How to lose a pound of belly fat
First things first, we want to point out that it isn't easy to lose a pound of belly fat. It is easy to lose a pound of weight if you know what you are doing, but there is no way to explicitly target your belly. This means that you may shed pounds elsewhere on your body, but your belly stays looking the same. That being said, it is unlikely that this will happen. When your body sheds fat, it tends to be fairly even across the body, so you will notice a change in your belly sooner as opposed to later. These tips will help you.
The Secret to Weight Loss
There are a lot of guides out there that claim to teach you how to lose a pound of belly fat. Most of them are long and convoluted. They make it seem as if weight loss is a mystical process that is out of the realms of the normal human being unless they follow this 'one cool tip'. It isn't. In fact, weight loss can be summarized as the following:
Burn off more calories than you take in.
It really is that simple. As long as you are burning off more calories than you are eating, then you will lose weight. Since most people who are overweight also eat more calories than they need to each day, it is likely that a quick trim to the diet is all it will take to shift a pound or two off of the belly. Of course, there are ways to speed it up, which we will come to in a second.
Before we do that, there is one more thing we need to say about this whole calorie thing. Firstly; each and every person has a certain number of calories they need to consume each day for their body to 'work'. After all, eating, breathing, digesting, etc. all require calories. If you eat fewer calories than this, and don't move, then you will still lose weight. Not exactly recommended, but you will shift the pounds. Your base calorie requirements will be dependent on your sex, age, fitness levels, weight, and current height. There are various calculators online which will help you to work this out.
Secondly; there are 3,500 calories in a pound. This means you need to create a 3,500 calorie deficit to lose a pound of weight. You can normally accomplish this over a week or two.
Your Diet
If you want to lose a pound of belly fat, you will need to start focusing on your diet. If you cut out those sugary treats, then we promise you that you will be most of your way towards trimming your belly fat. Even cutting out the cream in your coffee will work absolute wonders here.
One mistake people tend to make when it comes to dieting is eating too little. Your body still needs nutrients. If you eat too little, then you run the risk of sending your body into 'starvation mode', which essentially slows down your metabolism and makes it even more difficult for you to lose weight. If you are hungry for food that is nice and filling, foods that contain microcrystalline cellulose will be satisfying without as many calories as you'd think. It can be found in some ice cream, and other desserts, and commonly in 'reduced fat' products.
Many people report that cutting back on alcohol and cigarettes also has an impact when it comes to trimming belly fat.
Cardiovascular Exercises
Since we are not really looking to build muscle and to just shift some extra poundage, then doing a bit of cardiovascular exercise each day will work wonders. You don't even need to do much. As little as 30-minutes of cardio each day will have weight falling off you like there is no tomorrow. This is assuming that you stick to a proper diet. There are plenty of cardiovascular exercises you can do, and none of them will require a gym membership:
Running Walking Cycling Swimming
You can also play sports. If you are going to be walking, then you may want to bump this up to an hour or two, just to lose the same number of calories you would with the other activities lean belly breakthrough.
Targeting Your Stomach
We know that we said that you can't 'spot target' your stomach to lose weight. This is true. However, you can give it a little boost, and toning up the muscles there may help you to gain the appearance of looking smaller.
Again, you do not need to do anything drastic. Just a few sit-ups (maybe 20 or so every few hours) will work. Basically, if an exercise targets your stomach, then you should be good.
Honestly, that is all there is to it. Take in fewer calories, burn more, and your belly will look like you want it to before you know what is happening!
