How do you lose weight? Eat less and exercise more.
But what if I tell you that for most of my clients, this doesn’t work in fact, this kind of restrictive weight loss plan can even harm the metabolism making the weight even more stubborn.
There are a few areas that we delve into for clients' weight loss, which help to personalize the strategy for your body. When you have the right pieces that fit the puzzle, weight loss can’t be easier. What’s more important is your health, if you lose weight and feel shitty then that’s not your true intention. You are in the right place if you want to be empowered with the key to feeling good and looking good from the inside out.
Before looking at any restrictive plan and exercise program first we need to understand what type of belly fat you have.
1. Stress Belly
A fat apron that accumulates in your lower belly. This is the type of belly that is stubborn and tends to be less responsive to diet and exercise. In fact, I have clients who are overall fit but still struggle with this issue.
Some of you are marinating in high amounts of stress hormones every day without noticing it.
‘No, I’m not stressed. I am managing well. I try my best to balance and everything is great.’
But do you believe me if I say that your belly fat knows about your stress level better than you do?
It takes practice to introspect intentionally and sometimes additional functional lab data to understand what stress hormones feel like in your day-to-day life. Do you feel like you always have to be the problem solver? And yet, just when you thought you had cleared your plate, more problems demanded your bandwidth. Do you have an intense job with high expectations, many responsibilities and deadlines? How do you feel at the end of the day? Do you feel drained by the end of the day? Do you catch yourself scrolling your phone way too long before bed? Do you tend to put things off or procrastinate? Do you feel dissatisfied or unmotivated? If you resonate with those questions, you may be affected by chronic stress.
One way to objectively measure how stress impacts your health is via hair and urinary cortisol samples. Studies have shown that elevated stress hormone levels correlate with expanding waist circumference.
Chronic exposure to high levels of stress hormones makes your body put on a ‘fat armour’ as your protection. You also will lose hard-earned lean muscle mass over time.
When you recover from chronic stress, your body no longer needs to hold onto excess fat to protect you, lifting the weight off of you literally.
2. Estrogen Dip Belly
Your waistline becomes a magnet for a roll of fat and this fat layer doesn’t like to budge with diet and exercise. What turns your waistline into a fat magnet is due to suboptimal estrogen. Estrogen is the main female reproductive hormone that can put fat in places you desire: chest, hip and thigh.
If estrogen level dips, fat runs to your waistline. This change is more than just unfair to your fitness and diet effort, it also may raise your cholesterol levels and increase heart disease risks.
I’m in my 20s - 30s, no way I have low estrogen, right? You would be surprised to see how many young women surprise me with low estrogen levels because of chronic stress.
My results certainly shocked me when I realized how low my estrogen dipped after a couple of stressful years. Both estrogen and stress hormones are made with the same building block. The stress response being the body’s survival mode, deprioritizes reproduction in favor of making stress hormones. Over time, estrogen levels plummet because chronic stress keeps stealing the building blocks.
I’m in my late 30s - mid-40s there must be nothing I can do because I’m perimenopausal. You don’t have to put up with the horrible hot flashes, gripping anxiety, and loss of libido. When you give too much yourself living in worry about other’s well-being, this also takes a toll on your hormone building blocks.
By replenishing yourself with natural supports, you may realize this transition can be easier and calmer. You can get back to feeling yourself again.
3. Thyroid Belly
This type of belly fat is often followed by weight gain in other areas when an underactive thyroid slows your metabolism. A more severe thyroid issue can also cause water retention, making the weight appear more fluid-filled or puffy.
A sluggish thyroid puts your body in "energy-saving" mode. This can look like weight gain even with the same diet and exercise, brain fog, and increased effort for daily tasks. If this sounds familiar, your thyroid may need support.
If you haven’t paid attention to your thyroid before you are not alone. According to the American Thyroid Association, up to 60% of people with thyroid disease are unaware that they have it. Even if your lab work shows your TSH level is fine, clinical evidence from thyroid specialist
Dr. Broda Barnes shows only 2-5% slow thyroid is diagnosed by standard TSH test alone.
In fact, being the metabolic master switch, your thyroid gland has a feedback loop with all the other metabolic and endocrine organs in your body: adrenals, ovaries/testis, pancreas, liver, gut, fatty tissues, muscles and kidneys. Imbalances in any organ in this feedback loop can make the thyroid overcompensate and grind down its function over time. For example, having an autoimmune condition, insulin resistance, chronic stress and digestive issues can impact your thyroid function.
When you address the root cause of your thyroid issues and give it the care it needs, weight can naturally fall off and stay off as your endocrine system returns to balance.
4. Bloated Belly
This type of belly bloat is caused by gas buildup in the intestines, making your abdomen uncomfortably distended. You might not always pass gas, but the bloating usually eases after fasting, like in the morning. As the day goes on, bad gut bacteria ferment food, causing more gas. By afternoon, your pants might feel so tight you’re tempted to rip them off, as the discomfort builds throughout the day.
If this sounds like you, I encourage you to explore any imbalances.
Today's diet is overloaded with refined grains and sugars—on average, we consume 400% more sugar than people did in the 1700s.
This excess sugar feeds bad bacteria and fungi in the gut, leading to chronic imbalances and digestive issues. I’ve experienced this too and often need to reset my own gut flora, especially after holidays and vacations.
5. Liver Belly
This type of belly sits higher, near the center of your abdomen, signalling liver congestion. It often points to liver issues from alcohol or high sugar intake, which cause fat to build up around the liver. If you're feeling irritable, have pain on the upper right side of your abdomen, or experience nausea—especially after eating high-protein or fatty foods—your liver may need some care.
The liver is a metabolically active organ that helps remove fat from the body by converting it into bile, which is eliminated through bowel movements. When the liver is congested, fat removal becomes difficult. A healthy liver keeps this process flowing smoothly.
If you have a diagnose of fatty liver, I hope this article can help you: https://www.tahliasagewellness.com/post/holistic-wellness-guide-for-nonalcoholic-fatty-liver-disease-nafld
6.Inflammatory Belly
If you experience several of these symptoms, you might have an inflammatory belly, which indicates your body is dealing with internal stress. Since everything in the body is connected, it's common to see a mix of issues.
If your goal is to feel lighter and have more energy for good, the strategy is to personalize the approach based on which of these cases is holding you back. Explore your personalized weight loss strategy:
References
Hair cortisol and adiposity in a population-based sample of 2,527 men and women aged 54 to 87 years
Stress-related Development of Obesity and Cortisol in Women
Elevated Psychological Stress Predicts Reduced Estradiol Concentrations in Young Women
Does TSH Reliably Detect Hypothyroid Patients?
Disclaimer: This article is written for information purposes only. Please consult your healthcare practitioner for medical advise.
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