How To Lose Belly Fat
- Spare Tire
- Love Handles
- Muffin Top
- Pot Belly
All somewhat comical terms for belly fat. Most people don’t like having that extra flab around their midsections, but we tend to just put up with it. There is much conflicting advice out there, and besides, we’ve failed in the past so there’s no guarantee we’ll succeed anyway.
Take heart, there is a truly effective strategy to lose belly fat, but you may have to loosen up some old preconceptions. Please note that in this article I am specifically talking about fat loss as opposed to overall weight loss (fat, muscle & water).
How To Lose Belly Fat – The Guide
The strategy involves both diet and exercise – nothing new there. However, it entails 2 unique ways of going about it.
The Diet – Become a Fat-Burner
Low-carbohydrate nutrition is the most-effective way of shedding pounds of fat from the body.
Why?
Basically, the body burns energy in the following order:
- Carbohydrate (from food and stored glycogen)
- Fat (from food and bodyfat)
- Protein (from food and muscle tissue)
If you eat what most government guidelines recommend you eat, you are a carb-burner. It then becomes obvious that in order to become a fat-burner, you should remove the current primary energy source i.e. carbohydrate.
When you do this, your body takes a few days to flip a ‘metabolic switch’ and become a fat-burning machine. At that point, the fat you eat gets consumed first, and then you start burning away bodyfat as your primary source of energy. Obviously, you don’t therefore consume copious amounts of fat, and you don’t need to go zero carb to benefit. Anything under 100 grams of carbs a day is considered ‘low-carb’, but ideally under 60 grams would produce great results.
On low-fat diets (which by nature are high-carb diets), when your ‘food calories’ are gone, the body will burn a mixture of both fat and muscle tissue (protein). As muscle is ‘metabolically active’ — it burns calories all day long just by being there — losing it is a disaster for the dieter. Their metabolism will continually slow down over time.
This is one of the main reasons why low-fat diets very often produce temporary results: you lose weight for a while, but then it stops working (as your metabolism has crashed) and you pile it back on – and then some!
The Exercise
Loads and loads of cardio, right? Wrong.
Overdoing cardiovascular exercise will also put your body in a state where it breaks down lean muscle tissue (catabolism). So the question is, how do we complement our fat-burning nutritional strategy with fat-burning exercise.
It’s called ‘Interval Training’, or more specifically ‘High Intensity Interval Training’. The idea is to perform some sort of cardio in ‘fits and starts’ i.e. a period of lower intensity followed by a period of higher intensity.
Why?
Research shows that this type of work burns more fat than steady-state cardio, typically by about 50%. In fact, one study showed a 9 fold increase in fat loss for HIIT compared to low-medium intensity cardio.
Also, with respect to belly fat in particular, research has shown (though the reason is not clear at this time) that HIIT can produce more fat loss in this area than other parts of the body. An Australian study found that the HIIT group lost 3 times more fat and significantly more belly fat than the steady-state cardio group who actually exercised for twice as long!
The even better news is that HIIT need only be performed for 10-20 minutes at a time.
Hopefully you can see that these unique approaches to diet and nutrition will work synergistically to produce truly effective fat-loss:
- Get your body to burn fat for energy.
- Then add exercise that will utilize the most fat possible.
There’s obviously more to talk about on this topic, but a single post doesn’t permit me to get into it all. I hope you enjoyed it and if nothing else, you feel inspired to find any weight-loss program that you feel you can work with to bring permanent results.
WRITER'S BIOGRAPHY
Mark McManus
Mark is a muscle & nutrition enthusiast who has spent years in independent research finding the most effective strategies for physical excellence. Mark will help you build muscle & lose fat with an effective free workout plan and diet. He is the author of 'Total Six Pack Abs', the guaranteed system for burning fat & sculpting chiseled abs.
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Comments
Tuplad says on July 2nd, 2008 at 10:15 am
Looks good.
timgray says on July 2nd, 2008 at 11:04 am
I was on the “atkins” diet and lost a ton of weight. Problem is when you go off the Low carb (atkins is a ultra low carb at 20g of carbs a day) you will start bouncing back FAST. a lower carb diet means permanent lifestyle change. you can NEVER go back to eating like you used to. you must forever eat under 100-120 grams of carbs a day. That means no more Sugar pop, no more candybar binges, etc….
