Difference Between Flat Belly Diet and Firm Up in 3 Weeks

The Flat Belly Diet is a 1,600-calorie-a-day diet based on the Mediterranean food pyramid. It promises losing up to 15 pounds in 32 days, with exercise optional. It touts increasing monounsaturated fats, claiming this controls appetite and targets belly fat. Firm Up in 3 Weeks is a weight-loss program blending diet, aerobic exercise and strength training in a three-week program that jump-starts weight loss and lays the foundation for continuing success.

Program Contrasts

• The Flat Belly Diet is exactly as the name implies--a diet. Despite the promise of the benefits of monounsaturated fats as an agent to target belly fat, calorie control is actually the fundamental principle of the Flat Belly Diet. The only way to lose belly fat is to simply lose fat, and for that you have to burn more calories than you consume. The Flat Belly Diet accomplishes this by offering you a meal plan that lowers your calorie intake to such a minimum that the calories you'd lose from daily exercise likely won't be necessary to lose weight. It's debatable, however, how long such a diet could be sustained. And the exercise-optional approach of the plan will very likely set you up to gain back the weight you've lost once normal eating habits are resumed.

  The Firm Up in 3 Week's program offers a more well-rounded approach to weight loss. In addition to presenting meal plans to address the aspect of a healthy, low-calorie diet, the plan also calls for an hour of daily exercise that incorporates strength, aerobic and flexibility training. The full title of this program, "Firm Up in 3 weeks: Lose your belly and burn fat fast -- The Prevention Way," may be a bit misleading in highlighting belly fat loss specifically. If you go into the program with your eyes wide open to the understanding that it's not possible to spot-reduce subcutaneous body fat, then this marketing tactic is actually forgivable. Eat a healthy, well-balanced, low-calorie diet; get at least 30 minutes of daily aerobic exercise; do strength training to build your muscle composition and enhance your metabolism. These are all things that most doctors and fitness experts suggest is the best way to achieve weight loss, and this program includes them all.

Losing Fat and Toning Muscle

• Don't be misled by slick advertisements; it is not possible to target the fat accumulated around your belly (or any other area of your body) for reduction. But while you cannot spot-reduce fat, you absolutely may build or tone specific muscles. This however, is very nearly a moot accomplishment if significant amounts of fat overlay the muscle you are toning. Be practical about your expectations. If you want to lose a lot of weight, there is no fast-and-easy solution. It's going to take time, commitment and work. The best weight-management strategy is one that you can incorporate into your routine and make a part of your general lifestyle. Be in it for the long haul.