Best exercises to lose belly fat fast and healthy

There many people who want to lose fat and more particularly the so called belly fat. Because it took months or years for you to get them, it would definitely take just about the same time or even more to get rid of them naturally. For that reason, some people consider the idea of availing surgical procedures like liposuction to achieve a faster result. However, since liposuction is an invasive procedure, the risk of infection and hemorrhage is always there. So, if you wish to learn how to lose belly fat, nothing still beats the natural method. This article tells you the best exercises to lose belly fat fast and healthy.

LOSE THE FLAB THRU CARDIO

Go from flab to fab by hopping on a treadmill for at least 30 minutes a day. Cardio machines like treadmills, stationary bikes, elliptical trainers, and stair mills are great calorie burners because it requires your body to convert fat deposits to energy to accomplish the tasks.

A good cardio workout is very important if you wish to lose weight fast. Crunches and other belly specific workouts do burn calories, but they are mainly focused in sculpting the midsection for a stronger core.

DO BELLY SPECIFIC WORKOUTS

Although cardio workouts are your best option to lose the belly fat, fitness experts would always recommend incorporating it with some belly specific workouts. Below are the top three on our list based on its ability to work on the three major abdominal muscles – rectus abdominis, internal and external obliques, and transverse abdominis.

#1 Bicycle Crunch exercise:

1. Lie flat on the floor
2. Place your hands under your head
3. raise your legs and move it in a circular pedal motion
4. While doing leg work, bring your left elbow to your right knee; right elbow to left knee as you continue pedaling.
5. Do 15-20 counts for 2-3 cycles

#2 Captain’s Chair exercise

1. Using the Captain’s Chair, Start by dangling your legs and slowly lifting your lower limbs up towards the chest
2. Control your movement as you deliberately return to the starting position.
3. Use your abdominal muscles to lift your lower extremities.
4. Do 10 to 15 counts for 1-3 cycles

#3 Balance Ball crunch

1. Lie on the balance ball with your feet flat on the floor.
2. Use your abdominal muscles to lift your torso to no more than 45 degrees
3. As much as you can, keep the ball stable as you do your crunches.
4. Do 10 to 15 counts for 1 to 3 cycles.

DO FLEXIBILITY EXERCISES

Do not limit your workouts to cardio and strength training. Enrolling in classes that help your body become more flexible like Yoga, Tai Chi, and Pilates are very beneficial to achieve a flatter belly. Though these workouts do not burn as much calories, flexibility workouts put the body and mind in synch and helps reduce the risk of joint and muscle pains when doing other exercises.

If you wish to lose the belly fat fast and healthy, make sure that you incorporate these three exercises in your daily routine – Cardio workouts, Strength training, and Flexibility exercises.

How to lose belly fat fast for women naturally

It is a fact that is harder for women to lose weight compared to men because they have higher fat percentage and less muscle mass, thus women needs to exert more effort to achieve the body that they desire. Furthermore, women gain fat faster than men because of the same reason and because women are genetically programmed to accumulate fats in the belly to prepare the body for conception, the chance of women getting belly fat fast is extremely high. Don’t worry though because this article provides some tips on how to lose belly fat fast for women naturally.

Tip #1 Write a food journal

Celebrities like Carrie Underwood are one of those women who effectively used the food journal to lose weight. A food journal can be a small notebook or a notepad where you can write all the food you have eaten with its corresponding calorie value. Keeping a food journal helps its bearer to lose weight because it enable you to tract your calorie intake, thus you do not go beyond the calories that you have planned.

Moreover, a food journal could also contain your weekly menu so you won’t be wasting time computing the calorie content of your food in front of the waiter. It may also contain the foods which you mostly eat with its corresponding calorie value so when you crave for an unplanned snack, you can always check your food journal how much work you need to exert to burn the calories it contain.

