The first thing I would like to talk to you about is the number one reason why it is difficult for most to lose belly fat. My friend, it all comes down to what you eat and when you eat. Just like I always say…fat loss begins and ends in the kitchen! It does not matter how many crunches you do, if you are not eating properly, you will not see results!

Now, above I talked about what and when you eat. There is a dieting system called calorie shifting from Fat Loss 4 Idiots that will help you with this. The first thing you must understand is that you should not dramatically lower your calories that you get daily. The calorie shifting system actually is designed for you to eat the amount of calories that your body needs…which means you don’t have to worry about starving yourself with this diet!

Now, the way the calorie shifting system works is that it will show you how to alternate the calories from all the foods you consume on a daily basis so that you can confuse your metabolism into elevating to the highest peak possible. With you having an elevated metabolism, you will be able to burn off stubborn fat such as the fat around your belly area!

So, if you were ready to flatten your belly in as little as four weeks, then I highly recommend for you to look into and try out the calorie shifting diet system from Fat Loss 4 Idiots.

In this article, I am going to show you why it’s impossible to lose belly fat no matter how many crunches or leg raises you do, and I’m going to reveal the right way to go about it.

It’s really quite elementary, or so it would seem. If you want to lose belly fat, then you obviously have to work your abdominals. That’s what you’ve been told, so you go and hit the abs from all angles.

You do crunches for the upper abs, hanging leg raises for the lower abs, side crunches for the obliques. That should help you lose belly fat, right?

Wrong!

You’ll never lose belly fat by doing all of that abs work. Sure, you’re going to have strong abdominal muscles. You might even have a six pack, but you’re never going to see it until you lose that roll of fat covering them up.

The reason that you will never lose belly fat that way is that you just can’t spot reduce. By spot reduction, I mean that you’re only losing fat in one area of the body.

It is therefore impossible to lose belly fat, and then not lose fat throughout the rest of your body.

In order to lose belly fat, you have to have a total fat loss plan. Fat won’t just disappear from your abdominal region simply because you’re doing every imaginable abs exercise. That’s not the way it works.

Fat loss occurs in the body as a whole. That means that if you want to lose belly fat, you have to have a fat loss strategy that burns fat throughout your body.

To lose belly fat, you have to change your workout focus away from direct ab work, and instead start doing the types of exercises that really burn fat. That’s heavy, compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, presses and rows. These exercises work most of the muscles of the body, along with their stabilizers. This, in turn, helps to release the hormones responsible for muscle gain, and fat loss. You can’t get that from crunches, or leg raises, and definitely not from side bends. 

You also have to do cardio, but not in the way you’ve been taught. To lose belly fat, you have to do high intensity cardio. That low intensity stuff won’t produce a hormonal response the way high intensity, interval cardio does.

Simply put, high intensity cardio releases fat burning hormones, and revs up the metabolism in a way that slow, steady state, and long duration cardio never will.

Aside from heavy compound exercises and high intensity cardio, if you’re serious about losing belly fat you must also eat a healthy and well balanced diet to really lose that belly fat.

By healthy and well balanced I mean a diet that includes plenty of fruits and vegetables, lean meats such as chicken and fish, nuts (unsalted), and whole grains. Notice I didn’t mention anywhere that you must starve yourself. That’s not the way to lose belly fat, and it’s definitely not the way fat loss works.

If you starve yourself, or deprive your body of any of the macronutrients (i.e. proteins, fats, carbohydrates), you won’t lose belly fat. Instead, you’ll end up messing with your metabolism. Essentially, you’ll end up slowing down your metabolism and stopping your fat loss before it even starts.

So, to really lose belly fat, you can’t try to spot reduce it away. Spot reduction does not work. Instead, you must focus on fat loss in the body as a whole. You have to include compound exercises, and high intensity cardio. And, you absolutely must include a healthy and balanced diet.

The Big, Scary Secret About the Best Way to Lose Stomach Fat

Imagine this: you go into a fitness room and you ask those fine individuals who are working there, “What’s the best way to lose my spare tire?” What do you suppose their answer is?