Lower carb is a good thing, but people really need to look at it as a lifestyle change. you CAN NEVER GO BACK to the sugar binging that the typical American diet is.
Ralph says on July 2nd, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Some links for recommended (or example) low-carb diets and HIIT sets would be nice. Right now the advice is just too vague.
Adam says on July 2nd, 2008 at 2:19 pm
He has a blog at http://www.musclehack.com/
For an example low-carb diet on his site:
http://www.musclehack.com/what.....cle-day-1/
Derek says on July 2nd, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Great information here, but like Ralph said, I’d love to see some example low-carb diets and HIT exercises.
Mark McManus says on July 2nd, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Thanks for the comments guys and the support on my first article here.
@timgray, controlling carbohydrate is a lifestyle choice, very true. If you are active though, as I am, you can have carb-up periods without the lipogenic effects (fat-storage). In fact for building muscle, it’s quite beneficial – My own diet plan at my site includes a 36 hour carb-fest :)
@ Ralph and Derek. Thanks guys – There’s post-length restrictions so I tried to fit as much of the fundamental stuff as I could. I stated at the end that I acknowledged that there was more to talk about. Suggestions are certainly welcome, I can cover the outstanding issues here or at my blog (if it’s something very specific).
Thanks again,
Mark McManus
Derek says on July 2nd, 2008 at 3:18 pm
@Mark: Ah, I didn’t realize there was a post-length restriction. Perhaps you could link to some examples in the comments here or at your blog?
This article is very timely, I was just wondering about this very issue today. My workouts are going great, but I still have a small amount of belly fat that is proving difficult to get rid of.
Derek says on July 2nd, 2008 at 3:28 pm
@Mark: In terms of a little more of a specific question:
I’ve been trying to incorporate more HIT, interval training into my aerobic workouts, however I haven’t been very successful mainly b/c I’m not sure what a proper interval workout looks like. I’ll jump on a bike and warm up for a couple of minutes and then for 15 minutes I’ll pedal as fast as I can (with little resistance) for 30 seconds and then drop down to a slow pace for 1 minute. Is this correct?
For running: do I need to do a full on sprint for the high-intensity portion or can I just go from a jog to a run?
Rob says on July 2nd, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Mark is the shit. I have my abs from his workout! Rather had them work and biochemistry in college dont permit good workout schedules = (
Joseph Z. says on July 2nd, 2008 at 4:47 pm
This is a great post about something that troubles a lot of people (including me). I’m including it in the Health Links for the Week section of my blog.
Mark McManus says on July 2nd, 2008 at 5:19 pm
@ Derek. I’m not sure if it’s ok to link back to my site here in the comments, so I’ll stay on the safe side. I’m just through publishing an article now, if you go to my home page, the latest article may help you. Also, shoot me an email for further help. In a few days I’ll have my forum up so there’ll be plenty of help at hand.
@Rob. Thanks for the kind comments man, I always appreciate positive feedback. Glad to hear you got your abs ;) That’s what I’m here for.
@ Joseph – Thanks for that. I hope your readers benefit from it.
Mark McManus
Paul Williams says on July 2nd, 2008 at 5:50 pm
If you want HIIT then you need Crossfit in your life:
http://www.crossfit.com
Follow their WOD’s and a clean diet, you will be amazed by the results.
tekproxy says on July 2nd, 2008 at 6:21 pm
@timgray:
Do not just get 20g of carbs a day! Subtract fiber from the carbs to get the NET carbs. USDA suggests 20-35g of fiber daily, and the average is only 15.
http://www.aboutatkinsdiet.com.....t_carb.htm
For best results in anything: research, research, research. Once you find something that you think looks good, search for how it is bad and doesn’t work.
Dustin Wax says on July 2nd, 2008 at 7:24 pm
All: I believe Mark’s site is linked in his author’s bio to the right of the post.
Mark: I think we’d all like to see you follow-up this post with one on HIIT, and maybe one on how to pull this kind of diet off.
Miguel says on July 3rd, 2008 at 3:20 am
This won’t work. The idea of including exercise in a ‘lose weight’ diet is totally out dated. A person does exercise to stay fit and NOT to lose weight. If anybody wants to lose weight they need to eat differently. The first bit about Becoming a Fat-Burner is a start but it needs a change in the quantities. People need to learn to eat less and control/train their apetites. That is probably the most effective way of doing it.
