Ladies and gentlemen alike are trying to get rid of annoying love handles and muffin tops. And no matter how much you work out, that stubborn layer of fat around your waist doesn't want to go anywhere, despite your efforts. Waist fat is a symptom of insulin insensitivity, so you need to attack it with a good eating strategy and workout combination.
"Sticky fat", such as waist fat (love handles, muffin tops), doesn't melt away with common diets that you use to get down to 25% body-fat. You need a different strategy for it. Since this type of fat is a symptom of insulin insensitivity, you need to use some dietary tricks to become more insulin sensitive, such as eating protein before carbs or use psyllium and fish oil capsules.
Additionally, dieting for a week is not the best thing to do if you are after increased insulin sensitivity. Instead, restrict your diet for a couple of days a week, and eat as you normally would for the rest of the week. Of course, no diet will give you the best results without a good exercise strategy. So, you need to create a routine to increase your insulin sensitivity and burn body-fat.
Insulin Resistance
Getting down from 45% to 25% body fat is not that difficult for women who use a decent diet plan and strength training. However, when women want to go below 25% body-fat or men want to go below 15% body-fat, that becomes a problem and it's increasingly difficult to get rid of the 'sticky fat' layers. So, whatever diet and training you used to get down to where you are now, won't work for the waist blubber.
There could be different factors that make that layer of fat stick to your waist, such as lack of sleep, age, genetics, increased cortisol levels, or a poor diet. But while these play a small role in it, the fact is that waist fat is a symptom of insulin insensitivity. But there are things you can do to balance your insulin resistance and target the stubborn fat layer to melt away.
Dietary Tips for Increased Insulin Sensitivity
All the protein that you eat, and pretty much anything else you eat, will be deposited into your fat storage instead of muscle if you lack optimal insulin sensitivity. A low-carb diet might sound tempting then, but it will not fix the problem, especially because a chronic low-carb diet promotes impaired muscle building capabilities, which is not a good thing. Instead of a low-carb diet, use the following tricks to optimize your insulin sensitivity.
Protein First - Eat protein and fat before you eat your carbs, at the start of every meal. Research indicates that this will significantly lower your blood sugar levels. However, switch around with pre-workout and post-workout meals: eat your carbs first around your workout.
Vinegar Dressing - When you use vinegar as a salad dressing, it attenuates your glucose and insulin response from a carb meal, while raising your insulin sensitivity. If you use this trick consistently, it can even lead to weight loss of about 2 pounds in 4 weeks. Additionally, 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar before you hit the bed will also lower your morning blood sugar levels by up to 6%.
Psyllium Fiber - Take a teaspoon of psyllium fiber twice a day to lower your blood sugar levels by 11% during the day. It's a great way to help you lose weight and help you feel full so that you can control the amount of food you eat easier.
Fish Oil - Alongside all the many health benefits of the liberal use of fish oil, new studies have shown that when it is combined with exercise, it has a synergistic effect on blood sugar reduction.
5/2 Fat-Loss Diet for Lifters
If you are a weightlifter, bodybuilder, or participate in active sports or exercise, then you eat frequently. That makes your sugar levels increase, which causes your pancreas to pump out a constant flow of insulin. This may cause your body to gradually become more resistant to elevated insulin levels, and that leads to fat gains, especially around your waist. That's why you need a diet that successfully helps you build your muscles with enough protein, carbs, and calories, but that can also make you more sensitive to insulin.
The 5/2 Fat-Loss Diet for Lifters is the best way to go about it. You eat normally for 5 days out of 7. The other 2 non-consecutive days you will eat only 2 meals of 400 calories each, 12 hours apart. Make sure that you don't apply this diet on your training days because it will interfere with your post-workout tissue remodeling.
On your 2 non-consecutive diet days, drink a protein shake as a part of your 400 calorie meal, or 30 minutes before each meal, to make sure that you don't experience muscle loss during your calorie deficient period. The 5/2 Fat-Loss for Lifters makes your body more insulin sensitive if followed correctly, and you will lose fat while you keep your muscle mass.
Targeted Training for Increased Insulin Sensitivity
Adjust your training routine to address your insulin sensitivity problem, by incorporating complexes, and wogging or wunning in order to effectively target the stubborn fat layers.
- Complexes - A complex is a series of movements that you perform with barbells, dumbbells or kettlebells with more reps of an exercise before you quickly go into your next movement in a sequence of exercises. It's a great way to burn fat and increase your insulin sensitivity. For example, do a kettlebell complex at the end of your workout consisting of 6 reps of overhead squats, 6 conventional squats, 6 kettlebell swings, and 6 bent-over rows, pause for a minute of rest, and then repeat the complex to failure.
- Wogging and Wunning - This form of exercise combines walking and jogging, or walking and running, so it basically is 'power walking'. By changing your gears when you ‘wogg or wunn’, you change the kinetic energy of your body and that will help you burn more calories. So, walk, then stop for a second, and then accelerate into a sprint, and each time you feel a bit tired, change your pace into a relaxed walk until you recover to sprint again. Do 3 sessions of 30 minutes a week for the best results!
Insulin Management Supplementation
Consult your medical care provider to provide you with the right supplement and dosage for you. A great supplement for insulin sensitivity management is C3G (Cyanidin3-Glucoside), that is naturally occurring anthocyanin. When taken in a concentrated and isolated form, it can lower your blood-glucose, which helps in treating fat gains caused by insulin insensitivity.
Additionally, it also increases glucose and lipid uptake in your muscles, which is a great thing for someone who lifts heavy. It also helps decrease leptin levels which results in overall body-fat loss. The recommended dose is 400-600 mg before your biggest meal, or just before your pre-workout meal, as it will act as a metabolic liposuction that will target the 'sticky fat' layers. Just make sure that you consult your physician before you take this supplement, for professional advice.
Combine all the tips above into one wise strategy to address your lack of insulin sensitivity in order to lose the ‘sticky fat’ layers that seem too stubborn to melt away. Remember that what worked before to help you lose fat, will not work the same this time. And that is caused by the fact that this type of fat is different, as it is caused by insulin sensitivity. So, in order to get rid of it, you need a strategy that specifically addresses it.
Incorporate the dietary tips above into your 5/2 Fat-Loss diet for Lifters, and combine it with a targeted training routine, so you can get maximum results with minimum effort. Eat your protein first, take fish oil, dress your salads with vinegar, and consult your medical care provider before you supplement on C3G. Do this, and you will see the fat around your waist melt away in no time!