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How can You Lose Abdominal Fat?

Brendan McGuigan
Brendan McGuigan

Abdominal fat is one of the things most commonly cited when people are asked what they would change about themselves. More technically known as central obesity, abdominal fat is mostly made up of visceral fat. This is the type of fat that exists between organs, as opposed to subcutaneous fat, which is fat that lies just below the surface of the skin. When accumulated in sufficient amounts, abdominal fat creates what is commonly known as a beer belly or pot belly, and is representative of the apple body shape.

Many people believe that fat in general can be reduced or removed by exercising the muscle groups in the region affected. In this case, spot exercises focusing on the abdomen would be thought to remove abdominal fat. The most common exercises people try to do to remove this fat are sit-ups, hoping to burn away the fat. In fact, while abdominal exercises such as sit-ups are excellent for building muscle tissue in the region, they have essentially no effect on the fat content in the area. Actually, since increased muscle mass will increase the bulk in the abdomen, building substantial mass without losing fat at the same time can make the abdomen appear even fatter.

Sit-ups can build muscle, but do not have much affect on fat content.
Sit-ups can build muscle, but do not have much affect on fat content.

As with most types of fat unrelated to a chronic health condition, abdominal fat can best be eliminated with a simple combination of improved diet and increased aerobic activity. These two things, in conjunction, are the most sure fire ways to reduce abdominal fat to minor levels. At its most basic, you have to expend more energy each day than you consume. It’s important to do this intelligently, however, continuing to consume a healthy amount of calories, and making sure you get all of the vital building blocks of life, including fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. It’s also important not to overdo it, as this can cause your body to think you are actually starving, in which case it will immediately begin to stockpile fat stores to get you through the starvation period.

Eating a high protein diet may help reduce abdominal fat.
Eating a high protein diet may help reduce abdominal fat.

Although some people believe that certain diets or certain aerobic activities target abdominal fat first, this seems to be largely untrue. Fat is distributed accordingly primarily to genetics, and it is removed in much the same way. For some people, eliminating abdominal fat can be a long process. Trying to take shortcuts to reducing fat anywhere on the body is a recipe for disaster, often resulting in a cost to health and even an increase in fat in the long run.

Excess calories that are consumed are often stored in the belly as fat.
Excess calories that are consumed are often stored in the belly as fat.

For a little bit of a helping hand, some people also recommend some sort of human growth hormone (HGH) or multi-functional steroid like dehydroepiandrosterone. Many diet pills aimed at reducing abdominal fat contain these ingredients, and by changing the body’s chemistry they can help to some extent. They cannot help in-and-of themselves, however, and are intended to be a supplement to exercise and diet, not a replacement. Even then, the potential health costs for most people outweigh the benefits, and most health professionals would caution against their use.

Discussion Comments

Feryll

The key to losing fat anywhere on your body is finding out how many calories you are taking in each day. Once you know this you set up a work-out plan that burns that many calories. This will be the lightest workout that you can allow yourself to complete on any day because it simply helps you maintain the weight you have.

Once you do this basic workout and continue to exercise you know you are actually burning more calories than you ate and you are losing weight. This is the perfect time to focus on the areas that concern you most like that stubborn abdominal fat. Personally, I like crunches and dead-lifts for working the abdomen muscles.

Animandel

Wish I had read this article years ago. I was never an athlete, but before I married and had children I kept myself in pretty good shape. I couldn't have run a marathon, and maybe not a mile, but I had an average to below average amount of body fat. After the babies came that changed.

I was able to get back to close to my normal weight after the first baby, but after the second baby it was much harder, and the main area that bugged me was my stomach and sides. There was a layer of fat there that I could not get rid of. I tried sit-ups and leg lifts and crunches and all of those other exercises that were supposed to help me get rock-hard abs, but nothing worked.

Once I stopped focusing on my abdominal fat and walked and played with my kids instead, I did start to lose some weight. It definitely didn't happen over night. In fact, it took a long time and the weight came off slowly, but my midsection is much smaller and tighter now. I'm not at the same place I was before the kids, but I am happy with where I am.

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    • Sit-ups can build muscle, but do not have much affect on fat content.
      By: Halfpoint
      Sit-ups can build muscle, but do not have much affect on fat content.
    • Eating a high protein diet may help reduce abdominal fat.
      By: CLIPAREA.com
      Eating a high protein diet may help reduce abdominal fat.
    • Excess calories that are consumed are often stored in the belly as fat.
      By: vpardi
      Excess calories that are consumed are often stored in the belly as fat.
    • Improving one's diet is a good step toward losing abdominal fat.
      By: Glamy
      Improving one's diet is a good step toward losing abdominal fat.
    • Crunches allow exercisers to focus on strengthening their abdominal muscles.
      By: lunamarina
      Crunches allow exercisers to focus on strengthening their abdominal muscles.