Diets to Make Your Stomach Flat

Losing belly fat is the reason for some people to begin a weight loss diet. Diet programs that promise to target stomach fat and allow you to lose weight in this region are not being honest about how weight is lost. Increased fat in the stomach area is a health concern and is largely a product of stress, age, gender and genetics.

Healthy Eating

• There isn't a diet that can give you a flat stomach and target the fat around your middle. Diets have sprung up in recent years that claim to be the solution for a flat, rock-hard stomach. Unfortunately, a diet that will reduce fat in the stomach area is the same diet that will reduce fat all over the body. A healthy, well-balanced diet that takes in fewer calories than are needed to maintain weight is the only realistic way to lose weight.

  Women tend to gain weight in the stomach area after menopause because of hormone changes. As the body produces less estrogen, the female body takes on the characteristics of the male form. Men tend to gain weight around the middle when they are young and old. A diet that reduces weight will lead to a reduction in the fat stored around the middle with time.

  A good eating plan should include a proper balance of protein, fat, carbohydrate and fiber. Taking in fewer calories by following a nutritious diet that is filled with fruits, vegetables and lean sources of protein will reduce stomach fat with time and patience.

Exercise

• Exercise will increase the speed with which you are able to lose weight. A program that is designed to lose weight should burn and use more calories than are consumed through diet. Exercise increases the amount of calories that are burned and makes weight loss much easier. It is possible to lose weight without exercise, but the degree of calorie restriction that is required makes it very difficult to sustain the diet.

  Aerobic activity such as walking, running, swimming and aerobic dance will burn a significant amount of calories. Strength training exercises also increases the body's ability to burn fat while at rest. Vary your exercise routine to include both forms of exercise.

Stomach Toning

• A healthy diet will provide your body with the proper nutrition, exercise will burn calories and tone the body and stomach-toning exercises will build the muscles in the stomach region. These are the key factors to getting that flat stomach that you are after.

  Sit-ups, crunches and bends are stomach-toning exercises that will work on the muscles in the abdomen area. Exercises that strain the muscles in the stomach work to tone up the area and provide the rock hard stomach that you want.