Excess fat can not only affect your self-image but can be extremely dangerous. It has been shown that people that have a lot of fat, especially in the visceral area, are at much greater risk of developing things like diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular issues.

You can try to lose weight the traditional way, but some people still can’t seem to be able to get rid of those last 15 to 20 pounds. And, if you think stubborn fat is a myth, it isn’t. Some fat cells are more resilient than others, and you’ll have to up your efforts if you want to get rid of them. You might also want to modify some of your lifestyle and eating habits. Let’s take a look at a few things you can do to get rid of stubborn fat.

Eat More Protein and Less Carbs

One of the things you have to understand is that not all calories are the same. The whole calories in/calories out thing might look good on paper, but things are much more complex than that.

Calories coming from carbs are not equal to those coming from protein. For one, carbs spike your insulin level, and insulin prevents your body from accessing your fat reserves. As a matter of fact, it will drive your body to transform excess calories into fat much faster, which is why you should only take carbs if you intend to burn them.

Protein will also spike insulin, but much less than carbs. It will also go towards building muscle, which benefits weight loss, and requires more energy to be broken down. So, making the switch to more protein alone could be the difference.

Embrace Strength Training

Another reason why so many people struggle with losing weight is that they assume cardiovascular exercise is the only and best form of exercise for burning fat. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Even if you jogged for one hour every day at a six-mile per hour pace, you would still need to run 5 hours more to lose a single pound of fat. And very few people can run one hour per day.

Strength training will burn about the same amount of energy, but you will continue to burn calories during the day and while you sleep. Maintaining muscle demands a lot of energy and will ramp your metabolism up. And a lot of people would rather do some strength training than cardio, so this could help with motivation.

Look at Surgical and Non-Surgical Procedures

You could also look at surgical or non-surgical procedures. If liposuction seems too risky for you, you could always go with a coolsculpting procedure from SpaMedica.

Cool sculpting neutralizes and kills fat cells by freezing them through the skin using an applicator. This is an extremely efficient procedure and will make gaining fat in the same area very difficult in the future. The procedure doesn’t require anesthesia and has very few risks, so if you were looking for a good alternative to liposuction, you should definitely give cool sculpting a closer look.

These are all things you could try to get rid of that fat that just won’t go away. Look at as many options as possible and start by making changes to your daily routine.