As a fitness expert, I strongly recommend food journals to my clients because it could be a healthy outlet. Studies show that a depressed person tends to overeat causing him/her to gain weight, writing how you feel in your food journal could help you vent out your feelings minus the extra calories.

Tip #2 Keep your cool

As earlier stated, stress causes a person to eat more, but do you know that stress could literally causes belly fat?

The body secretes a naturally occurring hormone called Cortisol when responding to stress. Cortisol is generally good because it helps the body cope with stress however it also moves fat from some parts of the body and places it around the organs of the abdomen which is called visceral fat. Too much accumulation of visceral fat causes the so called “belly fat” which is not only unhealthy but unsightly as well.

Tip #3 Burn the fat through dancing

There are several ways to lose the fat; you can opt to exercise in the gym, try out a new sport, or do activities that you enjoy like dancing. The latter is quite popular among women. It is a very effective calorie burning activity because it combines rhythm, coordination, slow to fast movements, and fun. The energy that is being exerted plus the amount of fun which allows a person forget about the time makes it the best belly busting technique.

My belly fat-burning list includes belly dancing, step aerobics, hiphop, and ballroom dancing. Doing at least 30 minutes to an hour of these everyday is surefire way that you’ll melt those belly fat like butter.

Can I lose belly fat with exercise alone?

The belly is one of the hardest body parts to work with. If you take a look online or even on TV, a lot of products are offered to deal with belly fats. This is because you cannot be truly sexy unless you have a flat, toned abdomen. A lot of people think losing belly fat is not that complicated. Just do as much crunches as you can daily, and you’re on your way to getting the abs that you want.

When I was young, I tried doing crunches every night. I started with 20, then to 50 then finally to eighty. While I feel my abs ache as a result of the exercise, I never got the same abs that Britney Spears have. This made me frustrated, and I eventually stopped doing the crunches. If I had only done it right, the time I spent doing crunches every night might have yielded to better results. To prevent yourself from going through the same level of frustration, here’s what you can do to lose belly fat.

DE- STRESS

Yes, keeping yourself from stress will actually help get rid of belly fat. Studies have shown that the area around the belly has more cortisol receptors than any other parts of our body. Cortisol is the hormone produced by our system when we get stressed. Since the area around the belly is abundant with it, the receptors cause more fats to be deposited on it whenever we get stressed. Who’ll think that stress actually causes more belly fat, right? Now that you know, avoid being stressed as much as possible. My secret is to take a deep breath every time something stressful happens, which is actually quite effective. Taking a break from work every now and then will also help your body cope up with stress. Instead of working on your rest day, take the time to go fishing with your family. You’ll find that this will help you lose your belly fat in no time, and would even strengthen your family bond as a bonus.

DO MORE THAN CRUNCHES

Even when you want to lose belly fat, working out the belly area alone is not very effective. To have a flatter belly, you’d need to do more than crunches. You can start with doing cardio exercises, which will help burn the fat stored in your belly. Not only that, cardio exercises will also increase your metabolism which means you’ll lose weight too. There are a lot of cardio exercises one can choose from. You can jog on your treadmill daily, or you can also run outside and enjoy the outdoors. You can also swim laps if you love water. The important thing here is to make your body move, raising your heart rate.

SLEEP MORE

If you don’t sleep as much as you need to, your body metabolism slows down. This is your body’s way of coping with the lack of sleep, in that it preserves as much energy as possible. Remember that less fat is burned when you have slow metabolism, and this will not help in losing belly fat in any way. Another reason for you to get more sleep is because lack of it will cause more stress. People who were not able to get a good night’s sleep are not able to focus on work or on school, leading to more frustration and stress. Remember that stress will cause your system to produce more cortisol, and it will end up in your belly. To avoid having a bump where a six pack should be, work out; rest, and prevent yourself from getting stressed.

