Losing belly fat

[lstevens]

Hey guys I would really like to try and lose my belly fat before summer is over. Does anybody have any good diets/workout tips? I'm about 5'9 185lbs right now, I was up to 195 lbs a couple of months ago, but I have lost about 10lbs throughout the past couple of months. I could really tell that I lost weight in my neck and face, but nothing on the belly. Any suggestions?

I really feel like I could improve my confidence when approaching if I could lose the rest of the weight.

[wongk222]

think that the number one question asked in this diet and fitness sections has to be "how do I lose belly fat?"

First of all, remember that you are not alone. Since this question gets asked several times a day, most average people have this problem. Just because you see, skinny, tight abbed people on tv and in the movies don't think that you are in the minority. I think almost everyone has belly fat.

You can lose your belly fat but it isn't going to disappear overnight and no pill, shake or machine can make it go away faster.

You are going to have to burn off your current fat stores with cardio, diet to keep new fat from accumulating and targeted exercises to tighten your mid-section.

First the cardio. You will need to do some type of cardio (aerobic) exercise at least 5 times a week. About 30-45 minutes each time is perfect. You can either go for a brisk walk, do some swimming, workout to a dvd like taebo or do some stair stepping. You should feel winded and you should be sweating about 5 minutes into your workout. If you have not exercised for a while make sure that you check with your doctor to make sure that you are fit enough for cardio as it is taxing on your heart.

Diet. Make simple changes. Switch from white flour products to those that are labeled 100% whole grain or 100% whole wheat. Don't settle for mixed grains, just 100% whole on the label. Change from full fat dairy products to non-fat or low fat. Fat free ice cream is a nice summer treat and the new fat free ones are nothing like the ones from years ago. The new ones are really good.

Make sure you eat plenty of vegetable. Both steamed and raw. Vegetables will fill you up, have a high water content and are very low in calories and fat. They also now have some frozen vegetables in a low fat sauce that only have 30-50 calories per 1/2 cup. These make a good change from plain vegetables. You will see the words "Best Life Diet" some where on the package. The taste is excellent.

Snack on fruit during the day. The sugar in the fruit will curb your sweet tooth and will also give you energy. Trying freezing grapes or strawberries as a cool treat. You can even dunk slices of bananas in chocolate syrup for a low fat splurge.

Ok, now targeted exercises. You are going to want to target not only your belly area but also above and below. The reverse bicycle is absolutely perfect! This works your tummy, butt, waist, legs and arms. A great all around exercise yet it is the best ab workout you can do (even better than crunches), then you will want to do some pushaways, V-ups, side crunches and reverse crunches. These will give you a nice flatter mid-section. Add some obliques and there goes your love handles.

No matter what anyone says - this isn't going to be fast. Expect to start to seeing results in 2 weeks, quite noticeable results in 4 weeks & fantastic results in 6 weeks. I know that 6 weeks seems like a long time but you want to tighten. If you just lose weight, you will have inches of flappy, extra skin that looks worse than fat. By doing it this way you can avoid that and in the long run you are going to be glad you did!

Good luck!

[VerbalIntercourse]

Your stomach is the first place fat goes and the last place it leaves.. the only solution is to stay consistent.. Keep a Constant calorie deficit (intake lower than 1500 daily) and make Calorie burning a daily habit and it will go away eventually..

I'm always gaining weight then loosing it.. I was around 200 lbs.. Till I started jogging and lifting weights again.. Now I'm 170.. But I still have a little gut too, it just looks proportionate because I have a big frame since I work my chest out so much.. But I'm working on the flat stomach..

[SilentBeat]

I've read in countless magazines that it's impossible to target where you want to lose fat. Your metabolism will basically start burning the fat in your body at an equal tempo. Thus your face will seem to lose fat the fastest.

I'm no expert. I just read this in a lot of magazines so you'll have to decide for yourself what you'll believe.

[RAMM]

Bro, read Tim Ferriss' 4 hour body, it's a major game changer in body transformation.
Also, the idea that reducing calories under your daily caloric need to lose fat is completely wrong. You just shut down your metabolism and get more fat than before.

Also, training doesn't help with fast fat loss. I used to train 30 hours a week and lost almost no weight (wasn't fat, but neither was cut).

Now, I've been on Tim Ferriss' stuff since end december or beginning january, don't remember. I ate like a pig, like I'm always eating, and my body went like losing 2 pounds of fat and adding 1 pound of muscle every week. Effortlessly. Not even following the diet strictly. Anyway, I weight 3 kilos less (7 pounds) but am way more muscular than before, which must mean I added (didn't measure it but) somewhere around 4-7 pounds of lean mass. Which makes my fat loss about 11-14 lb. For the first time fibers show up in the muscles, arms and ass are bigger, pecs are cooler tho I need to figure how to increase only higher pecs and leave lower ones as they are. Shoulders are round and cool. Abs are more visible than ever.

