The secret to lose belly fat and score amazing abs? Stop doing crunches and start following these diet and exercise tips.
What Is Belly Fat?
Essentially, abdominal fat takes two major forms: subcutaneous fat (the visible kind just below the skin) and visceral fat (which is embedded deep within your abdomen and wraps around the organs clustered there). Though the first kind of fat is easier to see, the latter kind poses the far greater health risk—and as a result is more important in your overall quest to lose belly fat. Weirdly, this fat is not always evident. Even if you’re not overweight, you still could be packing a lot of visceral fat.
Hidden or not, visceral fat does a real number on your health because of where it sits in the body. With fat, it’s all about location, and each fat “depot” has a highly specialized function. "We used to think all fat was created equal, that it was just a storage bin for excess calories.
at, like muscle, is now known to be metabolically active; it produces dozens of chemicals, including hormones that signal to the brain that someone is hungry or satisfied. “Indeed, we now think of fat tissue depots as endocrine organs,” says diabetes researcher
n other words, fat releases hormones that vary depending on where the fat is located. You may not be a big fan of the size of your thighs, but research suggests that the hormones produced there provide a health benefit. “We don’t know all the details, but it is clear that the fat in the hips, and particularly in the thighs, protects against some of the health consequences of obesity, such as diabetes, by producing substances that increase insulin sensitivity,” says Dr. Smith. Visceral fat, on the other hand, is known to produce inflammatory agents that can, over time, increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and ■■■■■■ and colorectal cancers.
The Best Diet Plan
So are belly fat and its attendant health problems inescapable side effects of aging? The answer is a qualified no. “It’s never too late to lose belly fat,” says, author of But there’s no easy fix." However, while, sure there are some health risks associated with belly fat
Beyond counting calories, you can try the following strategies on how to lose belly fat and weight all at once.
- Balance the power. An ideal fat-burning meal plan includes 30 percent protein, 40 percent carbohydrates, and 30 percent fat. Research has found that dieters who stuck to these ratios lose about 22 percent more belly fat after four months, and 38 percent more after a year, than those who follow a low-fat diet. Turn up the volume. Foods containing a lot of water and fiber (salads, vegetables, fresh or dried fruits, and whole-grain breads or pasta) expand in your stomach and make you feel full faster with fewer calories. (This is exactly the premise behind the volumetrics diet, BTW.)
- Stack the snacks. Eat small portions of healthy snacks three times a day. In research from Georgia State University, athletes who followed this pattern burned more fat and calories than those who waited for long periods to eat. Go green. Research has found that women who drink about five cups of a beverage containing each day, and include exercise in their routines, lose more belly fat than those who merely exercise. In addition to losing one inch around the waist, the tea drinkers decreased subcutaneous fat by 6 percent and visceral fat by 9 percent within 12 weeks. Researchers attributed the loss to catechin, an antioxidant in green tea.
- Fight fat with fat . It sounds counterintuitive, but a growing body of research suggests that a diet rich in monounsaturated fatty acids (popularly dubbed MUFAs) keeps belly fat at bay. Among the most common foods containing MUFAs are olives, nuts, avocados, and the oils from these foods.
The Best Exercise Plan For Fat
Diet, of course, is only part of the answer on how to lose belly fat. Exercise, and the right type of it, is crucial to boosting your metabolism and shrinking both subcutaneous and visceral fat cells. If you’re not working out regularly, now is the time to start, using these guidelines:
- Get off the couch. Going for a brisk 45-minute walk five times a week not only helps you lose flab but also has been shown to reduce the disease-causing inflammation in visceral fat. You should aim for a pace of three to four miles per hour. Don’t have that much time available all at once? According to trainers and other fitness experts, bouts of exercise as short as one minute each can still benefit your belly—as long as you log a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity a day.
- Raise your rate. Increasing your heart rate to 80 percent of its maximum for 40 minutes can for 19 hours, scientists have discovered. To calculate this target heart rate, subtract your age from 220, then multiply by .80.
- Up the ante. Want even quicker results? Try an interval workout that alternates high- and low-intensity exercise. The powerful bursts of energy use more fat as fuel and the rest periods in between allow your body to flush out waste products from muscles. Bonus: High-intensity interval training may suppress the hunger hormone ghrelin.
- Join the resistance. Why? Resistance training builds muscle, and more muscle means a faster metabolism. Aim to strength-train for at least 30 minutes two to three times a week and switch up lower- and upper-body exercises. Tip: Experts say that you lose more belly fat by lifting weights before your cardio workout.
The Best Abs Exercises: Side Plank
This move is more challenging than a traditional plank because you’re supporting your entire body weight on two points of contact instead of four. As a result, you must work your core ■■■■■■ to stay stabilized.
Lie on your left side with your elbow directly beneath your shoulder and legs stacked. Place your right hand on your left shoulder or on your right hip.
Brace your abs and lift your hips off the floor until you’re balancing on your forearm and feet so that your body forms a diagonal line. Hold for 30 to 45 seconds. If you can’t hold that long, stay up as long as you can and then repeat until you’ve held for 30 seconds total. Switch sides and repeat.
Make it ■■■■■■:
The Best Abs Exercises: Walkout to Push-Up (Inchworm)
Why it works: This advanced plank exercise involves full-body movement, such as using the arms and legs, while incorporating resistance to strengthen your entire core.
How to do it:
Start in standing position with hands two inches wider than your shoulders.
Walk hands out as far as possible, then walk back. Do 10-12 reps.
Do one push-up before you walk back to standing.
The Best Abs Exercises:
This plank uses your entire core to keep your body stabilized and burns additional calories by adding movement (dragging yourself along the floor). It mixes cardio, stability, and strength training to get you fast fat-burning results.
Find a stretch of floor that allows you to go forward 10 to 20 yards, and grab anything that will slide over the surface with minimal friction. Dinner plates or plastic bags work on a carpeted floor, while towels work on wood or tile.
Start in push-up position with your feet on the slides, towels, or plates.
Walk yourself forward with your hands to the end of your runway (aim for at least 10 yards). Rest for 60 to 90 seconds (or as long as you need to recover) and repeat the alligator walk back to where you started. That’s one set. Repeat one more time.