Foods that can help you lose belly fat

A lot of people hate their belly because of the bulging belly fat. Belly fat could restrict a person from wearing body-hugging clothes, two-piece bikinis, and midrib shirts. This goes especially true to women, thus they resort to wearing baggy sweater to hide the belly fat. If you are one of those who wish to attain a flatter belly, the following are foods that can help you lose belly fat fast and safe.

Food #1 lean is green

It is a common knowledge that vegetable salads could make a person full yet they contain very few calories. This fact does not oblige you to go vegetarian to lose weight. If you are a natural carnivore, you do have the option to continue eating meat however you must stick with lean meat only. This means scraping off the fat that surrounds the red meat and skipping the greasy chicken skin.

Eating lean meat helps you lose belly fat because of its high protein content. Protein helps build and repair the muscles, and muscles burn more calories which results to fat loss. So the next time you have the urge to eat meat, go on and grab the leanest you can find as this could be the key to achieve a flatter and leaner belly.

Food #2 Egg whites

Some people could have omitted eggs in their menu because it is said to contain a lot of calories. This is partly true, literally. The inner part of the egg – egg yolk – contains 59 calories and has extremely high amounts of cholesterol. However, the outer part – egg white – only contains 17 calories and has very low amounts of cholesterol. Furthermore, egg whites are heavy on the belly and a very good food source of protein.

Tip: Use hard boiled egg whites instead of meat as your protein for vegetable salads. It has lesser calories but contains almost the same amount of protein as that with meat.

Food #3 Whole grains

Carbohydrates could give you more pounds. However, if you know how to choose the right carbs, it may actually help you lose belly fat. There are two types of carbs – simple and complex.

Simple carbohydrates are directly absorbed in the blood, which causes a sudden spike of energy. This type of carb is usually found on sweet foods like milk, syrups, and milk products. On the other hand, complex carbohydrates take longer time to process, thus they provide constant supply of energy. This means, the glucose from complex carbs which are converted to fat will not be stored in the body in large quantities compared to the simple carbs. Thus, consuming complex carbs found in whole grains are one of the highly recommended foods if you wish to lose belly fat or any other fat in the body, in general.

The best way to lose belly fat fast is to cut down your calories but do remember to maintain a balanced diet when doing this. This means, eating foods that contains all the nutrients that the body need but with lower calories.

How to lose stomach fat for men

One of the things that most people wished to attain is an ideal body, a fat-free belly and to become physically fit. Belly fat seems to be one of the biggest problems that men and women are facing nowadays. We thought that women are the only ones who are conscious of their health and dreamt to attain an ideal waistline. Think again, because even the male gender had wished to lose the belly fat and probably build a six pack abs as well.

Some men wanted to have a fat-free belly due to health reasons, while others simply want to look good. Whatever their reason is, majority of men around the world have the same question in their mind and that is “how to lose stomach fat?”

Factors that contribute to belly fat on men

Factors that contribute to belly fat on men are sedentary jobs, unhealthy eating habits, and vices such as alcohol drinking. These are just few of the reasons, but eliminating or doing something about these factors will greatly help in reducing the belly fat and love handles.

To start, you should have a proper mind set or goal on how to lose stomach fat. In addition to that, you must engage in a regular exercise and commit in eating a balanced diet. This means you need to avoid, or at least limit, consuming sweets, oily foods, and junk foods.

A good workout routine for men who aims to lose stomach fat is a round of at least 30 minutes of cardio exercise daily and resistance training. Cardio workouts include treadmills, versa climbers, stair mills and any other machine that increases your heart rate to the fat burning zone.

However, if you feel uncomfortable in a gym, you may also do outdoor cardio activities like swimming, hiking, and biking. In fact, even recreational sports that most men enjoy like basketball and football could be a great calorie burning workout as well.

After losing a good percentage of fat, you may also want to build the muscles on your midsection. You can achieve this through resistance exercises like crunches, sit-ups, lying leg raises, and plank poses. In addition to sculpting your abs, you may also want to do a total body resistance training to achieve a proportionate and well-sculpted upper and lower body.

