The Fat Belly Syndrome

How We Unknowingly Sabotage Our Efforts to Lose Stubborn Belly Fat And End Up With a Fat Belly Instead!

Ok, so the title "How We Unknowingly Sabotage Our Efforts to Lose Stubborn Belly Fat And End Up With a Fat Belly Instead” conjures up some scary thoughts…however it’s true.

It’s also the best way to draw attention to the vicious cycle some women get sucked into in an effort to lose belly fat.

The biggest mistake women make that sabotages their best efforts to speed up metabolism and reduce belly fat is that they are constantly ‘going on a diet’.

The act of constant and chronic ‘dieting’ has sucked countless women into a vicious cycle of fat loss followed by fat gain, then more fat loss, followed by more fat gain.

I call this "The Fat Belly Syndrome".

You must eat to lose weight!

What sort of ‘diet plans’ are the main culprits in creating "The Fat Belly Syndrome"?

Any eating plan that:

• suddenly and drastically reduces calorie intake.
• is not sustainable long term as part of a healthy lifestyle.
• is nutritionally unbalanced – it completely excludes or severely limits an important macronutrient – carbohydrates, protein or fat.
• diets that don’t work.

Some Diets Don’t Increase Your Metabolism – They Slow It Down!

Food is what fuels our body and gives it energy.

When we suddenly decrease or limit our food intake (the fuel) through extreme dieting, our bodies perceive it as ‘starvation’ and all the self preservation alarms go off.

In response, our bodies will release catabolic (tissue eating) hormones and slow our metabolism down to a snail's pace in an effort to weather the perceived famine.

The first adjustment our body will make will be to slow down metabolism.

Our metabolism is given no choice but to immediately slow down in an effort to conserve energy and keep us alive on fewer calories (less fuel).

In other words, its ability to metabolize or burn belly fat (or any kind of fat) has now been completely compromised.

So, even though you’re now eating less food, your body is metabolizing it at a much slower rate PLUS it’s also storing fat away in the process!

The Fat Belly Syndrome begins its vicious cycle …

When our body senses a bout of stress coming on, (any sudden calorie restriction causes stress to the body), it reacts by releasing cortisol and adrenaline – known as the ‘fight or flight’ stress hormones.

A vicious cycle now begins.

Follow me on this one....

Cortisol is a catabolic hormone, meaning it breaks down or eats up body tissue.

When cortisol and adrenaline are released they go into hyper drive, breaking down sugars, fats, and proteins to supply the sudden perceived need for extra energy, but they don’t touch the fat stores. Actually, quite the opposite.

How cruel can nature be, right?

Unfortunately, fat is the last to go. Our bodies hold on to it and save it to the bitter end as a way of self-preservation.

In fact, muscle tissue is the first to go!

Cortisol will first eat up our precious fat-burning muscle tissue.

Losing muscle tissue now further slows down metabolism and hence our ability to burn belly fat becomes practically non-existent.

Not only that, muscle tissue is metabolic, meaning it burns calories just to exist…and that’s quickly being eaten up!

One more cruel act of nature happens.

Cortisol is also the hormone that’s instrumental in creating and storing more belly fat. And that’s what it gets busy doing.

Our now new, slower metabolism has reset itself so that it requires fewer calories to survive than it did before.

So, now with a metabolism that’s slower than molasses, and a loss of fat burning muscle tissue, our body has made the necessary adjustment to surviving on fewer calories and less fuel.

Here’s the ugliest part of the Fat Belly Syndrome…

The moment we go off the ‘diet’ and our calories once again begin to increase, our new, slower metabolism isn’t able to metabolize or burn the excess calories as efficiently.

Can you guess what happens with an increase in calories at this point?

Yep. It goes directly into fat storage, alongside the belly fat. Remember the cortisol has been busy creating and storing away fat as a safety measure.

It’s you body’s way of ensuring survival should another bout of starvation hit again.

This is why many women will lose weight, then gain it all back again plus more to boot.

Their metabolism is practically dead.

Their bodies have released muscle eating, fat producing cortisol and their metabolism isn’t running fast or efficiently enough to deal with the now sudden overload of calories.

They begin a new diet several months later, only to repeat the cycle all over again.

Over the course of time, they gain more fat each time they repeat the cycle.

Can you see the insanity here?

Chronic dieting doesn’t work and The Fat Belly Syndrome is very much an every day reality in many womens’ lives.

Foods That Speed Metabolism Up – Part 1

Foods That Speed Metabolism Up – Part 2

A List High Protein Foods

My favorite High Protein Snacks

High Protein Meals

Achieving a healthy Weight Loss Metabolism for Women

Speed up Metabolism And Burn Belly Fat Fast

Return to Speed Up Metabolism from The Fat Belly Syndrome


Return to Belly Fat Blues Home from The Fat Belly Syndrome


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