Lose Belly Fat

Almost everyone wants to lose belly fat. No matter how great you look or feel, chances are good you think you’d look and feel a little bit better (or a lot better!) if you only could lose some belly fat.

Click here to check out Turbulence Training the quickest way to tone up and get in shape and lose a flabby belly

The fat that settles around the tummy and midsection is the last to go and the first to return in any weight loss or exercise program. What’s worse, stress can actually trigger a bodily process that causes belly fat to accumulate even on persons of normal weight.

In spite of these problems, it is possible to lose belly fat and keep it lost. The best way to lose belly fat is through a regular program of diet, exercise, and stress reduction that takes lifestyle and general good health into account as well as specific body parts.

Fat accumulates around the belly when people eat too many empty calories (junk food, salt, sugar, and fat), exercise too little or not at all, and maintain high stress lifestyles that cause them to seek comfort in food and drink and ignore their own needs for rest and self-fulfillment.

Most people eat all the wrong things. To minimize belly fat it’s vital to minimize the level of fat, sugar, and salt in a daily diet. Fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, coldwater fish, nuts, and ‘good’ fats like olive oil and canola oil should provide the bulk of each person’s daily food intake.

Foods to be avoided include smoked and processed meats, packaged and processed foods, canned foods, fast food, chips and snack foods, cookies and sweets, foods rich in saturated or trans-fats (ice cream, butter, snack cakes, doughnuts), and sweet foods like candy and desserts.

The minimum requirement for daily exercise is 30 minutes, and most people should shoot for more than that. Hitting 30 minutes per day is not that hard, yet more people don’t get 30 minutes per day than do.

You can split your exercise into 15 minutes sessions, such as a morning and evening 15-minute walk. Most people should try to do something more vigorous at least twice a week in addition to their daily exercise: biking, jogging, competitive sports, tennis, swimming, or dancing.

Exercises that target the abdominal region can be helpful when done in addition to a regular exercise program. Crunches, leg lifts, and other exercises that target the belly should be done each day until the desired level of improvement is attained.

Perhaps the most important part of losing belly fat and the least understood is stress reduction. When a person is under constant stress, the body releases a substance called ‘cortisol’ which triggers the storage of fat around the midsection.

The body does this because it interprets stress as a signal that hard times (cold, lack of food, heavy travel) are imminent, and also to prepare the ‘flight or fight response’ that gives a person the energy to get out of danger fast.

Unfortunately, since modern stress is almost always emotional and mental, not physical, the body never burns off the stored fat. What’s worse, constant cortisol release (due to stress) is known to cause many chronic illnesses if not brought under control.

This means that stress has to be taken seriously by anyone who wants a flat belly and a healthy life. Cut out activities that aren’t really necessary. Get more rest. Exercise daily. Learn meditation or yoga as a stress management technique. Finally, reevaluate your lifestyle and make changes that will result in more calm and a saner schedule.

By taking a comprehensive approach that addresses diet, exercise, and stress reduction all at once. Anybody can reduce belly fat and have happier life in the bargain.