How can I get rid of belly fat after menopause? What are the best exercises to target menopause belly fat? Do these 7 effective exercises help reduce belly fat during menopause.

Exercises to Tackle Menopause Belly Fat

During menopause, one common issue that most women face is the accumulation of stubborn belly fat. This can have a significant impact on your confidence and leave you feeling frustrated. The fact that the belly is the toughest area in the body to tone up only exacerbates the problem. However, it’s important to remember that with regular exercise, it is possible to get rid of that pesky belly fat. Apart from a balanced diet and proper sleep, you will need to work out on a regular basis to tone up your tummy.

7 Effective Exercises for Menopause Belly Fat

Here are 7 easy and effective exercises that can help you deal with belly fat during menopause:

1. Jumping Rope

Rope jumping is a fairly efficient type of cardio exercise! In fact, it is one of the best ways to burn calories and belly fat. It helps to tone your calves, tighten your core, build stamina, and improve your lung capacity. What’s more, it also strengthens the muscles of your legs, butt, shoulders, arms, and belly. Skipping is one of the simplest and most result-oriented exercises. Tip: Do it for 15 minutes daily.

2. Pilates

Pilates is known to strengthen muscles and tone up the body. The best part is that it is specifically designed to build core strength and improve flexibility. Hence, it helps to reduce belly fat by increasing the fat-burning efficiency of the body and, at the same time, toning up the area.

3. Boat Pose

Boat pose (Navasana) is a yoga pose that can strengthen the core, hip flexors, and spine. In addition, it helps to relieve stress and improves digestion. This pose works fabulously on your side and front tummy muscles, helping cut out the fat and toning up the areas.

4. Bicycle Crunch

Bicycle crunches are pretty good for the rectus abdominis and obliques when done correctly. This abdominal exercise will help burn that stubborn belly fat and improve your posture. If you add bicycle crunches to your workout routine, you’re likely to increase core strength, slim down your waist, and improve your flexibility.

5. Plank

A great core-busting exercise, the plank strengthens your core muscles and plays a significant role in fat burning. Plank is a good calorie burner that reduces belly fat and makes the tummy tight. In addition, it improves your body strength. Plank can engage multiple muscles at once and that’s why it is a beneficial exercise for burning the fat around your abdomen area. It also improves posture and flexibility.

6. Leg Raise

The leg raise is a strength training exercise that is great for your abs and obliques. Leg raises are known to strengthen your leg muscles, build stronger abs, enhance flexibility in the body, and reduce belly fat. This move is often used to strengthen rectus abdominal muscles as well as internal and external oblique muscles for a toned tummy. To get and keep a flat stomach, continue increasing your number of repetitions!

7. Steady-State Cardio Exercises

Steady-state cardio exercises improve your body’s ability to burn fat. In fact, according to a 2014 study, continuous aerobic activities are more effective than HIIT workouts at improving fat distribution in the body. Steady with moderate-intensity cardio workouts include repetitive exercises like walking, running, hiking, or biking. It is a good option for those who need an overall reduction of fat.

Tackling Menopause Belly: Diet and Exercise

If you are approaching perimenopause or menopause, you may be noticing a shift in your body – how the weight is distributed. Whereas in our 20s, 30s and 40s most women hold their fat in their hips, buttocks and thighs (where it helps to reserve fuel necessary for breastfeeding), as we hit the age of perimenopause and menopause – usually around age 40 – the fat gets redistributed to the belly area, particularly deep inside the tummy and becomes menopause belly. This leads to the muffin top – something I get asked about all the time!

If you don’t tackle menopause belly or this new mid-section weight gain, it can get out of control, and quickly! And the bottom line is it’s not healthy to have too much extra weight around your belly: A waistline larger than 35 inches on women is an indicator of health concerns like heart attack and diabetes.

So how do we tackle this “menopause belly fat”? Really it’s a two-pronged approach: Diet and Exercise!

When it comes to foods as we age, it is a good rule of thumb to focus on high-quality, whole, fresh foods as the basis of all your meals. Think of it as treating your body as well as you can now, for a healthy body for all the days and years to come! The more you care for your body during this transitional time, the better it will serve you in the long run.