Losing weight in general is hard, but dropping belly fat in particular can feel insurmountable. It’s not all in your head: “It’s essentially impossible to tell one specific region of your body to accelerate fat metabolism,” says Chris DiVecchio, a NASM-certified personal trainer and author of The 5 x 2 Method: Revealing the Power of Your Senses.

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12 Science-Backed Ways to Lose Belly Fat for
Good, According to Weight Loss Experts
Start by walking just one minute more a day.
By
Brielle Gregory Nov 12, 2019
L
osing weight in general is hard, but dropping belly fat in particular can feel
insurmountable. It’s not all in your head: “It’s essentially impossible to tell one
specific region of your body to accelerate fat metabolism,” says Chris
DiVecchio, a NASM-certified personal trainer and author of The 5 x 2 Method:
Revealing the Power of Your Senses.
GRADYREESE / GETTY IMAGES
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Still, it’s a worthy goal to lose belly fat because it’s “unfortunately the most
dangerous location to store fat,” says Lawrence Cheskin, M.D., chair of the
department of nutrition and food studies at George Mason University and associate
professor of health, behavior & society at Johns Hopkins University. Because belly
fat—also known as visceral fat, or the deep abdominal fat that surrounds your
organs—is more temporary, it circulates throughout the bloodstream more
regularly and is therefore likelier to raise the amount of fat in your blood,
increasing your blood sugar levels and putting you at a greater risk of heart
disease and type 2 diabetes.
Okay, you get the point: belly fat =
bad. But how do you lose it? You
have to think beyond crunches and
planks and adopt a well-rounded
approach. “It’s got to be more losing
fat as a whole,” agrees Chris
Gagliardi, a certified personal trainer at the American Council on Exercise (ACE).
Without further ado, here are the best ways to lose belly fat once and for all.
1. Accept that your behaviors will adjust.
A big part of weight loss is simply being aware of the decisions you’re making. For
example, when out at happy hour with friends, you may lose track of how much
you're eating or drinking. But if you take a split second to step back and become
aware of that fact, you’re able to course correct. “The awareness and then planning
for what else I can be doing, that might give me the same benefit of eating
comfort foods,” says Gagliardi.
2. Track your calories.
The most basic approach to weight loss is burning more calories than you
consume. For instance, since 3,500 calories equals one pound of fat, a weight loss
app—or even just a pen and paper—can help you decide how many calories you
need to cut from your diet or burn at the gym in order to meet your goals. “If you
were to burn 500 more calories per day seven days a week, that would lead to
3,500 calories in a week and one pound of weight loss,” says Gagliardi.
If you're not up for crunching
numbers every day, you can take a
more generalized approach. “For
some people, it’s knowing, ‘Typically I
eat a whole sandwich,’” says
Gagliardi. “Now, I’m going to eat half
a sandwich at lunch and save the
other half for my dinner and cut my
calories in half." To get started, consider these 25 ways to cut 500 calories a day.
3. Eat more fiber.
Foods that are high in refined carbs and sugar don’t actually tame your hunger, so
you end up reaching for more. Instead, eat more fibrous foods like whole grain
breads, oats, vegetables, fruits, beans, legumes, and chia seeds. “They fill you up
more,” says Dr. Cheskin, as fiber helps slow your digestion.
A 2015 study from the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that for those who
have a hard time following a strict diet, simplifying the weight loss approach by
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just increasing fiber intake can still lead to weight loss. Women should aim for at
least 25 grams of fiber per day (based on a 2,000-calorie) diet, according to the
most recent U.S. Dietary Guidelines. Start with our high-fiber diet plan.
4. Walk every day.
If you don’t have an established exercise routine, “walking is a pretty good entry
point for people,” says Gagliardi. One small study published in The Journal of
Exercise Nutrition & Biochemistry found that obese women who did a walking
program for 50 to 70 minutes three days per week for 12 weeks significantly
slashed their visceral fat compared to a sedentary control group.
“Even if your starting point is a one-minute walk, if that’s
more than what you’ve been doing, there’s health benefits
to that,” says Gagliardi. One of the biggest mistakes people
make when trying to lose weight is that they try to do too
much too soon and get burnt out.
“Starting slow and working your way up is better than
overdoing it and giving up,” says Gagliardi. An easy way to
approach it: Commit to going for a quick, 10-minute walk after dinner, and slowly
increase the time as you become more comfortable with daily movement.
5. Begin strength training.
It’s important to do full-body strength training if you want to lose belly fat—
especially if you’re trying to keep it off for the long haul. “Strength training should
be a part of just about everybody’s exercise plan,” says Dr. Cheskin. That’s because
strength training helps you build muscle, which will replace body fat. And because
muscle is metabolically active, you'll continue to burn calories after working out,
thereby, reducing overall body fat. Bonus: When your metabolic rate becomes
faster due to muscle growth, you’ll have a little more wiggle room in your diet if
that’s something you struggle with, says Dr. Cheskin.
To get started, lift weights at least
two days per week and work up from
there, says Gagliardi. “One way to
think of it is that you are building up
to supporting your long-term goals,”
he explains.
For example, maybe you want to be
able to do certain movements, like a
deadlift or bench press, and work
your way up to more reps of those
exercises—or maybe it’s as simple as wanting to improve your activities in daily
living, like more easily lifting groceries.
6. Embrace healthy fats.
If you want to lose fat, you have to eat fat...the right kind, that is.
Adding healthy fats, in the form of monounsaturated and
polyunsaturated fats, can help you feel more satisfied with
your meals. Yasi Ansari, M.S., R.D., C.S.S.D., national medial
spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics,
says, "Fat sources that I recommend boosting in the diet
come from unsaturated fatty acids found in foods like olive
oil, nuts, avocados, fatty fish, and eggs, as they can help increase satiety while
providing a variety of health benefits when consumed in moderation." You can
increase your intake of healthy fats by adding some chopped avocado into your
salads, enjoying wild salmon twice a week, and having a little peanut butter with
your post-workout snack or smoothie. Just remember to enjoy them in moderation
as they're still very calorie-dense, Ansari says.
