Use Exercise Plus Diet to Get Rid of Belly Fat

You wouldn’t believe how often I am asked: how can I lose all this belly fat? You would think it was a difficult problem, or something.

OK, enough with the kidding around. It really is pretty hard to get rid of abdominal excess fat, once it has developed. It isn’t hard to figure out what needs doing, it’s more a matter of finding the strength of will and determination to actually do it.

The best way to lose abdominal fat is to eat right and exercise regularly. No surprise there, right? And there’s a growing body of evidence pointing to a mix of weight training and aerobic exercise as the keys to burning off the fat from your belly. In other words, you need to work on developing your own so-called “six pack abs.”

Now, losing your store of embarassing belly fat is not the only reason to work on that 6-pack. A firm, flat stomach is the ultimate symbol of sex appeal. And researchers have also found that getting rid of abdominal fat is one of the most important things you can work on in order to stay healthy for life.

You probably realize that excess fat anywhere, and in general, is not good for your overall health. But you should also recognize that where the fat is distributed on your body is also key to your health. “Apple shaped” people who are fattest in their abdomen area actually run a greater risk of heart disease and diabetes than those with pear-shaped bodies (fattest in the hips, buttocks, and thighs).

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• Burn the Fat with Tom Venuto

A recent study tracked 45 obese women for six months. The women were divided into three groups. The control group did no exercise. An aerobic exercise group worked out vigorously for an hour each day, six days a week. And a combo exercise group varied their training efforts, with weight training three days per week, alternating with aerobic exercise on the off days.

After 6 months, the women in the aerobic group had lost 22.3 cm of abdominal subcutaneous fat. Not bad… but look at this: the combined exercise group lost 59.8 cm, nearly three times as much as the aerobics-only team. The combined group also did better on the abdominal visceral fat measure with 92 cm lost vs. 81 cm for the aerobics group. There was no change in the control group.

So the most effective way to lose belly fat starts with a combined aerobics and core strength exercise plan that is strenuous. A casual 30 minutes or so, a couple or three times a week, just won’t cut it.

You really need to “go for it” with a full-body training program that combines cardiovascular and resistance exercises. You won’t necessarily want to follow the typical approach advocated by the “six pack abs” hype machine. You don’t need to do hundreds of crunches, sit ups or complicated routines. The key to losing belly fat is to burn more calories than you eat, and the typical six-pack routine may not burn the kind of calories you need in order to get the results you are after - lose belly fat.

The next step is to eat the right foods. There is a lot of conflicting information on nutrition. From the Atkins “no carbs” approach, to those who tell you to avoid fats, there are radicals and extremists on every side.

To lose belly fat safely, you need to take in enough protein in your diet to maintain muscle mass. And although you aim to reduce excess abdominal fat, you still need at least 20 to 30 percent of your calories to come from fats. As for carbohydrates, you want to balance your intake against the protein and fat, aiming for a caloric total determined by whether you want to lose weight or not. And if you are trying to lose belly fat, you do want to lose weight. You must take in fewer calories than you burn.

How do you lose belly fat? Basically, if you get rid of excess fat in your diet and in your body, your belly will go away too.