Unsightly belly fat can ruin your look, especially if you're
happy with the rest of your body. Clothes that otherwise fit you are tight
around the waistline, creating belly bulge and muffin tops that are hard to
hide. But belly fat, sometimes called visceral abdominal fat, can also be
dangerous for your health, increasing your risk for diabetes and heart disease,
according to the Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide. The good news is
that belly fat is highly responsive to exercise when performed at the right
intensity. Adding resistance training will help you maintain your weight while
losing fat.
STEP - 1
Perform moderate to high-intensity cardio five to seven days
per week, for 30 to 60 minutes per session. A 2008 study of middle-aged obese
women, published in "Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise,"
compared the effects of low-intensity and moderate-to-high-intensity aerobic
exercise on abdominal visceral fat. Participants exercised five days per week
for 16 weeks. The moderate-to-high-intensity group, which alternated between
walking and running, realized signifiant reductions in abdominal fat, while the
low-intensity group saw no significant changes, even though both groups burned
the same amount of calories per session.
STEP - 2
Intersperse short bursts of all-out intensity with longer
bouts of moderate intensity. Interval training can lead to visceral abdominal
fat loss over a shorter period of time. A 2011 review published in the
"Journal of Obesity" found that high-intensity interval exercise had
significant positive effects on reducing abdominal fat. Most of the studies
reviewed used a stationary cycle with subjects exercising at moderate intensity
for four minutes, then sprinting all-out for 30 seconds at a higher resistance.
The bouts were typically repeated four to six times for a total of
approximately 20 to 30 minutes.
STEP - 3
Engage in total-body resistance training on two to three
non-consecutive days per week. Resistance exercise will help you maintain your
weight while losing fat. In a 2012 study of young, overweight adults published
in the "Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness," subjects
who performed one weight training set of nine different exercises three times
per week for six months increased their lean muscle mass and lowered their body
fat percentage without losing weight.
STEP - 4
Eat a healthy diet. There is a saying that you can't out-train a bad
diet, and it holds a lot of weight. Get rid of junk food, sugary drinks and
snacks, and processed foods. Eat plenty of whole fresh fruits and vegetables
and lean meats. Stay hydrated by drinking plain fresh water.
Warnings
To learn to use weights safely and correctly, seek guidance from fitness professional.
Tips
A
convenient way to monitor your exercise intensity is to use a 10-point rating
of perceived exertion, or RPE scale. The Cleveland Clinic explains that RPE
ranks your level of effort on a zero-to-10 scale, with zero being no effort at
all and 10 being extremely difficult. On this scale, moderate intensity would
rate a three to four, while high intensity would be rated higher than five.