Losing stomach fat alone is a big challenge, much more if you wish to have ripped abs as well. However, if you are determined and committed, there will be no reason why you can’t reach your goal. Hard? YES! Impossible? NO!

How to lose stomach fat and get ready for the beach

In one of our previous posts on how to lose stomach fat, we outlined the two major methods you can use to get rid of the fat reserves from the belly: Careful diet and regular exercise. Although this sounds logical and correct many people have difficulties getting the results they want. The major reason that this happens is failure in following the diet or exercise regime consistency for a number of weeks. People are very anxious to lose belly fat and get ready for the beach but and they get bored easily and quit. The result is frustration and disappointment. In this post we will outline 5 tips you can follow on a daily basis that are not hard to implement but they can generate some good results if you follow them consistently for a period of time.

1. Eat small meals more often. This is a very basic rule of weight loss. Eating small meals regularly will increase your metabolism and boost your weight loss efforts. Prepare a daily/weekly meal plan in advance and follow it for a couple of weeks. Once you get used to this way of eating you will realize that it is more practical and healthy.

2. Breakfast is a must. Do not have the misconception that by skipping breakfast you aid your efforts to lose stomach fat. Breakfast is a great way to start your day and can give you the energy required until your next meal.

3. Do not eat anything without checking. If you are serious about your efforts to lose weight and fat then you need to start taking care of what kind of foods you eat. Eating anything you like is not going to help you get the results you want fast. Before buying anything read carefully the food labels and try to avoid foods that contain high amounts of calories, fats and sugars.

4. Become a slow eater. People who eat slowly have a great advantage when it comes to weight loss because they tend to eat less than people who eat fast. There is a scientific explanation as to why eating slowly will make you eat less but what is important for you at this stage is not the theory but to actually put that technique into practice.

5. Water is your best friend. Do not underestimate the importance of water in healthy leaving. Our body is full of water and this 0 calories liquid has to offer a lot to our health and well-being. We are not going to explain all the benefits of water in this post but it is very important that you drink as much as water as you can. If you want make it a habit to drink a glass of water before your meals. You will notice that not only you will eat less but your organism will function better.

So, the summer may be many months away (for some regions) but by following the above tips you have more chances going to the beach with a flat stomach.

Sample weekly meal plan and exercise schedule on how to lose belly fat

Many people have difficulties understanding how to lose belly fat. They know the theory about losing fat from the belly but they do not know from where to start. To give you an idea of what you need to do to lose belly fat we have prepared a sample meal and exercise schedule. Following this plan will help you get into the right track and sooner or later you will get the results you want. Knowing exactly what you need to eat and what kind of exercises you need to perform can be very helpful in the beginning until you figure out your own meal and exercise schedule. What will bring you long lasting results is not a plan prepared by someone else but a plan that suits you own needs and requirements.

Menu for the week

Exercise plan for the week

See also: Exercises to lose belly fat and best way to lose belly fat

How to lose belly fat in 2 weeks without starving

When a person wants to lose belly fat fast, s/he tends to do stupid things. S/he could resort to weight loss pills, fad diets, or even go under the knife. However, those ways could be very expensive, thus people look for other weight loss alternatives that does not require you to shell out cash.

The most popular choice is starvation because it is convenient, inexpensive, and said to be effective. But do you know that starvation diet is dangerous? It slows your metabolism, deprives your body from the nutrients it need to function properly, and could even resort to an eating disorder called anorexia nervosa. If you want to know how to lose belly fat in 2 weeks without starving, this article is for you.

#1 Understand how it works

Belly fat is burned when the body requires high amount of calories to be converted to energy. Therefore, you need to either reduce you calorie intake or increase your daily activity and aim to lose the excess body fat deposited in different areas of your body.

