Belly fat is a common complaint, especially as people age. There are two types of belly fat--visceral fat is deep inside your body, surrounding your internal organs, and subcutaneous fat is stored just beneath the skin and is the most visible. The only way to lose both types of fat is through a healthy diet and exercise. You cannot target your stomach for fat loss with exercises like sit-ups and crunches. To lose the fat, you must burn more calories than you eat. Certain exercises will burn more calories than others, thus helping you lose the belly fat quicker.
Running
Running is the best exercise you can do to burn calories. If you are running at 8 miles per hour (7 1/2-minute miles), you can burn 986 calories in one hour. If you add hills or sprints, you can burn even more calories.
Tae Kwon Do
This is a total body workout, building cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, coordination and muscular strength. A one-hour session burns 730 calories.
Jump Rope
Incorporating jumping rope into your regular fitness routine can burn 730 calories in one hour. One hour may be too much jumping, so you can break this down to 10 minutes and still burn 122 calories.
Stair Climber
If you have enough resistance on the machine, using a stair climber can burn 657 calories in one hour, as well as build your lower-body strength.
Jogging
While running fast burns more calories, a slower jog at 5 miles per hour (12-minute miles) can still burn 584 calories in an hour. Long, slow runs are great for burning fat, too.
Swimming
Swimming is a total body workout because it uses nearly all the muscles in the body, including those in your core. Virtually all strokes will increase your cardiovascular and muscular fitness, while burning up to 511 calories an hour. It's also non-impact, so it's safe and effective for your joints.
Weightlifting
While resistance training may only burn 219 calories per hour, it can boost your metabolism and strengthen the muscles in and around your belly, which can lead to quicker weight loss. The Mayo Clinic also states, "Some research has shown that exercising with weights is effective in trimming tummy fat."
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