Aaron Griffin says on July 3rd, 2008 at 12:20 pm
A long time ago I lost a lot of weight by switching my eating habits, and doing one mile of intervals every morning. I did some pushups and situps first to get myself warmed up, a few stretches, then I’d dead spring, jog, dead sprint, jog, etc etc.
All in all I lost about 40-50 pounds. Now I’ve regained about 15 of that, so I need to get back into that. It’s easier to do intervals on a treadmill.
Aaron says on July 3rd, 2008 at 4:01 pm
@Miguel That’s just silly. I’ve lost a total of 45lbs (230-185) in the last year doing almost exactly this. The 45lbs is misleading though because I’m much stronger and, according to my body fat percentage (from 30% down to 11%), I have lost a lot more fat and put on muscle.
I’ll admit that a clean, somewhat lower calorie diet split up 4-6 meals is more effective than exercise alone, but you can’t just dismiss the exercise portion. I’ve noticed that exercise without paying very close attention to my diet only results in me getting stronger, but no fat loss. Diet without exercise leads to both fat and muscle loss and leaves me tired and cranky.
The following is what I do as a 6ft 29year old male. FYI… my bmr for my size and activity level is 3000 calories.
5 days out of the week my diet around 1569 calories, 192 grams of protein, 21g fat, 173g carbs, and 37g fiber. I eat reasonably 1 day on the weekend and eat anything I want on the other. The calories seem a little low, but that’s because the food is so clean. In fact, I find I’m too stuffed to eat anymore. I do HIIT for 15 minutes 3 days a week and I lift for 30-45 minutes 4 days a week. Of those, I enjoy the lifting/HIIT combo days the most.
I could lose faster by not cheating so much on the weekends, but I feel and look great doing it this way. I’ve reached my goal of getting a 6 pack, but I’m thinking about losing another 5-10lbs and trying for an 8 pack.
Mark McManus says on July 3rd, 2008 at 4:12 pm
@Aaron – Congrats on the success. I prefer an exercise bike for interval training but it’s a personal preference, as long as you get the job done.
@ Dustin. Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll make a note of those for future posts.
Mark
CJ says on July 3rd, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Low carb has been debunked by researchers and doctors. Look around the world- those that eat an extremely high complex carb diet (starches – potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, etc) are routinely thin and healthy. Once we eat a ton of protein and processed carbs, things go batty.
THe problem isn’t carbs, but processed carbs. A coke and a potato are both called carbs, but they are vastly different in how they affect the human body and in nutrient content. (Potatoes even have protein, believe it or not!)
Anyway, I put a website into my comment. I am not affiliated with it at all, just a good link to know of a doctor who has written a lot about this topic.
Tim says on July 3rd, 2008 at 11:21 pm
@ Mark: The entry level Spinervals (Troy Jacobsen) videos are fantastic for newcomers to interval training – have you ever tried them?
Mark McManus says on July 4th, 2008 at 1:56 am
Thanks Tim, I’ll check that out. Sounds like something I already do.
@ CJ. Where did the debunking take place? I must have missed it. I could also give examples of cultures around the world who eat a high-fat diet who are thin and have low rates of heart disease. Look at actual scientific studies where low-carb is put up against other low-calorie or low-fat diets. Not only does low-carb produce more fat-loss but improves health markers more too – cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, blood sugar etc.. One of many examples was the year-long Journal of the American Medical Association study – Low-carb out-performed every other diet in every single area. You also might want to look up ‘Good Calories Bad Calories’ by Gary Taubes – possibly the most important nutrition book ever written.
Yes, processed, refined carbs are a big problem but that’s not to say that potatoes (High Glycemic Index) aren’t fattening. It’s down to the individual’s metabolism but both a coke and a potato end up as sugar in your blood. This causes a release in insulin – insulin regulates fat tissue i.e. seeks to store it and prevents it from being used up for energy. This is why even if you are successful on high-carb diets, you had to lose lean muscle tissue in the process. I’m into fat-loss specifically.