#2 Know how much you need

You may use online calorie calculators or The Harris-Benedict Equation to know your daily calorie requirement. This is essential so you can effectively formulate your belly-fat burning game plan.

#3 Do a calorie deficit

Consume fewer calories than what your body burns. For example, if you burn 2000 calories daily, reducing your calorie intake to 1500 calories per day will require your body to burn the stored fat to produce the amount of energy you need, thus creating a calorie deficit. For every 3500 calories converted to energy from body fat, you’ll get to lose one pound. Having a 500 calorie deficit daily results to 2 pounds lost in a week.

#4 Burn calories

Though regulating your calories work, doing exercises to burn the belly fat works faster. You may do high intensity interval trainings (HIIT) to burn calories super fast. HIIT is composed of the usual exercises like cycling but with higher intensity and with a shorter duration. A typical HIIT will only last for 20 minutes per session and 3 sessions per day.

#5 Do belly specific exercises

Though crunches and plank poses do not greatly help in losing belly fat, it is still important to incorporate these abdominal exercises in your routine because it will aid in sculpting a well-formed belly. In choosing your exercises to lose belly fat, simply target the major abdominal muscles because they will define the shape of your belly, thus producing a slender and a well toned look.

Why do women have belly fat?

God created women from a man’s rib. Does this include the belly fat as well? This is because; women have higher fat percentage than men causing women to attain belly fat faster. As annoying as it may seem, but women do have belly fat for more than one reason. This article will try to explain why women have belly fat and also provide some tips on how to lose belly fat for women.

Why do women have belly fat: Reason #1 Reproductive function

People always say that “the essence of being a woman is to give birth to a new life”. This is indeed true because the ability of a woman to carry a baby on her tummy for nine months and give birth is what differentiates a woman from a man.

Because of such function, a woman’s body needs to increase its fat deposits, most especially on their belly, to prepare for childbearing. These fat deposits are reserved energy to make sure that a woman has constant supply of energy during pregnancy as well as during delivery. In addition to that, belly fat also acts as a cushion (along with amniotic fluid) to help protect the fetus from possible accidents and the other forces of the external environment. See also: how to lose belly fat after pregnancy

Why do women have belly fat: Reason #2 To protect vital organs

Belly fat, in general, is present to both genders as well as to either lean or obese persons. However, the quantity of belly fat differs – less for slender people and more for obese people. But the fact still remains that belly fat is always present.

Belly fat is there to protect your internal organs (stomach, guts, liver, spleen, pancreas, etc.) from physical harm. There was even a claim that a man survived a bullet attack because he was too fat that the bullet wasn’t able to penetrate through the thick belly walls. True or not, the fact that belly fats alter the momentum of penetrating objects still remains as well as the fact that belly fat protects the organ in one way or another. But you have to remember however that excess belly fat also poses risks to one’s health. If a bullet won’t kill you, your fat deposits will.

Why do women have belly fat: Reason #3 Alcohol drinking

Statistically, men drink around 2 to 6 bottles of beer on an average and women drinks around 1 to 5 bottles of beer.  But women have lesser alcohol control causing them to increase their beer consumption to twelve bottles of beer per session or until she’s to drunk to stand.

This means that your caloric intake increases as you order another bottle. Here are some of the common alcoholic drinks and their corresponding average calorie content. Do note however that caloric content may change depending on alcohol content

Alcoholic Drink, volume calories

Whisky: 100ml, 220

Gin:100ml,  220

Brandy: 100ml,  220

Rum: 100ml, 220

Beer: 500ml, 184

Martini: 100ml, 175

Bailey’s Cream: 1 glass, 120

Bacardi: 1 glass, 118

Why do women have belly fat: Reason #4 High calorie food is a woman’s BFF

God said, “Man represents my image, woman – my emotions.” No wonder women are way more emotional than men. These emotions are the reason why women are more sensitive than men.

