You have a daily strict exercise regimen that you follow to a T.

You eat clean all the time and always at a calorie deficit. 

You lost weight but not belly fat.

How is that possible?

Perhaps you are eating the wrong kinds of food.

Maybe an underlying disease.

As you know, belly fat kills. Prioritize getting rid of your belly fat for a healthier and longer life.

Let’s explore the 2 very possible reasons for you not losing belly fat.

Reasons why you lost weight but not belly fat 

So, why can’t you lose your belly fat even with a strict diet and exercising rigorously?

There are 2 most common causes that I could think of that prevents you from losing that pot belly. 

So, hopefully, one or the other can resonate with you and take action.

The good news is that you can eliminate both with 1 stone.

Sleep deprivation

The number 1 reason why you are losing weight but not belly fat is sleep deprivation. 

Sleep deprivation or lack of sleep can lead to you gaining fat, especially belly fat. Study shows that not getting enough or getting too much of sleep can contribute to you gaining weight.

The adequate amount of sleep to prevent stomach belly up is 7 to 8 hours. People sleeping less than 6 hours and more than 8 hours resulted in an increase of visceral fat.

[source: Change in sleep duration and visceral fat accumulation over 6 years in adults.] 

Furthermore, if you are diagnosed with sleep apnea, it’s crucial that you get treatment.

Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder that prevents you from getting a good night’s rest. There are 2 types of sleep apnea, obstructive sleep apnea, and central sleep apnea.

Obstructive apnea is common in overweight individuals. Obstructive apnea causes the airway to collapse resulting in difficulty breathing.

Similarly, central apnea results in difficulty breathing. But it is caused by the brain’s failure to signal the muscles to breathe. 

The symptoms of sleep apnea are the following:

• Daytime sleepiness
• Loud snoring
• Broken sleep

Daytime sleepiness

Daytime sleepiness is pretty straightforward. When you severely don’t get enough sleep, you will feel it the next day. Which can be quite dangerous when operating machinery or driving to and from work. 

Loud snoring

On some occasions, my brother snores so loud that he wakes himself up. Kind of funny actually. It wasn’t chronic so he didn’t bother checking it out.

However, when it happens most of the time that it prevents you from getting enough sleep, you need to get it looked at by your physician.

Broken sleep

Broken sleep can be due to your loud snoring, but mainly from blockages of the airway or your brain not telling your muscles to breathe.

Sleep apnea and belly fat

Having a large amount of body fat and sleeping disorder goes hand in hand because of the significant amount of hunger hormone (Ghrelin) you produce when you are not getting enough sleep.

Ghrelin is often referred to as the “hunger hormone” because it increases appetite.

On the other hand, if you get enough sleep, you produce a hormone called Leptin. Leptin is a good hormone that suppresses hunger. Obviously, you need more Leptin than Ghrelin to prevent weight gain.

[source: Abdominal fat and sleep apnea: the chicken or the egg?]

You’d think that if you are eating right, exercising your butt off, your midsection would vanish.

But no, it’s not the case for some people. It’s frustrating, I know. I’ve been there.

Stress

Stress can also be another factor in your big belly. When you stress, your adrenal glands produce cortisol. 

When you are constantly stressed, your cortisol stays elevated. Cortisol can cause obesity, metabolic disease, and more.

Just to give you a brief overview on cortisol, imagine you are faced with an angry lion? 

Your response is to either fight or run. This is when your cortisol shoots up to give you that burst of energy to defend yourself or run away.

A normal cortisol response is your cortisol levels go down when the threat is gone.

However, an abnormal response is that your adrenal glands keep producing higher levels of cortisol.

Stress is prevalent in today’s society. In the times we live in, we don’t stress from an angry lion. Physical stress is less common today compared to the ice age. 

Mental stress is far too familiar nowadays. Stress from an angry wife, stress from work, financial stress, social media stress, and so on.

Our cortisol levels are constantly on a high due to many stressors. 

In a study of Hispanic school kids with family stress, school stress, and social stress, found that they have high levels of cortisol. High cortisol levels were common in overweight individuals.

[source: Stress and abdominal Fat: Preliminary Evidence of Moderation by the Cortisol awakening Response in Hispanic Peripubertal Girls]

How I got proper sleep, reduced stress, and beat belly fat

Do you know what helped me destress and sleep better? A 100% natural supplement made by a Food Scientist, John Barban.

A friend of mine referred me to this supplement when I told her about my weight loss problems. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m no slouch when it comes to weight loss. However, it never occurred to me that sleep was my problem. 

Long story short, I was skeptical at first so I researched everything about Resurge. 

The notion that sleep could be a factor in me not losing weight was absurd. However, after watching the super long video, it made sense.

It made sense in how belly fat, stress, and lack of sleep are connected.

So I investigated everything about the 8 ingredients and they all seem to help with weight loss, stress, and sleep. 

After days of procrastinating, I finally purchased a bottle. That was the worse decision I’ve ever made. I should have bought 3 bottles!

Without going into too much detail, it worked. And it resulted in 15 kg of weight loss. If you want to know how I finally lost my fat belly, click on this link to read a comprehensive review of Resurge.