There are many causes for belly fat storage in women, but in this article we will focus on the five biggest, as they are completely different for women than they are for men.
In my experience and research, I have found that the most common problems that women face have to do with one, or more of the following:
Thyroidal minerals
Calories
Protein
Vitamin D, and/or
Sleeping patterns
THYROID MINERALS
WHAT ROLE DOES THE THYROID PLAY IN BELLY FAT STORAGE FOR WOMEN?
Thyroid minerals seem to play a much bigger role in weight loss in women than it does for men. Studies show that one in ten men are affected by thyroid issues, compared to one in ten women. The American Thyroid Association estimates that five to eight women are affected by Hashimoto’s to every one man.
THYROID HORMONES
Our thyroids produce a hormone known as T4 (thyroxine), which gets converted into T3 (triiodothyronine). T3 is the active thyroid hormone that acts on the tissues & cells in our bodies to control metabolism. It does this by increasing oxygen in the mitochondria that causes thermogenesis (burning of fat). T3 also plays a vital role in metabolising glucose/carbohydrates.
The inability to produce adequate levels of T3 will make it difficult to efficiently burn glucose in the cell. Glucose eventually gets converted into fat in the liver through a process called de novo lipogenesis (storing of fat), and liver fat accumulates to… guess what… belly fat.
HOW TO HACK YOUR THYROID
Iodine is critical for creating thyroid hormone. In supplement form it is usually sold in the form of sea kelp, but seafood, and seaweed are the best food sources.
When the thyroid converts iodine it also creates hydrogen peroxide, which can can trigger symptoms in people with autoimmune conditions, such as Hashimoto’s. Selenium is a mineral that is needed for the conversion of T4 into T3 that also neutralises hydrogen peroxide, so it should be taken alongside iodine.
Zinc is another important thyroid mineral, which needed to trigger the thyroid hormone receptors in the hypothalamus gland of the brain.
LOW CALORIE DIETS
HOW DO LOW CALORIE DIETS CAUSE BELLY FAT IN WOMEN?
Studies show that women are more likely to go low-cal than men. Even though staying in a calorie deficit is important for weight loss dropping too many can be counterproductive.
When calories drop too low the body increases thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) to make more thyroid, but instead of converting T4 to T3 it starts producing reverse T3. Reverse T3 blocks the thyroid receptors, so that normal T3 cannot bind. This makes a slow metabolism even slower.
To avoid creating too much reverse T3 you should keep your deficit within the 200-500kcal range, and go back to baseline every 4-5 days.
NOT GETTING ENOUGH PROTEIN
Micronutrients are those that have calories, which means they give us energy. Besides carbohydrates, and fats, protein is one of the three macronutrients. Protein is needed to build and repair muscles & bones, and to make hormones & enzymes.
That means it can increase lean body mass (LBM). The more LBM the higher the basal metabolic rate (BMR), which is the amount of calories needed to maintain a person’s bodyweight. Our BMR is responsible for 60-70% of the calories we burn. Therefore, lean body mass is directly linked to metabolic health. The higher the lean body mass, the more calories burned at rest.
Protein also burns more calories during digestion than any other food, and is more satiating, which means you’re less likely to binge on crap food.
Women should consume 1.5 grams of protein per 1 kilogram of bodyweight per day, while men need 2 grams per kilo.
VITAMIN D
IS VITAMIN D DEFICIENCY ONE OF THE MAIN CAUSES OF BELLY FAT IN WOMEN?
Despite the name, Vitamin D is actually a hormone. It is the only hormone that our bodies can’t create on its own. Vitamin D must be consumed through food, or obtained through sunlight.
In a Study from the American Journal of Clinical Medicine, named Effects of Weight Loss on Serum Vitamin D in Menopausal Women, 439 women aged 50-75 took part in a year long trial. The women were split into four groups: 1) diet only; 2) exercise & diet; 3) exercise only, and; 4) a controlled group.
The study found that the women who lost 5-10% of their bodyweight had an increase in Vitamin D3, but when they lost 15% that number tripled. What does this mean?
Vitamin D is fat soluble, so it will be released during thermogenesis. When this happens, uncoupling protein-3 also gets released, which stops excess fat from getting into cells. Instead the fat gets burnt, or excreted. The conclusion suggests that metabolism of Vitamin D.
STRESS
HOW IS STRESS ONE OF THE MAIN CAUSES OF BELLY FAT IN WOMEN?
A study published in the Journal of Brain & Behaviour found that women are two times more likely to suffer from anxiety & stress than men.
Stress can be caused by a lot of things, but the most common is a lack of sleep. With a lot of people, a lack of sleep also leads consuming too much caffeine during the day. Both of these issues can contribute to adrenal fatigue.
