The lower belly pooch can cause grief and embarrassment when you are trying to look good for a pool party or summer vacation. The tried-and-true way to rid yourself of this fat is through a multi-faceted approach. You need to take three things into consideration--your diet, your activity levels and your muscle mass. If you don't implement healthier eating habits with your exercise program, you will not make any progress.
Step 1
Eliminate fattening foods from your diet. Give up white bread, bagels and rolls, nachos smothered with cheese and ground beef, hot wings, deep-fried onions, chili dogs and french fries. Eat foods that are bursting with nutrients instead like leafy greens, fruits, vegetables, lean meats, fish, beans, whole grains, seeds, nuts and low-fat dairy.
Step 2
Reduce your overall intake of calories to promote weight loss. Use an online tracker like The Daily Plate to monitor your calories for one day. Reduce your daily intake by 500 calories to promote 1 lb. of weight loss each week.
Step 3
Drink water throughout the day to hydrate your body and further keep your calories under control. Stop drinking all beverages that contain calories like fruit punch, lemonade, slushies, soda, dessert coffees, milk shakes and alcohol. Drink water with your meals as well to fill up your stomach.
Step 4
Prepare small meals and eat every two to three hours to boost your metabolism and keep your appetite under control. Add a portion of complex carbs and protein to every meal to keep it balanced. Tuna on whole wheat bread with light mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato is a meal example.
Step 5
Walk into the gym and build muscle to increase your metabolism even more. Target all of your major muscle groups with exercises like chest presses, overhead presses, back rows, triceps pushdowns, twist curls and step-ups. Work out three days a week on nonconsecutive days. Aim for 10 to 12 reps and do three to five sets of each exercise.
Step 6
Choose a type of cardio that you like to burn the fat on your lower abdomen. Jogging, indoor cycling, elliptical training, kickboxing, inline skating and stair climbing are examples. Exercise for at least 45 minutes and work out in an interval fashion to boost your caloric expenditure. Do your cardio three days a week on the alternating days of your strength training.
Step 7
Perform lower ab exercises to improve your definition as you burn the fat. Execute lying leg lifts, scissor crunches, decline crunches, hanging leg-hip raises and reverse crunches. Aim for 15 to 20 reps, do three or four sets and work out three days a week on nonconsecutive days.
Tips and Warnings
- By adding more muscle to your body, you will increase your caloric expenditure while at rest. With interval training, have your low-intensity bouts be twice as long as your high-intensity bursts. For example, run hard for 30 seconds and jog lightly for 60 seconds. Repeat this pattern throughout your workout.
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