Wondering how to lose belly fat after having a baby? Stomach fat is tricky. It can be stubborn to shift and because it is easily gained, it can be one of the most frustrating types of fat. The team at Lose Baby Weight often get asked how to lose belly fat — new mums in particular tend to be concerned about it, due to their increased stomach fat during pregnancy.

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We tend to store lots of excess weight on our tummy for a number of reasons. During pregnancy, we gain weight around our tummy too, and it is particularly difficult to shift, especially post pregnancy. So, here are Lose Baby Weight’s top belly fat facts and tips on how to lose it.

Belly Fat Facts

There are two different types of stomach fat, visceral and subcutaneous. Visceral fat is the fat that lies around your internal organs. You can’t see visceral fat, but it is there and it is actually quite dangerous. Subcutaneous fat is the fat that lies just underneath the surface of the skin — and this is the fat that you can see. Visceral fat causes your stomach to look bigger. If you have more visceral fat, it will push out the subcutaneous fat further, making your tummy look bigger.

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Although subcutaneous fat can make us feel self-concious about out figure, for weight loss to be successful, you need to work on getting rid of both visceral fat and subcutaneous fat.

Why Do We Gain Belly Fat?

Fat gain can be caused by a number of different reasons, many of them having nothing to do with your eating habits. Here are five explanations for why we gain fat around the tummy.

#1: Hormones

Hormones can cause you to gain stomach fat for a number of reasons. Oestrogen, the female hormone, can cause you to gain weight during pregnancy, as oestrogen levels are reduced, which causes fat to be stored around your tummy and thighs in preparation for breastfeeding.

#2: Pregnancy

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Pregnancy causes fat gain around the tummy for two good reasons; one, so that our skin can stretch to accommodate the baby and two, so that the baby is cushioned and protected.

#3: Genetic Makeup

Every single person is different when it comes to fat storage and for one simple reason — genetics. Some people have a bigger tummy, and that could be down to their genetics.

#4: Stress

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Stress can cause weight gain, because when you are chronically stressed, your body produces a large amount of cortisol to combat that stress. High levels of cortisol can cause your body to direct fat stores to your stomach. So too much stress could cause you to have a bigger tummy.

#5: Eating The Wrong Foods

Eating the wrong foods can cause you to gain tummy fat — especially if you eat lots of processed foods or junk foods. Sweet and sugary drinks can also cause you to gain tummy fat. The more bad foods you eat, the more you crave them, which could cause you to gain weight in the future.

How To Lose Belly Fat

There are a number of ways that you can lose belly fat. Here are just a few:

Belly Fat Loss Tip #1 – Breastfeed

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Many new mums say that breastfeeding helps them to lose weight after pregnancy. There’s a simple reason for this — breastfeeding causes your uterus to go back to its normal size, which makes your tummy appear smaller.

Belly Fat Loss Tip #2 – Eat The Right Foods

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Eating the right foods will definitely help you to lose weight, as well as stomach fat. Processed foods and junk foods will cause you to gain fat around your stomach, even if you eat under your daily recommended calorie intake — simply because those foods are bad for you. You can lose stomach fat by eating the right foods — a wide range of fruits, veggies, complex carbohydrates, wholegrains and lean protein. These foods provide you with lots of nutrients, which will make you healthier and happier.

Belly Fat Loss Tip #3 – Drink Less Alcohol

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Drinking lots of alcohol, or sugary, fizzy carbonated drinks can cause you to gain stomach fat — they make it really difficult for you to shift stomach fat. Overly sugary beverages and alcoholic drinks such as beer can play havoc with your liver, making it difficult for you to build muscle mass — and muscle mass is key to fat loss. Ever heard of the term “beer belly”? Drinking beer can really cause a round tum. Don’t be fooled into thinking drinking zero or low sugar drinks is a good solution – they contain artificial sweeteners like aspartame, which have horrible side effects (for example headaches and migranes) and can make you crave more sugar. You can’t trick the body, it’s very clever.

Read more at BellyBelly.