The adrenal glands sit jus above the kidneys. Stress causes adrenaline, and cortisol (stress hormone) to be released from the adrenal glands. There are four times more cortisol receptors in the abdominals compared to the rest of the body, so stress eating means that a considerable amount of that chocolate cake is going to be stored around the mid-section.
The remedy for this is to make sure you get 7-9 hours sleep per night, and to incorporate practices into your life that help reduce stress, such as meditation, yoga, nature walks, warm, candle-lit baths, etc.
What Are the Benefits of Exercise on Mental Health?
If you struggle with mental health issues, getting regular exercise can be a huge benefit to your mood. Not only does it help relieve stress, improve memory retention and energy levels, but it may even make you happier in general. These are just a few of the benefits of exercise on mental health to consider.
Studies have demonstrated that exercise can reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, boost self-esteem, release feel-good endorphins, improve sleep quality, and provide social support. Exercise also plays a significant role in combatting loneliness.
Top Benefits of Exercise on Mental Health
If you are struggling with anxiety, stress, or depression, regular exercise is an effective way to combat those symptoms. Not only does it lift your spirits, but it also helps relieve stress, enhances memory and sleep quality.
Furthermore, meditation can enhance your overall sense of well-being, elevate self-worth, boost social interaction, and build greater assurance. Furthermore, it may make you more resilient to larger stresses in life.
Exercise remains a controversial topic within medicine, despite its numerous benefits. But mounting evidence shows that physical activity has an immense effect on mental health and well-being. A few of the main benefits of exercise on mental health are found below:
Increased energy levels throughout the day – Exercise for improved mood and a positive outlook on life. Studies have revealed that even moderate physical activity can elevate endorphins – the brain’s “feel-good” chemicals which lift spirits and reduce stress.
Strengthened Resilience – Building stronger coping skills allows you to handle stressful situations healthier, rather than turning to addiction or other negative behaviors that only make symptoms worse.
Exercise Improves Memory and Thinking Capabilities – Exercising has been linked to the development of self-worth and motivation that enhance emotional well-being.
Exercise and Anxiety
Exercise releases endorphins (the feel-good chemicals in our brain), which help reduce feelings of anxiety and stress. Exercise also boosts self-confidence levels and allows us to cope better with stressful circumstances.
Exercise not only offers physical benefits, but it can also enhance memory and spatial navigation. Furthermore, exercise helps us sleep better which in turn prevents anxiety attacks.
According to a new study, people who engage in physical activity tend to be less vulnerable to anxiety disorders and symptoms.
Researchers in Sweden observed that people who engaged in vigorous physical activity, such as running, skiing or other forms of physical exertion, experienced lower rates of anxiety than sedentary individuals. However, it was difficult to quantify exactly how exercise affected mood.
Exercise and Stress
Exercising can be an effective tool to combat stress, which is a frequent cause of mental health issues. Studies have demonstrated that exercise decreases levels of cortisol in the body and encourages the release of endorphins – chemicals that improve moods and reduce feelings of depression.
Furthermore, it helps alleviate symptoms of mild depression and anxiety, boosts self-esteem, and minimizes negative thinking.
Stress can also significantly improve sleep quality, which is often disturbed due to stress.
Exercise’s exact mechanism of relieving stress remains unknown, though researchers have suggested it might work as a form of timeout for the mind, allowing it to escape from a cycle of negative thoughts.
Exercise and Depression
Some of the main benefits of exercise on mental health are seen in those suffering from depression. Exercise releases endorphins, which act as analgesics – they reduce pain perception while simultaneously making you feel good.
Endorphins, those feel-good chemicals in our brains, can lift our spirits and boost self-worth. Studies have even demonstrated that exercise can improve mental health – especially for those suffering from depression.
Furthermore, physical activity can boost your immunity and raise levels of neurotransmitters like serotonin. Not only that, but it can reduce stress and promote better sleep quality as well.
Research is still unclear as to exactly how exercise helps alleviate depression and anxiety, but it appears likely there are multiple mechanisms at work. It could be the release of endorphins or increased neurotransmitter supply; alternatively, physical activity could alter the brain’s response to stress.
Exercise and Trauma
If you have suffered any type of trauma, there are some great benefits of exercise on mental health you can experience. Exercise has proven to be beneficial for people dealing with trauma, particularly those suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Studies have demonstrated that physical activity can reduce symptoms associated with PTSD such as avoidance and numbing.
Exercise can be especially beneficial for those suffering from PTSD, as long as it’s something enjoyable they enjoy doing. Different forms of exercises, such as strength training, aerobics, or mindful-based practices like yoga, may all be beneficial.
