Health : The Most Overlooked Cause Of Belly Fat

"If you’ve been working out regularly and watching what you eat, but you STILL can’t seem to get rid of that stubborn belly fat, there may be a “hidden” cause - and it has nothing to do with diet OR exercise.So, today I want to talk about why it’s so hard for you to get rid of belly fat, explain what could be the hidden cause (most people never consider this), and give you simple and effective ways you combat your stubborn “ab flab”Alright, let’s dive right in…



The reason stomach fat is sodifficult to get rid of is because it’s heavily influenced by your hormones. Don’t get me wrong…your stomach fat isn’t the only area that’s controlled byyour hormones, but it happens to be the most sensitive.

So what does this mean?
It means that exercising and eatingright may not be enough to get rid of your stubborn belly fat.
And here’s one hormone inparticular, that most people don’t even consider…which could be causing you toretain belly fat.
Your cortisol hormone.
Cortisol is your stresshormone. It’s an important hormone that’s essential for humansurvival. Whenever your body experiences any type of stress (whether itbe mental or physical) your body secretes cortisol, which then initiates acascade of other physiological responses necessary for your body to keepfunctioning.

You can look at it like an emergencygenerator. If the main source of electricity goes out in your area fromsome unforeseen incident, the emergency generator kicks in to give you poweruntil the main source is fixed. But the emergency generator isn’t meantto provide power for the long term. And that’s a lot like yourcortisol. Cortisol turns “off” many of the normal physiologicalmechanisms and turns “on” many temporary physiological mechanisms (theoperative word being “temporary”).

In a normal situation, cortisolproduction only lasts for a short period of time and afterwards, all metabolicfunctions go back to normal. But this is where things can go wrong,because in many cases these stresses that cause your body to secrete cortisoloccur way too often and stay “on” for way too long.

When you’re body experiencesconstant stress, it continuously secretes cortisol and that’s whencortisol becomes counterproductive to your body. And depending on howlong and how much cortisol you have circulating in your body, it can seriouslycompromise your health and alter your metabolic process causing you to gainstubborn unrelenting belly fat! Researchers at Yale University foundslender women who had high cortisol also had more abdominal fat.

So, if you tend to gain belly fateasily and have a difficult time getting rid of it, there’s a strong likelihoodthat you’re producing too much cortisol.

Here are 2 questions I want you toask yourself to see if there’s something other than diet and exercise that maybe hindering your progress:

Are you sleeping enough? Getting enough quality sleep is the most important thing you can do to minimize stress, optimize your health and help your body to burn more fat! During your sleep, your body utilizes fat as it’s primary source of fuel. So getting enough sleep is key to making sure that your body burns off more fat! If you have a hard time sleeping, try reading a book (non-fiction or self improvement type of books tend to work best).

Sleeping in complete darkness also helps you sleep more soundly. Get rid of electrical equipment like phones, computers, TV’s, and radios in your bedroom (or at least switch them off when you go to sleep). Studies have found that the less electrical magnetic field you’re exposed to, the better your mind and body rests.

Do you feel tired all of the time? If you’re constantly feeling tired, it means you’re not recovering enough. Inadequate recovery means that your body still has cortisol coursing through your body. In situations like this, it’s best to give yourself a break and and let your body rest. Your only going to do your body more disservice by pushing through the fatigue. In fact, you’ll only be increasing your cortisol production and making your belly fat even more difficult to burn off.

If you answered yes to any of thesequestions, cortisol may be to blame. And if so, the solution is prettyeasy…sleep, rest and recover! Improving these three seeminglyunrelated (but very important!) factors can help reduce your cortisol, so youcan finally start burning fat off your stomach.