Many people want to melt belly fat away by “targeting” it with exercises. Many so-called gurus offer exercises, programs, or ab devices as the best way to lose belly fat. Does this really work?
Unfortunately, it does not. You can’t melt away fat of a particular body area by using specific exercises. No amount of crunches will destroy your body fat; however, you will get increased ab muscle definition, which may help them better show through the fat. How do you lose belly fat, then?
The secret is to lose weight in general, and as your body fat percentage decreases, your belly fat will decrease, eventually showing off your washboard abs. What makes this so difficult for many people, especially men, is that the last few “points” of body fat percentage are where most of the belly fat lurks. Many men work hard and exercise, losing tons of weight, but need to lose that last five or ten pounds to get the body they really want. For many men and women, this is one of the most frustrating aspects of their endeavor. How can you push your way through the last few pounds?
1) Do your workouts in the fat burning zone. This is where your heart rate is around 60-65% of your maximum. While working in this zone, almost half the calories you burn come from fat. However, you could also…
2) Perform more high intensity workouts, such as interval training. Though the amount of fat burned as a percentage of the calories is lower than at lower intensities, you burn more calories overall and thus actually burn more FAT overall in this stage.
3) Keep up your great diet to lose the pounds. Since you way lower than when you started, your body burns fewer calories by just existing. Thus, you will lose less weight than you did when you start – think about it, your body is much more efficient at energy processing than it once was. In order to finish off those last few pounds, you’ll need to put in more time than you expect. This shouldn’t be a problem, however, if you see your new habits as ways to improve your life or as a permanent lifestyle change rather than a condition, purely goal-oriented endeavor.