A flat, toned core is sexy and a sign of good health. Excess body fat around your waist can put you at risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and certain types of cancer. Flattening your stomach can be achieved through diet and exercise or by surgical means. Using a focused exercise and nutrition plan to reduce belly fat will also help you maintain your weight loss, especially after surgical fat removal.
Exercise Program
Reducing belly fat can be done using a focused exercise program consisting of aerobic exercise combined with an abdominal workout. Aerobic exercise burns calories and will take the fat off your midsection. Any type of aerobic exercise that gets your heart rate up to the point where you start sweat will burn calories. Running, walking, jumping rope, stair climbing and step aerobics are all good cardiovascular exercises that burn a high rate of calories. To burn fat, you need to invest a little time. The USDA's fitness guidelines recommend 60 to 90 minutes of cardio.
Abdominal exercises will help tone and firm your stomach. Abdominal exercise builds muscle even though it may not be apparent in the beginning. The new muscle will start to show as you lose body fat. Building stomach muscles also helps to support the back. Stability ball crunches and other core work provide an efficient stomach workout that focuses the work on the abdominal muscles and less energy is spent using the thigh muscles. Other abdominal exercises that will flatten your stomach include bicycle crunches, the captain's chair, the plank and reverse crunches.
Diet
Another remedy to shed pounds and flatten your stomach is by making nutritional changes in your diet. Reducing your daily caloric intake to less than what you burn is the only way to lose weight. This method can be combined with an exercise program to speed the progress.
Portion control is one way to get started on a good diet program. A portion is the amount of food eaten at one sitting. Pay close attention to portion size to reduce your overall food intake. Your average portion may be equal to several servings. Learn how many calories are in the foods you eat and keep track of how much you eat at each meal. Keeping a food diary will help you track the types of foods, how many calories and when you eat. The National Institutes of Health recommends eating slowly, eating at a table and not out of a box, avoid eating in front of the TV and replacing high-calorie snacks with healthier options such as vegetable sticks or fruit.
Surgical Removal
Reducing fat around the stomach can be done by having a tummy tuck, also called abdominoplasty. Surgical removal of the fat cells around your stomach will flatten and reduce the size of your midsection. Abdominoplasty tightens the muscles horizontally and vertically producing a dramatically flat abdomen, according to Ivan Thomas, M.D.
Weight gain after a tummy tuck will stretch the skin, causing a loss of firmness. This surgery is not recommended for women who plan to get pregnant. The skin will stretch and lose muscle tone. There will be a scar from the surgery, but it is usually lower than your bikini line. Exercising and eating a healthy diet will help maintain your new flat stomach.
References
- Mayo Clinic: Belly Fat in Women: How to Keep it Off
- USDA: New Dietary Guidelines Will Help Americans Make Better Food Choices, Live Healthier Lives
- National Institutes of Health: Just Enough for You
- Ivan Thomas, M.D.: Tummy Tuck: Abdominoplasty - Panniculectomy
- National Institutes of Health: Abdominal Wall Surgery
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