How to Lose 5 Pounds of Belly Fat

There is no way to force your body to let go of fat from your stomach exclusively, but lowering your stress may help. The American Council on Exercise says that fat loss typically happens evenly throughout your body. A mix of cardiovascular exercise and a low-calorie diet will result in weight lost. One to two pounds of fat lost per week is a healthy amount, according to the American Obesity Association. If you stick to a weight loss plan you will lose weight and eventually that will result in five pounds from the belly. There is just no way to know how long that will take because every body will lose weight from their bellies differently, so keep following this weight loss plan until you lose the five pounds. Even though belly fat is a health risk, according to "Belly Full of Danger" published on USAToday.com on February 25, 2003, perseverance will help you get rid of it.

Reduce your stress. Dr. Epel, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco’s Center for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment, states that there is a link between stress and fat being stored in your abdomen. Yoga and meditation may help reduce your stress and thus help your body let go of belly fat.

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Start exercising. Anne McTiernan suggests moderate activity such as brisk walking for 30 to 45 minutes on five days each week. "I suspect if you exercise for 60 minutes a day, you'll get even more fat loss," she says in the "USA Today" article, speaking specifically about fat loss from the belly. McTiernan is the lead researcher of a study performed at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle. The study showed participants lost 3.4 to 6.9 percent of their intra-abdominal fat in one year. The more active participants lost more belly fat. Walking, hiking, playing sports or anything that gets your heart rate up, but won't prevent you from having a conversation, will work.

Do two days a week of strength training as part of a belly-busting plan. The AARP recommends doing exercises for the whole body like the leg extension, leg curl, chest press, triceps extension and seated row in each workout to lose your belly fat. Do eight to 10 reps of these exercises twice. See the Resources section below for more information on these exercises.

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Reduce your daily calories. Although 250 to 1,000 calories a day cut is recommended as part of a low calorie diet, be sure that you are eating a minimum of 1,200 calories if you are a woman or 1,400 calories if you are man. George Blackburn, associate director of the division of nutrition at Harvard Medical School, recommends calorie reduction for people with large bellies because eating less will result in weight lost, some of which will be weight lost in the belly.

Tips

Get help from a nutritionist or dietician when cutting calories. Five pounds of belly fat loss may take a long time to achieve and you want to be sure you're not depriving your body of nutrients in the meantime. "It's very difficult to reach the recommended amounts of vitamins and minerals at a low-calorie level," says Andrea Wenger Hess. "Not eating enough food can actually set you up to fail at weight loss because of the cycle of deprivation and bingeing that it can create. The emotional toll of this cycle can be especially devastating." Wenger Hess is a nutritionist at the University of Maryland's Joslin Diabetes Center.