Diet & Exercises For Men To Build Muscle & Lose Stomach Fat

Losing weight and building lean muscle comes a lot easier to men than women. Men carry a hormone called testosterone. Testosterone helps build muscle. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, making it easier to burn fat. Revamping your diet and engaging in exercise enables you to build lean muscle and lose overall fat, including stomach fat.

Diet

Reduce your daily caloric intake. You can achieve this by cutting out junk food and high-calorie drinks such as chips, doughnuts, cookies, soda, juice and alcohol. Consume foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables, lean protein such as chicken and fish and whole grains such as oatmeal. Snacks should include foods such as low-fat yogurt or carrots and hummus. Instead of eating three large meals a day, eat five to six small meals. This helps boost your metabolism and keeps you feeling full.

Cardiovascular Exercise

Cardiovascular exercise increases your metabolism, burns calories and fat. Performing cardio for 60 minutes most days of the week helps you melt excess fat. It is impossible to spot reduce fat from a certain area of your body; however, running, cycling and swimming are effective exercises to shed fat from areas of your body that need it, including your midsection. In addition to burning fat, cardio decreases your risk for developing cancer, heart disease, high cholesterol, hypertension and stroke.

Resistance Training

Resistance training is a great way to build lean muscle and burn calories even while you are at rest. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends doing eight to 12 strength-training exercises three days per week to build lean muscle. Use heavier weights and do three sets of eight to 10 repetitions of exercises such as squats, lunges, pushups, biceps curls, triceps extensions and situps to build lean muscle and help lose fat.

Waistline Considerations

Carrying too much stress is not good for your body. Many things can cause undo stress, such as work, family and money. When you are under stress, your body releases a hormone called cortisol. Too much cortisol can lead to health problems, such as heart disease, sleep deprivation, unhealthy eating and fat accumulation around your waistline. Take a long walk, listen to quiet music or join a yoga class to calm your mind.