Your belly fat differs from the fat that lies under your skin. Subcutaneous fat, which lies between your skin and your muscle, may not enhance your appearance but it is not nearly as dangerous as your belly fat. Belly fat, also called visceral fat, adheres to a fatty sheath that hangs off your stomach deep within your abdominal cavity. Metabolically active, it releases chemicals and hormones that affect your organs and your health, increasing your risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, gallbladder disease and certain types of cancer.
Slash and Burn
You might want to target the fat in your belly for immediate removal, but you can't spot-burn fat. Whether you create a calorie deficit by exercising particular muscle groups or by reducing your caloric intake, fat is drawn proportionately from wherever it is stored. If you have more fat in your belly than elsewhere, you'll lose weight from your belly more quickly than somewhere else. However, you must lose weight from all over to lose weight from your belly. To do this, slash your calorie intake and find ways to burn more calories through exercise.
Change Your Diet
Don't go on a diet. Diets don't work, psychologist Traci Mann reports in the April 2007 edition of, "American Psychologist." People temporarily decrease their calorie intake in drastic ways, but when they stop the diet they regain the lost weight. Mann found that one to two-thirds of dieters regain more weight than they lost. So, to lose your belly fat for good, don't go on a diet. Steadily make permanent changes to your eating and exercise habits so you reach and maintain a healthy weight.
Cut the Fat
People who maintain weight loss have a low-fat diet, Dr. Rena Wing reports in the July 2001 issue of, "Annual Review of Nutrition." Eliminate fatty, fried and fast food. Use only non or low-fat dairy and avoid butter, margarine, cream sauces and fatty meats. Eat skinless turkey or chicken breast and minimize your use of heavy oils.
Snack Smart
About 20 percent of Americans' calories come from snacks. Chips, crackers, cookies, candy and cake add calories that are difficult to burn off. Snack on fruit and low-fat yogurt instead. Low or non-fat dairy, such as yogurt or skim milk contains a combination of calcium, protein and vitamin D that burns fat and enhances weight loss, according to nutritional researcher Michael Zemel in a 2004 study published in "Obesity." Minimize sugary and sweet foods and beverages. Instead of soda, drink water or green tea.
Exercise
Perform exercises that burn as many calories as possible to expedite your belly fat loss. Cardio exercise such as walking, jogging, running, swimming and biking, uses the large lower-body muscles that require a lot of calories to operate. And during cardio, your heart and lungs work hard to supply fuel and oxygen to your muscles, contributing more calories to your total burn. The sum effect makes cardio the most effective exercise for burning calories. Work at an intensity that gets you sweating and breathing heavily. Do 30 to 60 minutes of moderately intense cardio exercise on most days of the week.
Resistance Training
Include weightlifting or resistance training in your routine two or three days a week. Resistance training burns calories, tones muscles and boosts your metabolic rate so you burn more calories, whether you are exercising or resting. Include abdominal-focused exercises such as situps, crunches and planks in your resistance routines.
References
- Harvard Health Publications; Abdominal Fat and What To Do About It
- "American Psychologist"; Medicare's Search for Effective Obesity Treatments: Diets are Not the Answer; Traci Mann, et al.; Apr. 2007
- "Annual Review of Nutrition"; Successful Weight Loss Maintenance; Rena Wing, et al.; July 2001
- Faqs.org: Dietary Trends, American
- "Obesity"; Calcium and Dairy Acceleration of Weight and Fat Loss; Michael Zemel, et al.; 2004
- University of New Mexico: Yes! You do Burn Fat During Resistance Exercise; Lawrence Herrera & Len Kravitz
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