10 Rules for Losing Belly Fat

For most people, the belly area is the most stubborn area that resists weight loss attempts. It is the hiding place of the unpopular visceral fat, the type of fat which increases the risk for both heart attack and stroke. Though the belly is often the first place where fat is stored, there are steps you can take to lose it once and for all. The key to burning this stubborn fat is to turn up your body's internal furnace: the metabolism.

Exercise

• Aerobic exercise such as walking, biking and swimming are all ways to increase your metabolism and burn belly fat. Though strength training is effective for toning the abdominal muscles, aerobic exercise increases your heart rate, which leads to an increased metabolic rate.
  The best time to exercise is first thing in the morning before you eat. As you sleep, your metabolism slows down and basically burns only excess sugars. Therefore, when you wake up and exercise before you eat, you are burning your body's fat stores for energy; this includes the fat stored in your belly.

Eat Breakfast

• Keep your metabolic furnace burning by eating a healthy breakfast after exercising. Fast food on the way to work won't cut it, but a healthy bowl of oatmeal topped with some fruit will. If you're not a fan of oatmeal, try some scrambled egg whites topped with salsa, a piece of whole grain toast and an apple.

Eat Frequently

• Your body is like your car: without gas, it will no go. This is how your metabolism works. To keep it firing throughout the day, feed it throughout the day. Rather than eating three meals per day, go for five or six smaller meals consisting of 200 to 400 calories each, and eat every two to three hours. Not only will this keep you satisfied throughout the day, it will keep a regular stream of food flowing into your stomach to be digested and keep your metabolism high.

Drink More Water

• Water not only helps keep you full between meals, it also helps keep you hydrated. When you are properly hydrated, your metabolism functions at its peak.
  Drinking enough water also helps flush toxins out of your system, allowing your body to function as it should. By clearing the toxins, the body is also able to metabolize fat more efficiently.

Reduce Your Calories

• Reducing your calories doesn't mean you have to rid your fridge of all your favorite foods. It simply means you need to evaluate what foods are the emptiest in calories and nutritional value.
  When you eat high-caloric foods, anything you don't burn through activity or exercise is stored as fat in your belly. To prevent this from happening, reduce the number of calories you allow yourself to eat in a day. An easy way to determine your caloric needs is to multiply your weight by 11; the number you get is the number of calories you need to eat daily.

Quit Smoking

• The toxins in cigarette smoke are responsible for the release of stress hormones in your body. These stress hormones are then responsible for an increase of your blood sugar levels and weight gain in your belly area.

Stop Snacking at Night

• As night progresses, your metabolism begins to slow down. Therefore, the later at night you choose to snack, the more likely it is to be stored as fat in your belly.
  A good rule of thumb is to stop eating by 7 p.m., although opinions vary on this time frame. Some will say an hour sooner while others will say an hour later. If you stick with 7 p.m., though, you and your belly should be safe from the fat waiting to make your body its home.

Increase Your Protein

• Protein not only gives you energy, it can also help build the muscles in your body. The more muscles you have, the more fat you will burn. Remember that for every pound of muscle, you burn nine times the amount of fat and calories.

Moderate Your Alcohol Consumption

• Alcohol is full of sugar--it's one of the main ingredients. The more alcohol you consume, the larger your belly becomes as this sugar is stored as fat. For example, 1 g of alcohol contains seven calories. These are all empty calories which contain no nutrients and only contribute to the size of your waistline.

Rest

• You burn the least amount of fat and calories during sleep. However, it is also when two major blood proteins are released: leptin and grehlin.
  Leptin is responsible for suppressing your appetite; when you are sleep-deprived, your body produces less of it. This can result in you overeating and storing more body fat than you burn.
  Grehlin is a protein that increases your desire to eat. The less sleep you get, the higher your grehlin levels. This results in you overeating and storing more fat. By getting between seven and nine hours of sleep each night, you can increase your leptin levels and decrease your levels of grehlin.