I Lost My Muffin Top to Silence the Inner Fat Girl That Killed My Confidence

This might be the reason your love handles are not going away.

No matter how pretty your face is muffin tops and love handles are every woman’s worst nightmare.

You feel insecure about your body because those pesky back fat and belly pooches keep ruining any skinny dress you wear.

Let’s not talk of the embarrassing gaze you get when you wear bathing suits at the beach.

But this year will be different.

You only need 20 minutes a day to do the exercises and follow the tips I will be sharing soon to help you lose your muffin top in time for the bikini season. So you can feel more confident and enjoy beach time with your friends.

After giving birth to my daughter, I became a stress eater. I would use food to compensate for my incompetence. I binge ate on chocolate and sugary cookies.

Food became my medication to silence the voice that mocked my failure in life. I was a single mum, a dropout and unemployed. I was also dealing with my physical impairment which made me more depressed.

Every time the voice would raise his head on how I couldn’t bathe my daughter or change my clothes myself, I would pick a box of chocolate and munch on it.

I was silently wishing to die from overeating since the ground was too thick to open and swallow me. My transformation began after I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. I knew I needed to make healthy changes.

Two months later, I managed to drop 15 pounds but I didn’t feel great in my skin. I was shapeless and ashamed of the excess fat sagging around my waistline.

The voice in my head did not help matters. When I looked in the mirror, I would hear her laughter telling me how terrible I looked in the long gown.

I used to wear oversized clothes to cover up my muffin top but she would see through my dress and criticize me from the inside.

From my research on how to get rid of pregnancy pooch, I discovered that belly fat is the most dangerous part of body fat. It increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer.

So it became apparent that I lost my belly fat not just for my mental health, but for my physical health too.

The lifestyle changes I made to get rid of my muffin tops

Losing weight isn’t about your physical health, your emotional wellbeing is included. The main catalyst for my breakthrough was in my diet.

I gave up processed sugar. I ate a small portion of food filled with fruits and veggies and I finished off with two glasses of water. I kept track of the food I ate every day and I planned my meals over the weekend.

Next, I increased my metabolism. The majority of the weight loss process involves building a high metabolism. Essentially, metabolism is how your body converts food to energy.

If your metabolism is low, you can’t lose weight. Your metabolism comprises insulin and reptin receptors which regulate hunger and satiation.

The total amount of calories your body burns is a combination of calories burned during physical activity and calories burned by your basal metabolism.

Therefore to increase your metabolism you need to increase your physical activities and manage your food.

Eat food with high fiber content. Green leaves like spinach contain antioxidants, vitamins and minerals and high-dietary fibers help to promote weight loss and boost the immune system.

Other high-fiber foods include carrots which contain vitamin K, vitamin B6, magnesium and beta-carotene. It also helps to improve vision. Then almonds and berries, which help to reduce blood sugar.

Another change I made was keeping my digestive system clean. Digestive problems affect the way our body absorbs and breaks down food.

Digestive problems like ulcers, constipation, Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel, and gastroparesis can break down your metabolism and lower your insulin level.

The inability to properly absorb essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals affects the body’s metabolism, lowers the rate at which it burns calories and leads to excess body fat.

As a result, your body stores more fat, you eat more carbs and won’t feel full after eating. It also leads to fatigue, anxiety and stress. Your body needs to eliminate toxins for your digestive organs to work properly.

High metabolism and a healthy digestive system increase calorie-burning capacity, which contributes to weight loss as the body efficiently utilizes stored energy.

The final step I took to lose my belly fat was exercise. I maintained a daily routine comprising resistance and strength training.

Lack of physical activity slows down the rate at which foods are digested, leading to constipation, less calorie burning and weight gain.

The best exercises for muffin tops are running, crunches, cycling and lifting. I recommend you add one high-intensity workout like deadlift. This will ensure your body rips the benefit from a full-body workout.

While cardiovascular are great for building your belly muscles, it may take longer to see the results without including a weighted workout in your routine.

With consistency and discipline, you can help build the muscles in your abdomen and lose your muffin top in less than six months.

Important tips: I keep records of my journey so I can analyze my progress or know when I’m reaching a weight loss plateau. Be sure to record your weight before you begin your weight loss journey. Take note of your daily failures and achievements and reward yourself for every milestone you accomplish.

If you’re looking to lose weight or gain muscles without dieting join my 30-Day Weight Loss Challenge and consider subscribing to my newsletter so you don’t miss my next story.