Stubborn belly fat can be 'stubborn' for a variety of reasons.

- Your genetics
- Your calories aren't low enough
- Your hormones suck
- Your metabolism has dropped too much

A calorie deficit WILL eliminate this eventually, but often it's not realistic.

Let's get into this...
1. Your Calories

You may just be eating too much food.

If you're 160 pounds, yet you're averaging 2500 calories on most days while not doing any cardio, then it's just too much food.

There's nothing wrong with you, you just need to eat nutrient-dense, calorie-sparse foods.
2. Your Hormones

If you've got low T, you may reach a point in the diet where a calorie deficit just leads to further muscle loss, rather than fat loss.

To combat this:

+ OBVIOUSLY train hard with weights
+ Make sure you're sleeping properly

TBC...
+ Get your vitamin D
+ Get on TRT if the above doesn't work
+ Take 1-2 months at maintenance, if all the above doesn't work

Stress/cortisol is directly linked to low T and lack of sleep.

SO the solutions are the same for high cortisol.
3. Your Metabolism

When you're in a calorie deficit for extended periods of time, your metabolism eventually drops no matter who you are.

It's your body's way of adapting and trying to get you to 'slow down' with the weight loss.

The best way to combat this...
A) Diet SLOWLY, and don't cut loads of food/calories out too early on...(although it may be too late for you now)

B) Take time to build muscle

The reality is that you're not going to go from 28% bf down to 8% in one go.

You're going to have periods of rest.

Periods of...
Fun & relaxation.

Periods of MUSCLE GAIN.

Muscle is the most powerful thing for your long-term metabolism, and you may just have to be a little patient with the stubborn belly fat.

If you're in a deficit & your testosterone isn't in the gutter, you may just need to gain đŸ’Ș
It's like trying to go from an income level of $50k to $500k, without any weekends, any holidays, or any fun.

It's not realistic or sustainable.

Taking 'maintenance periods' is fantastic for muscle growth and testosterone, and therefore your LONG-TERM fat loss.
If you'd like to learn more about this, I'll be talking about stubborn belly fat at the email list this week (along with various other useful topics).

Don't miss them:

https://t.co/elVXKFiq80

More from Health

No-regret #hydrogen:
Charting early steps for H₂ infrastructure in Europe.

👉Summary of conclusions of a new study by @AgoraEW @AFRY_global @Ma_Deutsch @gnievchenko (1/17)
https://t.co/YA50FA57Em


The idea behind this study is that future hydrogen demand is highly uncertain and we don’t want to spend tens of billions of euros to repurpose a network which won’t be needed. For instance, hydrogen in ground transport is a hotly debated topic
https://t.co/RlnqDYVzpr (2/17)

Similar things can be said about heat. 40% of today’s industrial natural gas use in the EU goes to heat below 100°C and therefore is within range of electric heat pumps – whose performance factors far exceed 100%. (3/17)


Even for higher temperatures, a range of power-to-heat (PtH) options can be more energy-efficient than hydrogen and should be considered first. Available PtH technologies can cover all temperature levels needed in industrial production (e.g. electric arc furnace: 3500°C). (4/17)


In our view, hydrogen use for feedstock and chemical reactions is the only inescapable source of industrial hydrogen demand in Europe that does not lend itself to electrification. Examples include ammonia, steel, and petrochemical industries. (5/17)

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Dalton is a beast. I'm so excited he placed in the top 10.


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I wish this existed when I learned to code! Congrats on $250!!