CJ says on July 5th, 2008 at 2:10 am
A good place to start would be http://www.drmcdougall.com/ – look especially for the free articles and the end bibliographies.
Another place to look is the book “The China Study”. It is the largest, most data-intensive nutritional study ever completed, with vastly more data than any other study ever devised, and it’s chock full of problems with going low carb. It’s also a great example of a serious nutritional expert who had to actually change his viewpoint about protein etc once the data was in.
After those two, you can go specific. For example, you can look at the population studies in which different cultural nutritions are studied. Again, complex carbs win out without any real contest.
And look into the negatives. For example, no matter how much calcium you eat, it can’t overcome high protein intake, as your body uses calcium from your bones to handle the acid (protein = amino ACIDS).
Even the supposedly great middle-eastern diet comes out looking bad … but still better than the USA SAD (Standard American Diet).
Anyway, there is a lot you can look into if you are interested. Adkins, remember, was an obese guy trying to sell a book, and other guys are trying to do the same. Get past those, and look to the actual experts doing larger “real” studies, not “well-my-book” studies.
Cheers!
Matthew Cornell says on July 5th, 2008 at 8:26 am
Question the assumption: How much belly “fat” is actually natural? We’re conditioned via our culture to see our bodies through the lens of youth worship. Turns out there’s a natural shape to our bodies, and it ain’t washboard bellies. Find a great Alexander Technique master and ask her.
metavitaedotcom says on July 8th, 2008 at 1:07 am
Spot training is generally BS.
It’s not losing belly fat, it’s losing fat in general.
I’ll go check the Australian study, but the offset they’re claiming toward belly fat is most likely due to the fat distribution of the subjects.
As for HIIT proof, have a look at Olympic Sprinters. They are both the most muscular and the leanest athletes you will see.
wossers says on July 9th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Wow.. is nobody going to ask where that stock photography came from? Stunning.
Dawn says on July 24th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
I am 5 feet 1, 50 years old 107 pounds. Starting about 4 years ago the belly fat began developing. I have always been active, showing horses, working out etc. I quit riding last year but I am currently working out, treadmill and weights like 4 days a week. I am trying to build muscle, since I stopped riding my arms and legs got very skinny, but not my belly!! Help! I need to build muscle, burn fat and lose this belly. Oh my diet is very good, I just need to figure out how to get more protein.
Bass Player Keith Hall says on July 28th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
I have been on the Fletcherism diet for 4 months and have lost 41 pounds. I chew eat bite 32 times and eat Lunch and supper only and have a mid afternoon snack about 3 pm and another one at 8:30 at night. Be sure to chew eat bite at least 32 times. You will eat about 20-30 minutes and feel totally full and are eating a lot less calories by eating less food and you feel totally satisfied. Read Horace Fletcher’s book in Google books called: Fletcherism, How I Became Young at Sixty.
Motley Health says on September 7th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Great advice on losing belly fat. Low carb certain does work, especially when combined with intensive cardio work and compound weight training.
david says on October 6th, 2008 at 12:44 am
im an Asian with a small frame… im not fat but my belly fat is disturbing me…i want to follow that low carb diet but i fear that i am going to lose weight if i do that…i dont want to be thinner i just want to lose the belly…what do you think i should do?
Jake says on October 29th, 2008 at 2:32 am
Good advice. I’ll try the diet for two months ( the goal is to lose 20 lbs before my birthday ), then I’ll post back saying wether or not it worked. Look for my post around Christmas ‘08.
Thanks!
gavin says on November 19th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Wow! What a plan. I do appreciate so many web resources for good info. I may even try this myself!
Bill says on January 16th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Great HIIT resource:
http://www.hiitsource.com
Kiefer says on February 4th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
You are correct about interval training for weight loss.
But you should never eat a low carbohydrate diet.
Yes you will lose weight, but this is an unhealthy way to do it.
When you consume to few carbohydrates some of the protein you eat is converted to fuel for energy and taken away from building and repairing your muscles.
The purpose of weight loss should be to get your self in better physical condition by adding lean muscle. This will lead to burning more calories at rest leading to better fat loss.
And if you want to live a longer and healthier live you must do weight bearing exercises.
RIch says on February 9th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Hi there! I came across your site and I actually have a couple myself in a related area that I am working on.