When a woman feels depressed, she will either dial a friend’s phone number or dial for a pizza. It has been proven from a recent study that women love to eat when they feel sad. This is because; food provides a feeling of fulfillment causing you to feel relieved from any stress.

Excess sweets, carbohydrates, fats, or any food with such kind of calorie amount tends to be left unburned. Unused calories, as we all know, are converted to fat deposits, especially in the belly, which the body can burn by doing exercises.

Another high calorie food that women love to have when depressed are sweets. Among any other sweets, chocolate has been the number one choice because of its ability to raise the happy hormone serotonin and provide the body with phenylethylamine – a chemical that makes you feel happy and in love, thus making chocolate the ultimate food for a depressed woman.

Why do women have belly fat: Reason #5 Chitchats than workout

Women are highly motivated to lose weight and get rid of belly fats. However, when a woman finds her gym buddies, she usually chitchats with them and forgets about workouts.

Because of such characteristic, gyms become a rendezvous point for people who want to do talk with other people, rather than the original purpose of going to the gym to burn fats and tone muscles

Another contributing factor is that, when a group of women gather for a girls’ night out, women talk, eat, and drink. This sedentary activity will definitely increase the numbers on the scale.

As mentioned above, women have belly fat for a reason. In some cases it is absolutely uncontrollable and necessary as this is used for special functions. On the other hand, some women have belly fat because they did not properly take care of them. That means, if you want to learn how to lose belly fat and acquire flat and lean abs, you better start eating right and exercising regularly.

Best tips for getting a flat stomach

A flat stomach is an asset to show off whether you’re a guy or a gal. It gives you the “right” to wear skimpy swimwear as well as body- hugging clothes. Getting a flat stomach is not actually as hard as what most people think, provided that you know how to do it. There are a lot of tips to follow; most of them are related to low fat diets and belly exercises. In this article we selected the best tips for getting a flat stomach. These tips are not the usual stuff you read about losing belly fat but they are 3 alternative ways on how you can approach the whole process without feeling bored or tired.

Best Tips for Getting a Flat Stomach #1: Try belly dancing

Belly dancing requires your whole body to move but the special movements are focused on strengthening the stomach muscles. Through belly dance, you awake all the tissues in your belly thus providing a head start for the overall calorie-burning process. Furthermore, belly dancing improves blood circulation and helps your body convert fat to energy. It is an activity that requires the major muscles of your abdomen to move, thus in some way you get to tone them. This proves that belly dancing does not only flatten the stomach, but it increases the possibility of you getting a six pack abs as well.

Best Tips for Getting a Flat Stomach #2: Eat low calorie food that is packed with nutrients

Following a balanced diet is a major factor for getting a flat belly. And what is more perfect than a vegetable salad with goat cheese, olive oil, and roast turkey? This is the total package.

For example you can toss in sliced vegetables like lettuce, cucumber, potato, tomatoes, and fresh Arugula. Squeeze in some lemon juice, drizzle with one tablespoon of olive oil, small amount of cottage cheese, and top it with lean turkey breast with skin off. And don’t forget a dash of sea salt and fresh ground pepper to add more taste. This salad is less than 150 calories but you get all the nutrients from different food groups in it. You get carbs from the potatoes, vitamins and minerals from the vegetables, protein from turkey, calcium from the cottage cheese, and good fat from olive oil. This is a good way of meeting your daily nutrient requirement without compromising your low-calorie diet

Best Tips for Getting a Flat Stomach #3: Engage in relaxing activities

Activities that help you feel relaxed, like yoga, are said to help a person achieve a flat stomach. According to yoga experts, yoga tones abdominal muscles because of routines like supine poses and other belly- busting poses. Furthermore, yoga helps relax both the body and soul and instills the discipline of healthy eating and healthy living. If a person understands and applies the principles of yoga eventually he/she will naturally eat foods that are only good for the body and increase physical activity, thus weight loss and a flat belly is achieved with lesser effort.

« Previous Page — Next Page »