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How do I Burn Belly Fat?

Nicole Madison
Nicole Madison
Nicole Madison
Nicole Madison

One of the most important things a person should remember when attempting to burn belly fat is there is no one magic recipe that is guaranteed to whisk excess fat away. In most cases, a person who wants to burn belly fat has to put time and effort into achieving a more attractive midsection. This often involves doing aerobic exercises to burn calories and reduce fat; weight training; and eating a healthier diet. While doing any one of these things may help to reduce belly fat, combining them is usually a recipe for fat-burning success.

Aerobic exercise can be part of a successful effort to burn belly fat and may also help to strengthen your heart. To burn excess belly fat, you may swim, run, bicycle, or even walk; you may also consider taking aerobics classes or doing kickboxing. Exercise bike or treadmill workouts may help you to become more fit and burn body fat as well. Doing aerobic exercise three to four days a week for 30 to 60 minutes may be good for working toward a flatter abdomen. You may exercise more frequently or for longer periods to achieve faster results, however.

Swimming can help burn belly fat.
Swimming can help burn belly fat.

Consuming a healthy diet can be a big part of burning body fat. First, calorie reduction typically translates into weight loss, which helps with burning belly fat. What a person eats, however, may matter nearly as much as the amount of calories he consumes. Diets that are low in fat and rich in whole grains, fruits and vegetables, may encourage the burning of belly fat. Likewise, fitness experts typically advise those who want to lose fat in this area to choose lean proteins instead of more fatty options.

A person with a small amount of belly fat.
A person with a small amount of belly fat.

Many people opt to do crunches when they're trying to burn belly fat. While crunches can help a person to tighten and tone his abs, they aren't usually effective for burning a lot of fat on their own. They are typically most effective when they are a part of an overall fitness plan that includes aerobic exercise and healthy eating.

While weight training may not be the first thing a person thinks of when he wants to burn belly fat, working out with weights can help to spur an exerciser on toward a flatter belly. Weight training helps to build lean muscle, which in turn helps to burn belly fat. In fact, lean muscle may help a person to burn more calories while he's resting as well.

Nicole Madison
Nicole Madison

Nicole’s thirst for knowledge inspired her to become a WiseGEEK writer, and she focuses primarily on topics such as homeschooling, parenting, health, science, and business. When not writing or spending time with her four children, Nicole enjoys reading, camping, and going to the beach.

Learn more...
Nicole Madison
Nicole Madison

Nicole’s thirst for knowledge inspired her to become a WiseGEEK writer, and she focuses primarily on topics such as homeschooling, parenting, health, science, and business. When not writing or spending time with her four children, Nicole enjoys reading, camping, and going to the beach.

Learn more...

Discussion Comments

FirstBase

Another really important component to losing belly fat is to reduce stress levels or at least learn to manage your stress.

Chronic stress has been in the news for a while now and if I understand it correctly, chronic stress can trigger production of cortisol that causes us to overeat. And that overeating settles mainly in the abdomen.

How do I manage my stress? Swimming, biking, zumba dancing!

chrysalis

But reducing your caloric intake too much (more than 25 percent) will just send your metabolism into starvation mode. Finding the balance of the right amount of calories and the right amount of exercise can be tricky.

I was so frustrated to find out from a nutritionist that I'd been starving myself and couldn't drop any more weight. Now that I eat small meals every three or four hours, I'm doing much better with burning that belly fat faster.

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    • Swimming can help burn belly fat.
      Swimming can help burn belly fat.
    • A person with a small amount of belly fat.
      By: Sandor Kacso
      A person with a small amount of belly fat.
    • A woman with a toned belly.
      By: Paylessimages
      A woman with a toned belly.
    • Abdominal exercises can build muscle, but do not have much affect on fat content.
      By: Halfpoint
      Abdominal exercises can build muscle, but do not have much affect on fat content.
    • Treadmill workouts burn fat.
      By: starush
      Treadmill workouts burn fat.
    • Excess calories that are consumed are often stored in the belly as fat.
      By: vpardi
      Excess calories that are consumed are often stored in the belly as fat.
    • Taking an exercise class at a local gym can help a person burn belly fat.
      By: WavebreakMediaMicro
      Taking an exercise class at a local gym can help a person burn belly fat.