I confirm that belly fat is the last to leave, I've lost some of it but still got more to lose.

And what I did was just increase protein manyfold, eat more often, quitting all flour (bread and pasta, which is harder for me being from italy). Eat every 3-4 hours to keep the metabolism high and take one day a week off diet to eat everything you want with no rules, which keeps metabolism from shutting down. a couple of pounds aof fat lost a week guaranteed. Of course, make sure you're not getting lean mass while losing fat and give up because you think it's not working.

And read the book for more details and some physical training.

[Daniel Lewis]

Hey, I'm new to the forum but I have had my fair share of burning fat/building muscle and helping others do the same.

A lot of people will find info on the internet saying this how you do it, this is not how to do it and blah blah blah. The real truth is, fat loss is the simple when you focus on the principles, not the methods. With that said, fat loss is probably harder than trying to gain mass/strength.

Why?

Because fat loss quickly becomes a psychological war.

And because of that, the first thing you have to do is change your mindset. More specifically, having the idea that weight loss is what matters to fat loss is what matters.

Regardless of what you do, you will look significantly different (and better) burning 10 pounds of fat and building 10 pounds of muscle than if you lost 10 pounds.

I can go on and on about this but rather than go there, let me show/introduce you to the principles of fat loss.

The principle of fat loss can be explained as: Creating and keeping an energy deficit while still preserving muscle mass and still be hormonally balanced.

In english: burn more than u consume, keep/grow muscle, keep your hormones in check.

If you want to burn fat at a faster rate, then you need a larger caloric deficit (while also doing it in shorter time frames)

Again I could go on and on about that but let's go to the basics and go from there.

To create a caloric deficit, you need to either A) burn more than you consume. B) eat less than you need C) both.

In my experience, doing both will be the best option because you will neither have to go to any extremes of barely eating or doing more exercise than you can handle.

To keep muscle mass, you need to keep the idea of progressive overload. Always improve. More specifically, strength training.

To keep your hormones in check, you keep your exercise levels high enough to see results but not leading to overtraining OR overuse. Then you must also pay attention to the food you eat and keep any "pro-estrogen" foods to a minimum.

Now various different methods to do all three and many people have their preferences. A lot of things work. Actually, most if not all things will work. Just not forever. That is why the principles are more important than the methods.

I have my methods, and I have gotten some PHENOMENAL results from them.

That leads to one of my principles: Training for performance (which WILL lead to VAST improvements in your body composition)

Basically, train heavy, hard, and fast. Using different methodologies to get the results you want and use specialization to get you there faster (if thats what you want).

Which finally leads to my tips for you.

If your looking to burn fat the fat you want in 8+ weeks:

Build up to Strength Train 3 X's a week, sprint/intevals 2-3 X's a week. Eat until your 80% full in every meal, drink 1 gallon of water a day, get 8 hours of sleep a day (naps included).

If you want to burn the fat you want in 6 Weeks or less:

Weight train 4X's a week, Intevals 1 time a week.Add in as much low intensity exercise as possible. Aim for 7-10 hours of exercise a week. Eat significantly lower calories safely (safe way to do so is with intermittent fasting). Drink 1-2 gallons of water a day. Sleep 8-10 hours a day (naps included)

If you want anything specific, you can always P.M. I hoped I helped.

[dman]

just run lots!

(and eat and sleep right)

It isn't that hard, is simpler than you think

[langer]

Originally Posted by dman

just run lots!

(and eat and sleep right)

It isn't that hard, is simpler than you think

Hello to all, Thanks for sharing it...
the best way of losing belly fat is go for a morning walk daily...

[SonJStallworth]

• Stair climbing is a low-impact alternative to running.

• Choose exercises that you enjoy doing. You'll be more inclined to stick with a fitness regimen when it includes things you like to do.

• Change your fitness routine every 4-6 weeks to prevent a workout plateau.

• Strive to include total body workouts. These include: cardiovascular exercises, strength training (both upper and lower body), core training and stretching/flexibility.

• Measure your exercise intensity. There are several methods: heart rate, rating of perceived exertion, talk test.

• Whenever possible, take the stairs instead of an elevator.

• Stretching and flexiblity are very important aspects of good physical fitness, so don't overlook them. Ideally, you should stretch before each workout (both cardio and resistance exercises) and after each workout. If you can't do both, then make the after stretching a priority.

• When stretching before a workout, it's best to stretch after you've gotten warmed-up for about 5 minutes (your muscles will be looser).

• When working out on cardio equipment (e.g. elliptical trainers), don't lean heavily on the handrails. This will reduce the amount of calories you burn.

[rememberthis]

cut dairies and alcohol out of your diet for two months, be amazed