The abdomen is an area of the body that gets a lot of attention. Over the course of time, it has a tendency to gain excess fat in both men and women. This is called subcutaneous fat, which you can grasp with your hands, or visceral fat, which pads your organs. According to the Harvard Medical School, having this excess fat in the abdomen can increase your risk for insulin resistance, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. In order to burn it, you must exercise. But more importantly, you need to eat right.
Reduction
To lose weight, you must be in a caloric deficit. This means you are burning more calories than you are eating. A way you can do this through your diet is by reducing your daily intake by 500 calories. To lose one pound, it takes 3500 calories. If you cut 500 calories out of your daily diet, you would end up with 3500 calories by the end of the week, which comes out to a pound. If you don't exercise, you can lose 4 pounds a month.
Elimination
To lose weight, you also need to lose the unhealthy foods. Eliminate deep fried foods, processed foods, refined foods and anything else that is high in fat and calories. Examples of these include French fries, wings, cakes, candy, doughnuts, cookies, pizza and white flour products. The foods you should eat instead are nutrient dense such as fruits, vegetables, lean meats, low fat dairy products, seeds, nuts, fish and whole grains.
Water
Water is a fluid that offers many benefits to the body. It helps keep you hydrated, lubricates the joints, flushes toxins from the system and aids in digestion. If all that is not good enough, it also has zero calories and it can give you a full feeling when you drink it. This can cause you to eat less overall calories and promote weight loss. The Institute of Medicine recommends that women get approximately 2.7 total liters a day and men get approximately 3.7 liters a day. This comes out to about 11 cups for women and 16 cups for men.
Multiple Meals
Instead of eating two to three big meals a day, eat several small meals. This can help keep you feeling full, satisfy your cravings and increase your energy. Make these meals a balance of protein and carbs and eat every 2 to 3 hours. An example of a meal is a bowl of oat bran cereal with low fat milk.
Fiber
Fiber is a substance that cannot get absorbed in the body. This helps your diet in a couple ways. When you eat fiber, it creates bulk in your stomach, which can fill you up quickly and cause you to eat less overall calories. It can also keep you feeling full for a longer period of time. Get fiber in all of your meals. Examples of foods that are high in fiber include pears, berries, oat bran, oatmeal, lentils, kidney beans, broccoli, apples, whole wheat pasta, split peas and black beans.
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