If you’ve ever done this, then you’re probably aware that they’ll give you the typical answer: crunches. The big secret is that crunches are not going to give you the results you want. Let’s dissect this a little further:

What is the result you want?

A six pack?
To lose a few inches?
Just to get healthy?

Of all of these results, absolutely none of them require crunches. In fact, crunches would HINDER your progress in them. If you’re looking for the best way to lose stomach fat effectively, then you’re going to be looking at doing the following (and none of it has to do with crunches).

Eating is the Best Way to Lose Stomach Fat:
Sound too good to be true? Keep reading.

You have a lean stomach. It’s true. Underneath layers of fat, there is a lean, defined tummy. You need to get rid of the fat around the stomach in order to have your abs show up. To do this, you’re going to need to eat right. Here are just some very basic tips on how to eat to lose stomach fat:

Eat lean meat like chicken instead of fatty red meat.
Snack on deep colored vegetables throughout the day.
Try to stay away from starchy foods like potatoes.

These are pretty basic right? They’re things that you could begin doing right night in order to lose some of that unwanted belly fat.

Exercising is the Second Best Way to Lose Stomach Fat:
I know I was just ripping “crunches” a new one up there, but there is a proper and an improper way to lose stomach fat and train the abdominals.

Training your stomach means using the muscles in the way they were designed. We’re also trying to burn fat (because as I disclosed above, you’ve already got lean abs – you just can’t see them). So to work the abs as well as burn fat, we’re going to need to do exercises that fulfill both of these goals. Here are some tips that you can start utilizing (along with eating right).

Practice on balance so that your abs will tighten up, and make you more stable.
Using high intensity circuit training is the best way to lose stomach fat.
Stay active throughout your day. Take 5 minute breaks just to suck in your tummy.

The first thing that you need to remember in your search for the best way to lose abdominal fat is that it’s important to keep in mind that sit-ups, and crunches are not the road to accomplishing your goal.  This is because those exercises are not fat burners but are instead designed to shape and sculpt the abdominal muscles.

The second thing to realize when looking for the best way to lose abdominal fat is that you are unable to lose abdominal fat through target training your abdominals.  You can do a large amount of these exercises but is not likely that you will lose abdominal fat.  You may tighten the muscles, which can lead you to believe that you are losing weight, but all you’ve done is tighten the muscles below the abdominal fat.

This isn’t actually a bad thing.  It might, in the end be what you are actually looking for, a firmer stomach.  However, if your goal is a tight, well shaped stomach that will make others envious, then you’ll need to utilize the following three exercises.

When it comes to the best way to lose abdominal fat you’ll need to start walking 30-45 minutes every day, preferably after dinner.  Dinner is the final large meal of the day and it is a good idea to get an early start on working it off without allowing your body to store any of what you ate as fat.  It’s okay to start with less time and then add more as you become more accustomed to walking.

The second activity involved in the best way to lose abdominal fat is to drink more water.  Experts say that weight loss is a process of dehydration.  You need water to dehydrate your fat cells.  Without the proper amounts of water, your body will not efficiently lose weight.  The spare tire around your weight isn’t all abdominal fat, it is also a large amount of water.  Adding extra water intake will help to eliminate the bloated look.

The third activity when looking for the best way to lose abdominal fat is to be brutally honest with yourself.  It is easier to get serious about your weight loss once you see a picture of yourself taken by someone else.  People often think that they look a certain way, but once they see themselves, they realize that they are not just a little overweight as they thought, but that they are actually fat.

Now, the most important part of the best way to lose abdominal fat is to take a long look in the mirror at yourself 3-4 times a week.  Do this so that you can realize the actuality of your current physical position.  Do not become annoyed with yourself, but accept that you need to lose weight.  Realize that you will be happier and life will be more exciting when you finally do lose the weight.  Look at yourself so that you can pressure yourself to turn your body into the body that you want.  Lose weight, lose your abdominal fat, lose your back fat and turn your body into the best shape that it can be in.