Getting rid of fat in the midsection can be very difficult and frustrating for many people. The coveted "six pack" is never easily achieved as the body tends to burn fat from the midsection last. By combining a few dietary and exercise strategies you can lose fat from your midsection quickly.
Step 1
Eat five or six smaller meals throughout the day to keep fat burning off of your trouble spots. "The Abs Diet" recommends three main meals, such as breakfast, lunch and dinner, with three snacks around them. Hunger pangs and food cravings are often headed off when you eat frequent, nutritious meals.
Step 2
Take in 30 percent protein, 40 percent carbohydrates and 30 percent fat at each meal or snack. "The Fat Burning Bible" recommends this ratio as optimal for fat burning. "Combat the Fat" says to visualize a serving of protein as being about the size of your closed, flattened fist. A serving of carbs is that which would fit into your cupped palm. Dry fats like nuts and seeds make a serving that fills your hand, while one serving of oily wet fats is about the size of your thumb.
Step 3
Choose clean foods that are not easily stored as body fat. Lean sources of protein like turkey, fish and chicken are low in saturated fat and have a fat-burning effect on the body. Clean carbs include oatmeal, brown rice, whole grains and many fresh fruits. Healthy fats are olive oil, avocados, nuts and seeds and natural peanut butter. According to "The Abs Diet," these foods will help you burn belly fat.
Step 4
Do resistance training workouts every other day. Weight training burns fat for up to 48 hours or more after your workout. If you lift weights on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, then you will be burning more calories all week long. Due to a unique effect on the body, weight training actually targets the midsection for fat burning, according to author David Zinczenko.
Step 5
Follow your resistance training with 30 to 60 minutes of low-intensity cardiovascular exercise. Examples include walking on the treadmill, riding the exercise bike, jogging or swimming. "Combat the Fat" author Jeff Anderson calls this "super cardio" because it burns body fat almost exclusively. In fact recent research suggests that high-intensity cardio utilizes more metabolized muscle and carbohydrates for a net total of fewer calories burned from body fat.
References
- "The Abs Diet"; David Zinczenko; Rodale, 2004
- "The Fat-Burning Bible"; Mackie Shilstone; John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2005
- "Combat the Fat"; Jeff Anderson; CQC LLC, 2009
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