Trauma-informed exercise practitioners collaborate with individuals to identify their individual needs. These practices often include coaching and therapeutic movement such as meditation, running, or swimming.
If you’re looking to enjoy the many benefits of exercise on mental health, make sure you choose the right type of exercise for your needs. Even a daily walk can be very helpful for your mental state.
A lot of people think of starvation when you mention the word fasting, but I’m here to tell you that this isn’t the case. Intermittent fasting means that you are eating within a certain window of hours in the day and fasting for the rest.
Although there are others, the most popular intermittent fasting schedule follows a 16 – 8 hour split (sixteen hours fasting and eight hours eating). This also includes your sleeping hours during the night. For example, if you stopped eating at 8PM tonight you would then break your fast at 12PM tomorrow.
Firstly, the most important thing to know is that sixteen hours is the magic number and should be your minimum amount of fasting time for reasons that I will get into later. Personally, speaking in terms of body fat loss, I have had the best results when fasting 18-20 hours per day, shortening my eating window down to six or four hours, and so have many of my clients.
The second most important thing to understand is that intermittent fasting does not mean that you can spend your meal times eating junk food. You will not lose weight by fasting alone. Will fasting give you more wiggle room when it comes to cheat meals? Yes. Will you still get all of the other benefits from fasting if you’re not concerned with weight loss? Meh, yes and no.
Let’s not get it twisted. YOU MUST FOLLOW A KETO/LOW CARB BASED DIET AS WELL. No carbs or sugar is the most important aspect of eating healthily.
Nature has given us two sources when it comes to fuelling the cells in our bodies – glucose (sugar), or ketones. Glucose comes from food and ketones are created naturally within the body from our own fat reserves.
In order to understand what happens during the fasted state we first have to understand insulin, which is a key hormone when it comes to fat storage. When we eat, blood sugars rise, so the pancreas has to release insulin to take sugar from the blood to the liver in order to be processed. This is the body’s natural way of lowering blood sugar levels in order to avoid toxicity. Carbohydrates and sugars raise the blood sugars to levels that are particularly higher than those of proteins and dietary fats, which is why I recommend avoiding them altogether.
When insulin is working at high levels, the body is running on glucose and potentially storing fat, so we refer to this as the fed state. It takes 16 hours of fasting to get the insulin levels low enough to enter the fasted state – where you are producing ketones for fuel (burning fat). That is when all of the amazing stuff starts to happen. Human beings have evolved by way of adaptation to eat far more infrequently than we do today. Getting into a fasted state also allows the body to unlock unique proteins that improve brain, gut, bone health and much more.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF KETONES?
Ketones…
are an appetite suppressant
are antioxidants
will increase oxygenation in the body
will decrease carbon dioxide levels in the body
can improve thyroidal conditions
burn fat
increase energy levels
unclog arteries
increase good cholesterol and reduce the bad
lower blood pressure
improve mental disorders
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FAST UP TO 24 HOURS?
Although I don’t necessarily recommend it, I’ve known people to fast up to 21 days, but let’s just stick to the first day of fasting for now! Intermittent fasting for 24-hours is the one of the best ways to naturally trigger the anti-ageing, self healing and detoxification processes in the body.
12 HOURS INTO INTERMITTENT FASTING
After 12 hours the body starts to produce ketones.
Growth hormone levels also start to spike at 12 hours. This is beneficial for muscle and bone development.
16 HOURS INTO INTERMITTENT FASTING
Ketosis begins.
18 HOURS INTO INTERMITTENT FASTING
Autophagy – 18 hours into fasting, the body begins to recycle old, damaged and used proteins, organelles (such as mitochondria) and cell membranes, turning them into new ones. A great example of this is the regeneration of Advanced Glycated End Products, or AGEs, which are proteins destroyed by the glycated (sticky) mixture of glucose (sugar) and proteins in the body. It is at this point in the fasted state that the body starts to turn these old, damaged proteins into new amino acids. A person that has undergone dramatic weight loss surgery, for example, could benefit from autophagy if they suffer from ‘loose skin’. That loose skin is only an accumulation of dead proteins that can be recycled into new skin cells, simply by triggering this natural regeneration process.
Amyloid plaque is the dense, insoluble protein that forms between the nerve cells (neurons) and can cause neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s. These proteins get a good clean up when you hit the 18-hour mark. The same applies to all other types of cellular proteins that are no longer working in the body.
24 HOURS INTO INTERMITTENT FASTING
Now you are now freeing yourself of glycogen (stored glucose) built up in the liver. You see, the process of body fat storage looks like this:
GLUCOSE —> GLYCOGEN —> ADIPOSE TISSUE/BODY FAT
In order to get into the visceral (organ) fat, you must burn through the glycogen stores first.
