How to Lose Stubborn Chest Fat

How to Lose Stubborn Chest Fat
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Shedding hard-to-lose fat from your chest can be accomplished with diet and exercise. Spot reduction is impossible, but lowering your overall body fat helps you burn fat throughout your physique, including the chest area. Eat a balanced, nutritious diet, engage in cardiovascular activity and follow a resistance-training regimen to tighten up your chest. Check with your doctor before starting a diet and exercise program.

Step 1

Burn more calories than you consume to shed stubborn chest fat. MayoClinic.com recommends losing 1 to 2 pounds each week by burning 500 to 1000 calories more than you consume. Maintain this caloric deficit through diet and exercise.

Step 2

Eat complex carbohydrates such as vegetables and fruit, healthy fats such as natural peanut butter and lean proteins such as turkey breast to lower caloric intake. Complex carbohydrates keep blood sugar levels steady, helping you avoid insulin spikes which lead to weight gain. Healthy fats help you feel full by delaying the rate at which your stomach empties. Lean proteins feed your muscles amino acids, helping you power through workouts, burn more calories and shed more fat.

Step 3

Run, walk or jog for 30 minutes most days of the week to shed chest fat. Cardiovascular activity boosts your mood, improves heart health and helps you burn fat from stubborn areas like the chest. Try hitting a heavy bag for an intense upper-body aerobic workout.

Step 4

Do compound free weight movements such as squats, lunges and deadlifts twice per week to burn more calories and lose fat from your chest. Compound exercises recruit multiple muscle groups, offering you a metabolism-boosting and calorie-burning workout. Do four sets of 15 repetitions for each exercise. Rest 30 seconds between sets to increase the intensity of your resistance-training workouts.

Tips and Warnings

  • Warm up with 10 minutes of light jogging before weight-training workouts to bring blood into the chest muscles and optimize your training sessions. Stretch 10 minutes before and after your workout to increase your flexibility and reduce the risk of injury.

References

Article reviewed by BudK Last updated on: Sep 5, 2011

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