Are you trying to lose that pesky belly fat? I’m sure you’ve heard that sit-ups and crunches are the way to go because these exercises engage the abs. While it’s absolutely true that sit-ups will strengthen your abs and make you stronger in that area, and you might look thinner because your improved muscles are better at holding fat, it doesn’t actually reduce belly fat per se.
For a complete and permanent solution on how to lose belly fat, we need to look at how the body works and how it can actually lose weight. The simple fact is that if you want to lose weight, you need regular exercise – from every part of your body. The fact that the most obvious and visible area of excess fat on your body is your belly doesn’t change that fact. When you don’t exercise enough or overeat for an extended period of time, one of the areas that naturally exhibits this excess more than others is the abdomen. Similarly, when you start exercising and losing weight, it will disappear the fastest from the same abdominal area. So there are actually no special “abdominal exercises” necessary – just healthy exercise!
In addition to exercise, diet plays a crucial role in losing or gaining weight. You may exercise but still find yourself gaining weight if you eat very poorly or in large quantities. So both exercise and diet are required to get the full effect. You need to adjust your diet so that you burn more calories than you use. At this point, you begin to “burn” the calories stored as fat in your body. Obviously, changing your diet to reduce the amount of calories you eat helps, as does reducing the actual amounts of food you eat if you’ve been eating in excess.
The key to losing belly fat is actually quite simple, and there really isn’t any secret or special program – exercise and eat less (and eat well). So the two most important points of action are, first, to reduce the calories you eat by eating smaller amounts or lower calorie foods. Second, do some physical exercises every day. Do this and you will lose belly fat!
Thanks to Anne Girder