It is: losingbellyfatgude.com
I am contacting you to see if you want to do a link exchange/blogroll with me. As you know linking to related sites increases traffic to your site. If you are interested, please let me know what anchor text and url you’d like me to use, and I can put your link up right away.
Thanks, Rich
You can contact me at richardblack@kramnet.se
chris says on February 25th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
I am 44 and just got back to weight training but my results are only semi-productive, my love handles, or possibly just the sg=hape of my body is pear shaped and I’m striving to get the V, will this help
Slim Seductions says on March 3rd, 2009 at 11:18 am
I think it’s important to note that you can’t actually target an area to lose fat in except with lipo, so saying “Lose Belly Fat” is misleading in a sense.
Jagoda says on March 18th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.....l_training
Ryan says on March 25th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Great article and nice page layout. A lot of good information on here.
Janet says on April 9th, 2009 at 9:58 am
I am 53 years old, a smoker, sometimes drinker and don’t get alot of excersize (my fault I know), but my son is getting married in 3 months, the dress I want to wear requires me to lose belly fat so I won’t look like a fool. What do I do?
Maryann says on April 9th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
I am 57 years old and have been doing walking for exercise. I have several issues. I have shoulder problems, neck problems and a L5 disc problem. What can I do with weights to burn fat. I can’t lift above my head. Help!
Matt says on April 13th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Good article and thankfully no gimmicks, just plain old hard work.
Jared says on May 18th, 2009 at 12:45 am
I lost 100 pounds by limiting calories and increasing my exercise, not by cutting carbs. In fact, I didn’t (and still don’t) pay much attention to carbs – I think there’s too much hysteria attributed to it these days.
Dave says on June 11th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
hey… i am actually very thin at 70 kg, but even so i have belly fat. so will this method work for me? At the same time im trying to gain some muscle so losing too much weight will not help me with that.
Pls give some advice on this
ty
Losing Belly Fat says on June 23rd, 2009 at 1:21 am
Losing belly fat isn’t overly difficult, I mean, all you have to do is exercise a couple times a week and pick the correct foods.
However, it’s consistency that people struggle with – myself included.
I find taking a before picture really helps keep me motivated and I can see the progress I’ve made whenever I want.
Good article.
Ryan says on June 24th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Great article a lot of good information.
Lose Fat Build Muscle says on August 28th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Great info! Thanks a lot! Hope to hear some more!
Why I Cant lose weight
rickym says on September 7th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
not bad at all. i tried something like this that also worked
http://tinyurl.com/m74qok
John says on October 21st, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Interesting take on fitness. I always like when people think for themselves instead of following the trend.
Casey Patterson says on October 21st, 2009 at 11:11 pm
I like the article and I agree with most of it. I do like Carbs and I don’t think the body will start to use protein as fuel until there are no carb or fats to use.
I hate to see that Acai Berry ad at the end of the article. The news just had a special about how bad of a scam some of those Acai things are.
michael says on November 9th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
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michael says on November 9th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
i tried really a lot of things before my mate told me for this site… now i am really happy and suprised… i couldnt believe it but i tried it anyway, now my life changed a bit… i feel great.. Link source
Rene says on December 28th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Eating right and consistently exercising is the key. People give up too quickly and don’t ever reach the point of building a habit with their exercise. http://www.burnbellyfatbook.com
Toning Abs says on January 11th, 2010 at 5:05 pm
I agree with interval training as a great way to burn fat while maintaining lean muscle mass. Circuit training is a good example and also adds a great aerobic element to it while also helping increase muscle endurance.
Antonio says on January 15th, 2010 at 9:23 am
Hey..
Need some help. I have been going to the gym solid every day for 2 weeks. I weight 210 pounds and i am 23. I am 6ft. I got the gym and do 25 mins on cross trainer and 25 mins on treadmill every day. I also do weights and do 100 reps
But after weighing myself i seem to not have went up or down
I need help!!!!!!!!!
Cheers Antonio
Angus D says on January 18th, 2010 at 6:38 am
I have heard that low carb diets are really bad for you?
rodney says on January 29th, 2010 at 9:09 am
Well, low carb diets are bad for the long run, it is not a diet to stick with. But a low carb diet is a great way to kick start the fat loss. A good way to begin a program but not stick with overtime. Hope this helps