Whether you are hauling around love handles or battling a spare tire around your waist, losing belly fat should be a priority. Extra fat carried around the abdominal area tends to be dangerous, as it often extends deep within the body to surround the organs. Fortunately, whittling away your waist is actually easy with a few simple lifestyle changes. In fact, you can even successfully lose belly fat without crunches or sit-ups.
Step 1
Maintain a healthy diet to ensure a successful loss of belly fat. Eat a diet high in fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and whole grains. Additionally, drink plenty of water to help push wastes and toxins through the body.
Step 2
Avoid foods high in sugar, white flour, cholesterol and saturated fat. When consumed, refined white flour and sugar cause blood sugar levels to rise, which reduces the body's fat-burning capabilities. Foods that contain saturated fats and cholesterol also tend to encourage fat accumulation around the belly. Avoid soft drinks, alcohol, margarine, cookies, white bread, white pasta, cakes, candy and nearly all processed foods.
Step 3
Keep a food diary and consistently monitor your daily calorie intake. To burn fat, you must burn more calories than you consume every day. Consume fewer calories by limiting portion sizes, choosing healthier foods and trading full-fat foods for low-fat versions.
Step 4
Exercise for at least 30 to 60 minutes per day most days of the week. To help burn belly fat, MayoClinic.com recommends moderate-intensity exercises, such as jogging, swimming or cycling. Exercise not only helps burn calories and fat, but it also reduces insulin levels in the body. Since insulin is indirectly related to the production of belly fat, decreasing these levels discourages the production of belly fat.
Step 5
Build muscle through a variety of strength-training exercises. Building muscle increases the body's metabolism, which in turn improves the body's ability to burn calories. Although you do not have to do crunches or sit-ups, you should include abdominal exercises in your strength-training routine. "Women's Health Magazine" recommends a routine that involves crunches, side bends, squats, leg curls and a few arm exercises.
Step 6
Sleep for at least six to eight hours every night. According to a study published in the "Sleep" journal, sleeping fewer than five hours or more than eight hours per night was associated with a greater amount of belly fat and higher body mass index (BMI). However, the study showed no correlation between sleep and belly fat in participants older than age 40. Still, getting an adequate amount of sleep helps you regulate appetite, calorie intake and energy levels.
References
- "Newsweek" magazine: 6 Facts About Belly Fat
- The Facts About Fitness: Belly Fat and How to Beat It
- MayoClinic.com: Belly Fat In Women: How To Keep It Off
- "Women's Health Magazine": Lose Belly Fat: Fat-Burning Abs Exercises
- Motley Health: How To Lose Belly Fat and Get A Flat Stomach
- "Sleep"; Sleep Duration and 5-Year Abdominal Fat Accumulation in a Minority Cohort: The IRAS Family Study
Member Comments