The following are all low-cost or no-cost ways to lose belly fat that don’t involve exercise. Many of them include diet, as that is the other most effective way to lose weight anywhere on the body, as well as other natural, lifestyle changes. The more of these you do at once, the greater and faster the results you’re likely to see.
Arguably the best and most effective approach is to incorporate as many of these actions as you can into your routine. Make them into habits. That way, you develop a lifestyle that not only supports losing that belly fat but keeping it off too.
1. Get Sufficient Sleep
In a 2016 study, researchers at King’s College London discovered a link between sleep deprivation and consuming extra calories. Specifically, they found that people who didn’t get enough sleep ate, on average, 385 kcal more per day than people who got enough sleep. Read more on that sleep deprivation study here.
It makes sense when you think about it. The purpose of sleep is to refresh your energy for another day. If you don’t produce enough energy from rest to sustain you during the day, your body is going to find other ways to get those energy needs met, the easiest of these being to simply eat more.
Health experts recommend getting at least eight hours of sleep per night. It turns out it could help you lose belly fat.
2. Stay Hydrated
Drinking water helps to prevent you from eating extra calories. More water makes you feel more full, so you don’t have as much hunger or food cravings. What’s more, when your body is adequately hydrated, it’s able to make more effective and efficient use of the energy and nutrients you do provide it, and therefore it requires less of those from you. In other words, when you’re properly hydrated, your body works better, so it doesn’t need you to eat as much to function.
What’s more, beyond just being sure to drink enough water, start your day every day with water. Make it warm water, in fact, and you give your digestive system a good, gentle cleanse to start the day. It also improves your metabolism for the morning and, subsequently, for the rest of the day. Drink hot or warm water throughout the day to essentially melt fat, particularly visceral fat. And getting back to the original point, just drink more water, any temperature, throughout the day, to stay hydrated and reduce the urge to eat.
3. Limit Sugar
Sugar in excess places strain on the liver, the reason being that simple sugars only provide a quick energy fix. They don’t provide sustained energy. When the body experiences the sharp spikes and subsequent energy drops from eating simple sugars, it starts to arm itself with other ways to provide more sustained energy and smooth out those sharp swings. The easiest and most obvious way for it to do this is to create its own fat stores it can draw on when the energy spike from the simple sugar wears out.
Therefore, when you eat simple sugars like desserts, breads and anything made with refined flour or granulated sugar, the liver can trigger the body to store more fat than it would otherwise. One of the first places the body stores fat is the stomach.
Instead, opt for complex carbohydrates that break down more slowly and, therefore, provide the body more even and sustained energy. Examples include whole grains, oatmeal, beans, peas, and vegetables. And even these, eat only in moderation, so you don’t still wind up with any excess sugars not necessary for your current energy needs that would end up also being converted into more stores of fat.
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