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7. Load up on protein.
There’s a reason everyone harps on about protein: Not only does it help keep you
full, but it’s also responsible for repairing the tiny tears caused by strength training
in your muscles. This helps them grow bigger and stronger, nudging out body fat in
the process. As a general rule of thumb, aim to get at least 70 grams of protein
throughout the day, says Dr. Cheskin.
This is especially important before
you exercise. We’re all guilty of
going hard at the gym, and then
heading straight to Chipotle
afterward because we’re super
hungry. The result? You eat more
calories than you burn and end up
with excess belly fat.
To avoid feeling hungry after a
workout, eat a snack with at least 12
grams of protein before exercising, says Dr. Cheskin. And if you’re still hungry
afterward? First, check in with yourself and make sure it’s actual hunger and not
dehydration, says Dr. Cheskin. Then, eat a protein-rich snack that also includes
some carbs, like a protein bar with whole grains.
8. Okay, now you can do some crunches.
Although you can’t spot reduce fat, you can target building lean muscle tissue,
which in turn helps burn fat. “There are literally dozens of muscles between your
shoulders and your hips that are involved in every movement you do,” says
DiVecchio. “The fastest way to create a lean midsection begins with choosing the
right moves.”
Aim to do ab work three or four times a week on non-consecutive days with at
least 24 hours of rest in between sessions, says Gagliardi. During those sessions,
you can start with simpler moves like crunches, bicycle crunches, and planks. Even
though you may only be directly targeting your abs three or four times a week, you
should still be activating your core (aka, tightening your ab muscles) in every
workout you do, says Gagliardi.
There are tons of different ab workouts you can do right in your home. Once you’re
comfortable in an ab routine, work your way up to more complex ab exercises, like
side-to-side med ball slams and weighted Russian twists, says DiVecchio.
9. Try to limit your stress.
Stress can mess with every part of your body—but how you deal with it can make or
break your weight loss goals. “I think most of the effect of stress is behavioral
rather than neurochemical,” says Dr. Cheskin. “It makes us eat more, because we
use food as a substitute for dealing with stress.”
The truth is, eating food to make yourself feel better is usually a whole lot easier
than actually facing the stress head-on. “People gravitate toward something that
doesn’t require anybody else to do it, is immediately satisfying, and doesn’t take a
whole lot of effort, especially if you’re just opening up a package or box,” says Dr.
Cheskin.
Stress-eating can only lead to one thing: growing your belly rather than whittling it.
If you find yourself stress eating, take a step back and think: What’s causing my
stress, and what can I do about it? Find a way to remedy the solution or talk
through it with a therapist rather than turning to a bag of Doritos.
10. Prioritize quality sleep.
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Sleep is huge when it comes to your weight loss success—and that’s both if you
sleep too much or too little. “Sleeping too much is probably not great for you
healthwise,” says Dr. Cheskin. “But sleeping too little is worse.”
Case in point: One 2017 review and meta-analysis from the U.K. found that people
who slept 5.5 hours or less per night ate an extra 385 calories the day after
compared to those who snoozed for at least seven to 12 hours. On top of that,
they preferred to munch on fatty foods full of empty calories, like chips.
If you’re only getting a minimal
amount of sleep each night, that
leaves more time for you to snack
and make otherwise unhealthy
decisions that could affect your
weight loss. Although it will vary
from person to person on how much
sleep you actually need to be most
effective (and therefore make progress toward your weight loss goals), the ideal
number is typically seven or eight hours, says Dr. Cheskin.
11. Drink less alcohol.
To lose weight, you simply have to consume fewer calories—but that can be tough
when feelings of hunger start creeping in. One good plan of attack? Ditch the
empty calories that don’t serve your goals so you can make more room for the
foods that do. This includes all sugary drinks, like soda, but alcohol is a big one.
Ansari says alcohol can prevent weight loss in several ways, including the fact that
heavy alcohol intake can stimulate food intake. "Binge drinking can overload the
liver. The liver then prioritizes processing alcohol over other nutrients and then
stores the protein, carbs, and fat as fat in the body," Ansari explains. The Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines binge drinking as having five or
more drinks for men, and four or more drinks for women in two hours. "Also,
alcoholic beverages are often mixed with sugar-rich beverages. Drinking more
than moderate amounts of alcohol can cause calories to add up quickly," she says.
Research also finds that drinking frequently—even if it’s a moderate amount—can set
you up for excess pudge. Not only do the beverages themselves contain
unnecessary calories, but once you start sipping too much, your inhibition also
plummets, according to one 2016 study. The result? You’ll have a hard time
resisting that late-night slice of pizza. So if you're going to imbibe, stick to one
drink per day for women and up to two drinks for men. (Order one of these lowest-
calorie alcoholic drinks.)
12. Cook more often.
Spending more time in the kitchen can help you shed belly fat, as long as you’re
cooking with the right foods, according to a 2017 study. After analyzing data from
more than 11,000 men and women, U.K. researchers found that people who ate
more than five homemade meals per week were 28 percent less likely to have a
high body mass index, and 24 percent less likely to carry too much body fat than
those whole only downed three meals at home.
The researchers explain that people who cook their own meals may simply have
other good-for-you habits, like exercising more. However, they also concluded that
home cooks ate more fruits and vegetables (along with a wider variety of foods),
have healthier methods of prepping their food, and splurge less on foods high in
calories and sugar. Consider any of the healthy eating books below to get started.
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