While abdominal exercises are a popular way to tone and define your stomach muscles, they won't remove excess fat. To do this, you need to do regular aerobic exercise so that your body draws on your fat resources for fuel, according to the Facts About Fitness website. However, you can't spot reduce fat from your stomach. Your body loses weight from different areas depending on your genetic makeup and where you tend to store the most fat.
Step 1
Use your big muscle groups. According to registered dietitian Kathleen Goodwin on The Diet Channel, muscles need more calories to function than fat. The bigger the muscle, the more fuel it needs, so cardio workouts that use the larger muscle groups in your lower body -- such as your hamstrings, quadriceps and gluteals -- are best for fat burning. Running, skiing, skipping and walking are all popular fat-burning options.
Step 2
Pick your intensity. It will probably come as no surprise that the harder you work out, the more fat you burn, and there are a couple of reasons for this. The first is that running instead of walking, for example, burns more calories and weight loss is the result of burning more calories than you consume, says Running Planet. The second reason is that running -- to use the same example -- makes your muscles work harder than walking does. This means they develop in strength and, it takes more calories to work big muscles.
Step 3
Keep going. Fat isn't easy to shift, and one of the reasons is that your body uses carbohydrates -- which are stored as glycogen -- as its initial source of fuel during cardiovascular exercise, says the Facts About Fitness website. It's not until you have burned through your glycogen stores that your body starts eating into your fat stores for energy. So for maximum fat-burning benefits, aim for aerobic sessions of 30 minutes to an hour, depending on your fitness level.
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