How long does it take to lose belly fat and get a nicely defined stomach? The answer depends on a few factors. Today we are going to talk about 4 main factors that will affect your ability to lose weight and lose it fast.
1) Your body type, which is heavily influenced by genetics
2) fat cells
3) diet
4) exercise
There are three main classifications of body types: ectomorphs, mesomorphs, and endomorphs. Ectomorphs tend to be naturally lean and have high energy levels. They never really have a problem losing weight. I’m more of an ectomorph. I have a hard time gaining weight and have a hard time building muscle. I find it easy to lose weight, especially if I skip a meal. Ectomorphs are, well, ectomorphs!
Mesomorphs are your 100-meter sprinters, your Arnold Schwarzenegger. They have a high metabolism like the ectomorphs, but have an easier time building muscle mass.
Gaining weight is very easy and building muscle is very easy for mesomorphs, which means losing weight is very easy for them too because they have a lot of muscle, which means they have a higher basal metabolic rate and burn more calories. The easiest way to gain muscle definition is for the mesomorphs.
The endomorphs have the short end of the stick when it comes to losing fat. I’ll be honest with you, if you’re someone who’s a little rounder, who has an easy time maintaining your weight and has a harder time losing it, it’s not going to be an easy road to muscle definition.
There could be a connection with low thyroid function slowing down your metabolism making the problem worse. If you are an endomorph, pay special attention to all of these lessons.
It’s important to realize that depending on which body type you display the most (and we’re not one or the other, we’re really a combination of all three), if you’re more of an endomorph, it’s going to take a lot more work and Diligent as someone who is more of an ectomorph or a mesomorph to lose fat and see more definition.
You can see my muscles no problem. If I want to lose fat it doesn’t take me time at all, but if you ask me to put an inch on my biceps, then we’re talking about me being in the gym 24/7 doing serious workouts. It would take a lot of hard work. It’s the same with an endomorph.
If you want to lose weight as an endomorph, it’s going to take a lot of hard work because you’re working against the nature of your body to some degree. But it can be done and millions of people are doing it right now. So if you fall into that category, keep your head up and know you can do it. We’ll show you how in these lessons.
As far as muscle definition goes, where you want to go depends a lot on where you are at the moment. In the second lesson we talked about fat cells and fat cell receptors.
Today I want to talk about the fat cell itself. Fat cells are known as adipocytes. They hold on to fat as stored energy. Certain receptors on the fat cell allow hormones to affect them, such as B. the hormone-sensitive lipase, and to split the fat into fatty acids, which are taken out of the body via the blood and used for energy production.
I think it wasn’t until 2007 that researchers discovered the obesity gene. This is a gene that determines the composition of your fat cells. In general, an adult has about 30 billion fat cells. It used to be commonly believed that you were born with a certain number of fat cells, but that may not be the case.
Generally, if you are a healthy adult weight, you acquired all of your fat cells before puberty. Puberty is the final window for any new development of fat cells. If you’re a fairly lean adult, you’ll have the same number of fat cells your entire life.
Now, if you’re gaining excess weight into adulthood, new research shows those fat cells can grow up to fourfold and begin to multiply. That’s a very scary concept. Instead of having 30 billion fat cells, if you gain excessive weight you may have 40 or 50 billion or more fat cells in your body.
This is just another reason to lead an active lifestyle and stay reasonably fit and healthy. You don’t need more fat cells. Fat cells work in a similar way to a balloon. When you fill a balloon with water it expands and as soon as you let go the balloon contracts back to its very small size.
When you lose weight, the fat cells shrink. Fat cells don’t go away, but they can multiply – so be careful. You don’t want any more fat cells, so the key is to reduce fat stores by using fat for energy.
That’s why exercise is so important.
Something you need to know about fat is that it stores acid in the body. This is why alkalinity in the diet is so important. If your fat cells hold a lot of acid, it will be very difficult for your body to get rid of your fat stores because they need to be there to hold the acid. But that’s a topic for another day.
