lose anything from the belly.
Another frequent error: focus only on the abs. Make 200 crunches per day will not make you lose a belly. Because we do not “target” the fat loss: the body decides it alone. Physical exercise remains essential, but it must be accompanied by a global strategy.
It is often there that the rub: we forget the importance postural musclesof reinforcement And above all … walking. Yes, walking 30 to 60 minutes every day stimulates your metabolism much more effectively than exhausting training once every three days.
Hormones, quarantine and biology against you
After 35-40 years, things are still branch. For women, The perimenopause Can completely upset the distribution of fats, promoting abdominal storage even with impeccable lifestyle. In men, the drop in testosterone has the same perverse effect: a drop in muscle mass which is accompanied by an accumulation in the belly.
Add to this often ignored digestive disorders – Bloating, unbalanced microbiota, intestinal permeability – And you get a swollen, painful belly, sometimes confused with fat. While the real problem is elsewhere: in bacteria that populate your intestines.
At this stage, the solution is not in the additional effort, but in the understanding of your internal signals. Permanent fatigue, fractional sleep, feeling of “storing badly” or inflating for no reason are all alerts. And if your belly does not leave, despite everything you do, maybe it’s no longer a simple sports problem … but Hormonal biology, of chronic inflammation or even prolonged calorie deficit.
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