Fad diets and fat-burning pills may promise to rid you of excess belly fat, but the best way to lose abdominal fat involves adopting healthful lifestyle changes. As you exercise regularly, improve your diet and watch your portion sizes, you gradually lose belly fat as well as excess fat stored on other parts of your body. Losing 1 to 2 lbs. of fat per week may seem like a slow pace, but it helps you stick to healthful exercising and eating habits for the long-term. If you have medical concerns, speak with a doctor before starting a fat-loss program.
Step 1
Exercise daily. Spend one hour every day doing vigorous cardiovascular exercise that burns at least 600 calories. Good options include boot camp, intense circuit training, high-impact aerobic dance, jogging fast, running, climbing hills or stairs, kickboxing or hot yoga. Doing these daily workouts may result in your losing more than 6 lbs. of fat per month.
Step 2
Build muscle to replace excess fat. Do resistance calisthenics such as pushups, pullups, burpees, abdominal crunches on a slant board, lunges and squats to target your major muscle groups. Increase your strength by using tools such as hand weights, barbells or resistance bands to do biceps curls, triceps extensions, pectoral presses and lateral raises. Adding muscle makes your body burn more fat around the clock.
Step 3
Increase your fat-burning power by doing speed or strength intervals. When you sprint, skip rope, dash upstairs or do other activities at maximum capacity, you spike your heart rate and burn calories faster for the duration of your workout. Spend one of every five minutes of your workout doing a challenging interval.
Step 4
Cut calories from your diet by making sensible food swaps. Increase then nutrients, fiber and antioxidants in your meals and snacks by switching from packaged, fried and processed foods to fresh, whole foods like unsweetened whole grains, fruit, vegetables and legumes. For every 3,500 calories you trim from you normal, needed, consumption --- basically eating 500 fewer calories a day --- you lose 1 lb. of fat.
Step 5
Stick to modest portion sizes. Use dessert plates instead of dinner plates at mealtime so you stick to single serving size of food. Snack on low-calorie, high-fiber foods like berries, apples and leafy greens. You get full faster, stopping you from overeating.
Tips and Warnings
- Drink plain water instead of sugary drinks.
Things You'll Need
- Weights
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