If you’re an ectomorph, chances are you’ve gotten away with eating whatever you want in your life. You might be able to eat fast food every day and not gain weight, but the problem is that you can be fit without being healthy.
If you eat garbage, you are not doing your body any good internally. You may not be physically gaining weight, but to be healthy and fit you need to be consuming the right nutrients. Trust me, you will look and feel way, way better than you do now if you start eating whole foods.
As an endomorph, you must be very strict and diligent about your diet. As you most likely know, if you have the wrong foods in your diet, such as refined carbohydrates, you will tend to retain water and gain weight easily.
Hopefully you’re listening to your body enough to associate the foods you eat with how you’re feeling. It is important to have this body awareness. If you have no idea how food affects your feelings, now is a good time to start making those food-mood connections.
As an endomorph looking to lose belly fat and really want to see some definition, you need to watch your diet. You need to make sure you are in that calorie deficit that we talked about earlier.
You need to make sure you’re eating nutrient-dense foods and you need to stay away from strictly high-carb, nutrient-poor foods like candy bars, pastries, refined breads, sodas, etc. Eat lots of vegetables. Vegetables are very nutritious and have a calorie-burning effect due to their thermal effect.
They are high in fiber, which means the body has to spend a lot of time digesting them, which means your body is burning calories in the process.
Mesomorphs can eat pretty much more or less than ectomorphs—but that doesn’t mean they should! In general, everyone should refrain from refined carbohydrates. Even if something is made from 100% whole grain, it’s not good.
Stick to pseudo-cereals like amaranth, quinoa, millet, spelt, etc. These grains are easier for your body to digest. Wheat is very difficult for your body to digest and many people have trouble digesting wheat, which can lead to bloating.
One of the reasons it is difficult to have a flat stomach is food intolerance. Removing the foods you are sensitive to will make it easier for you to see a flat stomach.
Whether or not you get that flat stomach depends a lot on where you are with your diet. In turn, if you are an endomorph, you have to work a little harder and be more diligent than an ectomorph or mesomorph.
If you’re a male with less than 10% body fat, you should see muscle definition. If you’re a woman, any body fat percentage among mid-teens should show muscular definition. Don’t underestimate your body fat percentage. A certain amount is important for energy purposes.
Let’s talk exercise. If you’re an endomorph, you’ll want to spend more time doing cardio and strength training. Your body demands more effort if you want to burn fat. Endomorphs look for 3-4 cardio sessions per week and at least 3 strength training sessions per week.
The goal of your training should be intensity. Your workout shouldn’t last longer than an hour at high intensity. If you’re an ectomorph, don’t go crazy with cardio because you’re already pretty lean.
The hardest part for ectomorphs is building muscle, so spend more time doing full-body strength training sessions to add some size and maintain your lean muscle mass. If you’re doing cardio, which you should be, keep it short and intense, and stick to intervals. I would say 20 minutes three times a week is fine.
Mesomorphs have some leeway because they are naturally blessed. Mesomorphs should incorporate both cardio and strength training in one way or another.
I wish I could tell you exactly how long it will take. I wish I could tell you that if you follow my advice you will see results in exactly 7 days, but it doesn’t work that way.
Anyone making these ridiculous claims is someone you should run away from. A given program will not produce the same results for two different people. Everyone is unique.
The way you respond to your food intake and exercise will be very different from someone else’s. There are so many factors at play. When it comes to training, there’s intensity, how long you train, what muscle groups you target, etc. There are all kinds of variables.
The goal is to maintain that long-term vision of what you want to achieve and to work to help you achieve it. Realize, as we’ve talked about in previous lessons, that it’s going to take time.
From a general fat loss perspective, fat loss of 1-2 pounds per week is healthy. Over the week you need to create a deficit of 7000 calories to lose 2 pounds. It’s not easy, but it can be done.
Stay engaged no matter what. And don’t rely on the scale.
Pay attention to how your clothes fit. Some people may not notice a difference on the scale, but they do notice a reduction in body fat percentage in the mirror and in their clothing. This is the true sign of improving your health and fitness.
Thanks to Yuri Elkaim