Spot fat reduction doesn't work. The only natural way to burn belly fat is to burn fat from your entire body. Performing sit ups, crunches or other abdominal exercises can help build muscles to make your belly look fitter and stronger. However, if you have excess fat on your body you may not even be able to see the toned muscles underneath the flab. According to the Mayo Clinic, fat stored in the belly is unhealthier than fat stored elsewhere on the body. A combination of proven methods can help you burn fat.
Caloric Intake
A pound of fat is equal to 3,500 calories. By consuming fewer calories than your body needs to maintain its current weight, you can burn excess fat. Try cutting a few hundred calories from your daily diet to lose weight. To keep yourself satisfied while consuming fewer calories you can replace soft drinks and juice for water, choose fruit for dessert, replace white flour products with whole grain to keep your appetite in check and consume more vegetables with your meals while lowering your portion sizes of meats and carbohydrates.
Caloric Deficit
In addition to consuming fewer calories, try burning more calories to create a larger calorie deficit and lose more fat. Fit in a moderate-intensity workout most days of the week for about 30 minutes or more to lose weight. Your aerobic exercise can include brisk walking or jogging, cycling, swimming, dancing, aerobic classes at a gym, stair climbing, tennis or whatever is fun for you. You can also add in strength training about three times a week to build muscle mass. The more muscle mass you have the more calories your body will burn while at rest. Combining this with a healthy diet will help you shed belly fat.
Liposuction
Some people, particularly women who have had children, consume a healthy diet and exercise regularly. They do not feel they have excess fat anywhere on their body except their bellies. They have continually tried abdominal strengthening exercises to tone their midsections; but they still have excess fat on the belly. Oftentimes, it is a combination of belly fat and excess skin from rapid or large amounts of weight loss or from pregnancy. In these cases, liposuction, also known as body contouring, may be appropriate to get rid of excess belly fat. Liposuction is a surgical procedure that removes fat deposits though a suction from targeted areas of the body. It is not a quick fix to lose fat as many people who get liposuction gain the weight back, so discuss the procedure with a doctor to see if it is right for you.
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