Your best bet is to work on losing overall body fat through diet and exercise. Once you start losing weight, there's a good chance some will come from your belly. How long that takes is different for everybody.
It's impossible to target belly fat specifically when you diet. But losing weight overall will help shrink your waistline; more importantly, it will help reduce the dangerous layer of visceral fat, a type of fat within the abdominal cavity that you can't see but that heightens health risks, says Kerry Stewart, Ed.
One of the most effective ways to lose body fat is to eat fewer calories than the body burns. This leads to fat loss throughout the body, including the abdomen. Eating fewer calories than the body uses up creates a caloric deficit. This can help burn both visceral fat and excess subcutaneous fat.
Exercise and dieting helps you lose belly fat
Strength training (exercising with weights) may also help fight abdominal fat. Spot exercising, such as doing sit-ups, can tighten abdominal muscles, but it won't get at visceral fat. Diet is also important.
You're Into the Wrong Foods
Unhealthy eating is the biggest driver of big bellies. Too many starchy carbohydrates and bad fats are a recipe for that midsection to expand. Instead, get plenty of veggies, choose lean proteins, and stay away from fats from red meats.
The American Council on Exercise says a 1 percent body fat loss per month is safe and achievable. Given that math, it could take a woman with average body fat about 20 to 26 months to achieve the appropriate amount of fat loss for six-pack abs. The average man would need about 15 to 21 months.
Walking might not be the most strenuous form of exercise, but it is an effective way to get in shape and burn fat. While you can't spot-reduce fat, walking can help reduce overall fat (including belly fat), which, despite being one of the most dangerous types of fat, is also one of the easiest to lose.
Aerobic exercise (cardio) is an effective way to improve your health and burn calories. Studies also show that it's one of the most effective forms of exercise for reducing belly fat.
Losing belly fat without exercise is a bit "unrealistic" because fitness experts say that only overall fat loss is the only method to help reduce lower belly fat and is usually done through creating a calorie deficit.
Your genetics prefer storing fat in your stomach area
Visceral fat—the type of fat the body stores in your abdomen and around your intestines and is mostly responsible for keeping people from a flat belly—can be partly determined by genetics.
You can tone abdominal muscles with crunches or other targeted abdominal exercises, but just doing these exercises won't get rid of belly fat. However, visceral fat responds to the same diet and exercise strategies that help you shed excess pounds and lower your total body fat. To battle belly fat: Eat a healthy diet.
If you have a big meal, your stomach doesn't magically get bigger and stay that way—it shrinks back down to its previous size in about four hours or less as your food is pushed along to the small intestine, Staller says.
The Truth About Belly Fat. Surprise: Everyone has some belly fat, even people who have flat abs. That's normal. But too much belly fat can affect your health in a way that other fat doesn't.
Simply walking more often can help you lose weight and belly fat, as well as provide other excellent health benefits, including a decreased risk of disease and improved mood. In fact, walking just one mile burns about 100 calories.
Walking 10,000 steps in a day is realistic for many people, but not realistic for others. Unless you ensure you get up and move around throughout the day, naturally incorporating activity breaks and movement, it may be difficult. You can also achieve 10,000 steps per day by setting aside time for walks and exercise.
How quickly will you lose weight? The volunteers reduced their waist sizes by an average of 1 inch for every 4lb (1.81kg) they lost. So if you lose 1lb (0.45kg) a week you could hope to reduce your waistline by an inch after four weeks.
There's no set time you should stop eating to lose belly fat, but, as a guideline, you should avoid eating two to three hours before bed to stop it from disrupting your sleep and body clocks, which can cause belly fat gain. Studies show early dinners can help people lose weight.
Suck in your stomach.
Not only will this move instantly make your stomach look flatter, but you will also be giving your abs a workout. Your deep core muscles are activated by sucking in your stomach and the longer you suck in, the more toned your core will be.