Thursday, May 17, 2012

Can You Lose Belly Fat and Keep It Off?

March 17, 2009 by Guest Author  
Filed under Health Articles

When you are younger, you can eat just about anything you want and lose the weight in a heartbeat. As you get older, it takes a little bit more to work off that pizza and beer that you like to have every Friday night. Next thing you know, the infamous spare tire and you are looking to lose belly fat and want to know what fat belly burning foods you can eat to make it all go away.

As you may or may not know, there is no real quick way to get rid of belly fat. All of those super quick ‘lose belly fat in 15 day’ things that you are reading about are simply unrealistic. In order to get that fat off, you are going to have to change your diet and exercise plan to make it happen.

You are going to find that your diet is just as influential on your body shape as your exercise program. Your body only needs a certain amount of calories to maintain its current weight and if you eat a lesser amount, you should lose weight. You can figure out this amount of calories by using your BMI or Body Mass Index.

Once you have your calories established, you are going to have to make sure that they are the right type of calories. Consuming 1600 calories of carbs and sugars a day will not get you anywhere as you have to make sure you are getting the right balance of carbs, sugar, protein, fats, fiber, etc. each and every day. It is not so much about how much you eat as it is what you eat.

There are also certain foods that are known to help burn fat. Blueberries, green tea and the acai berry have been proven to burn fat and are foods that are often used as an extract in diet supplements. You should try to incorporate them into your diet as much as possible to reap the benefits that they have to offer.

The next step is to develop an exercise program that will kick in your metabolism and help you burn off that fat. A common misconception is that by doing a bunch of crunches, your stomach will flatten out when that is the farthest thing from the truth. Doing crunches develops the muscles underneath that belly fat, but will not help you lose it.

You are going to have to get your physical health on track. If you are not used to running, jogging, step workouts or bike riding, you better learn to love them because you are going to need to get about 30-40 minutes in a few times a week. If you jump on the treadmill and find that you cannot go the whole 30 minutes in the beginning, just stick with it and in a few weeks you will be knocking out the miles with the best of them.

You should also work in some type of whole body workout that will help you develop your muscle and create a leaner physique. Doing Yoga or a light weight program is ideal. You can supplement your aerobic workouts with this type of workout or switch back and forth each day between the two. It won’t be long before you notice that belly fat starting to melt away.

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