Gut healing from the increase of stem cells. That’s right, you’re now detoxing your gut and you didn’t have to spend a penny on any of those ‘miracle supplements’.
24 hours of fasting improves cardiovascular functions by lowing blood pressure, cholesterol, and reversing heart disease.
The reduction in ‘monocytes’, which are the cells that cause inflammation in the body, helps to eliminate conditions such as diabetes, multiple sclerosis and irritable bowel syndrome.
You’re getting smarter! Stimulating the production of a protein in the nerve cells, called Brain Derived Neurotropic Function (BDNF), will improve learning, memory, and the production of new nerve cells in the hippocampus area of the brain.
CONCLUSION
The scientific world is currently experiencing a lot of breakthroughs when it comes to fasting. It seems as if science is starting to catch up to the ancient knowledge and practices that our ancestors relied on so heavily. Up until about a century ago, people often used fasting as a way to treat a wide range of illnesses. The decline in the practice of fasting can be correlated with the rise of big pharmaceutical companies. As many natural medicines were made illegal by the forces that be, so came the deterioration of the way of life.
It is not in the interest of food, or pharmaceutical companies to encourage fasting as a health option. There is no money in it for them. You have the power.
Get yourself into a 24-hour fast as quickly as possible. That will ensure that you are burning through visceral (organ) fat right away. You will have to get through that before you see anything shift from anywhere else. Try to maintain a minimum 16 hour fast everyday thereafter, keeping it mind that it could take up to one week for your body to properly adjust to the new changes.
Back at you with some ankle stretches & drills to improve your function ability.
Poor flexibility of the ankle can thwart your gains from squats, so it’s an issue that should be addressed, especially if you are new to training. Squatting deep engages glutes, which are probably the most important core muscles. Yes, they are a part of the legs group, but they are also the base of the core, because of the way that they support the pelvis and lower back. Knee problems are 90% of the time either foot, or hip (glutes) related. These drills will help improve, not only, your ankle mobility, but also your overall bio-mechanics from the bottom up.
Included are…
– Calf & Achilles Stretches
– Tibialis Anterior Stretch
– Foam Rolling the Calf and Achilles
– Foam/Ball Rolling Tibialis Anterior
Are you having trouble getting an accurate hip to waist measurement? Well, you’ve come to the right place! I’ll help you through the process, but first let’s get an understanding of why we use this measurement.
WHY IS THE HIP TO WAIST MEASUREMENT IMPORTANT?
Doctors often use waist measurements of a person to determine their possible health risks. Storing a lot of weight around the abdominal area can be a an indicator of high levels of visceral fat, which is the fat that gets stored in and around the organs. When too much fat builds up in the liver, it then gets pushed into the pancreas causing a person to become type 2 diabetic. Luckily, type 2 diabetes can be reversed with a solid keto based diet used in combination with intermittent fasting. For more information about ketosis and type 2 diabestes read this article: https://immortal-training.com/ketosis/
We can also use the hip to waist measurement to determine the body fat percentage of your entire body. All you need for this is your waist circumference, height and sex. If you are part of the Immortal Team then you can plug these numbers into your members area profile, in Body Metrics, to get your own body fat percentage results.
Without further adieu let’s get into it!
Scroll down to be coached through the hip to waist measurement process via video.
WHAT WILL I NEED TO MEASUREMENT HIPS TO WAIST?
Measuring tape
Tight fitting clothes
An assistant (optional, but ideal)
HOW DO I MEASURE HIPS TO WAIST?
KEY POINTS FOR MEASURING THE WAIST:
Measure approximately 1-2″ above the belly button at the smallest circumference of the waist
Make sure the measuring tape is straight
KEY POINTS FOR MEASURING THE HIPS:
Use the joints on the outsides of the hips as a guideline
Wrap the tape around the buttocks and make sure that it is straight
Be sure that you are not including the thighs in the measurement
The overhead squat test is a simple way to assess your overall function ability and biomechanics. It will give us general understanding of how the kinetic chain of energy works throughout the body.
WHAT DO I NEED?
Broomstick
Camera
Barefeet
HOW DO I PERFORM AN OVERHEAD SQUAT?
Watch the video below for detailed instructions of how to perform the movement.
Key Points:
Keep your back straight, chest high and core tight
Your feet should be shoulder width apart
Take a wide grip (outside shoulder width) and hold the stick directly above your head
Squat ass-to-the-grass (if possible) using full range of motion
Keep your feet flat and drive yourself upwards by pushing through the heels
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