While a body with excess belly fat can make you dread swimsuit season or trying on new clothes, adopting a plan to reduce your stomach size offers multiple incentives. People who eliminate belly fat often benefit from improved cholesterol levels and lower blood pressure. Fitness experts recommend adding a twist to your regular workout and taking a new approach to eating.
Fat and Your Belly
Your body contains two types of fat -- subcutaneous fat that you can squeeze, and visceral fat, or belly fat, that lies inside your stomach. Belly fat represents a significant health concern, since the fat is biologically alive and secretes harmful chemicals called cytokines that invade your liver, cause inflammation and put you at increased risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Belly fat is typically easier to remove with lifestyle changes than subcutaneous fat.
Your Best Weapon
Health experts suggest adding between 30 and 60 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise to your schedule on most days as an effective way to reduce belly fat. Aerobic workouts such as bicycling, swimming and jogging accelerate your heart rate and burn the most calories. Walking is a convenient aerobic method that won't require you to buy equipment. Consider adding plyometrics to your daily walk -- or skipping, jumping and bounding -- to burn double the calories as a normal stroll at a moderate pace. Plyometrics help vary your normal pattern and also strengthen your legs quicker than regular walks. Stronger legs help you exercise faster and for longer periods of time.
Strength
Strength training at least twice each week gives you an increased chance to reduce belly fat. Strength workouts typically center around lifting free weights, including smaller hand weights or larger weights like barbells. Weightlifting requires your muscles to contract against resistance, which adds size and improves your flexibility and strength. Increased muscle mass also uses more calories, or energy, than other tissues in your body, even during rest. Although some celebrity workouts claim targeted abdominal exercises like situps will shrink your belly, the activities are most effective at strengthening abdominal muscles and will not spot reduce fat.
Diet and Lifestyle
Simple carbohydrates, including sugary soft drinks, white bread and pasta with refined grains, contribute to belly fat. Trim your belly by focusing on fruits, whole grains and low-calorie complex carbohydrates like your favorite vegetables. Consider eating half your normal portion and avoid foods with saturated fats. You'll also be more likely to reduce belly fat if you sleep eight hours nightly and limit your exposure to stress, according to the Harvard Medical School.
References
- Harvard Medical School; Abdominal Fat and What to Do About It; December 2006
- Merck Manuals; Starting an Exercise Program; September 2007
- CNN; How to Walk Off the Belly Fat; Tracy Teare; Aug. 29, 2008
- Mayo Clinic; Belly Fat in Men: Why Weight Loss Matters; Feb. 5, 2011
- Harvard Medical School: Walking: Your Steps to Health
- Harvard Medical School: Taking Aim at Belly Fat
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