Losing your stomach fat can be challenging, but you can make it easier by adapting to a lifestyle that makes toned abs a natural result. This means getting more exercise, eating a healthier diet and avoiding the problems that increased the size of your gut in the first place.
Step 1
Change your mind. The first step in shedding that excess belly fat is psyching yourself up for the commitment required to do it. Prepare yourself to change the habits that put the fat there in the first place. Know that this is not a simple process. Set goals. Consider both long-term goals, such as preventing disease and being a good role model, and even vanity goals such as looking good at the beach. Chart your way toward a new lifestyle, ensuring you can always eat the way you're supposed to eat and get enough exercise.
Step 2
Examine the barriers that have held you back before and honestly tackle all the excuses you've given yourself for not shedding the fat sooner. Deal with issues such as time and money, need for an accountability partner and the desire to enjoy the taste of healthy food. Set traps for your self-defeating and self-sabotaging habits, whatever they might be. Without these mental steps, you'll be working against the grain, and it'll be harder to reach your goals.
Step 3
Know your starting point. Weigh yourself. Measure your waist and your body mass index, or BMI. These statistics help you track your progress. Use the CDC's online BMI calculator or another online tool that similarly uses your height and weight. Any BMI result over 25 is overweight. Sober yourself with the facts about the distance around your waist. If you're a woman with a waist circumference greater than 35 inches, 40 for men, your risk for heart disease, diabetes and other chronic health issues is dramatically increased. Use your numbers for motivation.
Step 4
Move vigorously. Combat belly fat by getting at least 30 to 60 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise most days of the week. Vary your training. Get aerobic conditioning, bone strengthening and muscle resistance activities. Try a variety of styles to determine what you like best, but periodically include a type of training you're not used to so that you can work your body in new and unique ways. Progressively increase the length and intensity of your workouts to keep reaping the benefits. Exercise helps you burn off the visceral fat that's hanging in your abdominal cavity, and it helps to prevent you from gaining more. Spot routines, such as crunches and situps, can help you tighten your muscles, but they don't eliminate the deeply embedded fat. See your doctor before beginning a new routine.
Step 5
Clean up your diet. Abs are made in the kitchen. Cut your portion sizes. Avoid processed carbohydrates, such as white bread and refined-grain pasta. Eliminate sugar-sweetened beverages and desserts. Replace the saturated and trans fats in your diet with mono- and polyunsaturated fats. Don't starve yourself, though. Cutting your calories too low will make your body work harder to hold on to the fat by slowing down your metabolism.
Step 6
Ask your doctor about medically supervised weight-loss programs or prescription weight-loss drugs if you are obese and your best efforts aren't reducing your belly size in a reasonable amount of time. See this request as a last-resort option and only as an adjunct to the continuous lifestyle changes you make with your eating and exercising.
Tips and Warnings
- Avoids foods that make you extra gassy and bloated. They make your stomach appear bigger because of the trapped air and undigested food working through your digestive tract. Salty, processed goods, along with roughage such as cabbage, contribute to bloat.
- Even if you shed pounds quickly, they might return if you don't make long-term changes to your eating and exercise habits. In addition, you could also experience a plateau, in which your body seems to want to hold on to that extra belly fat. Keep at it. It might take some time, but with consistent effort, you'll begin seeing results again. Finally, control your stress. Consecutive days with high amounts of unwieldy pressure can trigger the release of the hormone cortisol, which can dump more fat right back onto your belly.
References
- "Harvard Women's Health Watch"; "Abdominal Fat and What to Do about It"; December 2006
- Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center; "Exercise Important in Reducing Size of Abdominal Fat Cells, Research Shows"; 2006
- University of New Mexico; "SuperAbs Resource Manual"; Len Kravitz
- Weight-control Information Network; "Changing Your Habits: Steps to Better Health"; May 2008
- Hussman Fitness; "Measuring Your Progress"; John Hussman
- UAB Health System; "Belly Fat Can Increase Risk of Heart Disease, Diabetes"; March 10, 2008
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