How To Lose Belly Fat

1. Edward
   January 15th, 2009 at 12:16 pm

   They left out at least two other factors: Constant eating and alcohol. If you combine the two you will easily produce a classic beer-belly.

2. vonskippy
   January 15th, 2009 at 12:25 pm

   What a load of crap.

   Fat IS fat and there is no specific diet or exercise that will specifically target one "type" of fat or one "area" (muscles yes, fat NO).

3. Gauldar
   January 15th, 2009 at 12:35 pm

   The problem with loosing weight from being quite overweight is a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' issue. There are those that work their ass off loosing a crap load of weight, and are rewarded with a sack of sagging skin. This looks so unappealing to people, if they don't have the money for costmetic surgery they just give up and gain the weight back again. I think too many people ignore this issue when they have an all high and mighty opinion about people not doing anything to loose weight. The human body is more flawed then people would like to think it is.

4. Byrd Brain
   January 15th, 2009 at 12:47 pm

   Gauldar:
   First, it's losing, not loosing. How often do we have to point this out?

   Second, the problem with losing weight is not some BS about sagging skin. The problem is being lazy. No, it really is. That sagging skin crap is just an excuse and it doesn't happen to most in any case.

5. donna
   January 15th, 2009 at 12:58 pm

   You cannot spot reduce. Well known fact.

   What you CAN do is exercise and tone the muscles underneath, which certainly makes you look better. Yoga, pilates, crunches, leg lifts, etc. Anything that tones and strengthens the core muscles.

6. Gauldar
   January 15th, 2009 at 12:59 pm

   Byrd,

   I am not saying it's an excuse, I'm saying it's a result. It has happened to my friend and she has some serious self image issues about it. She looses 75 lbs. and is rewarded with this shit? What is she going to do about it huh? How about you tell me some options she has genius. It's so easy to say how lazy people are especialy when you havn't had to deal with that problem eh?

7. Gauldar
   January 15th, 2009 at 1:00 pm

   (auto moderation kicked in, I will have to use a different word.)

   Byrd,

   I am not saying it’s an excuse, I’m saying it’s a result. It has happened to my friend and she has some serious self image issues about it. She looses 75 lbs. and is rewarded with this crap? What is she going to do about it huh? How about you tell me some options she has genius. It’s so easy to say how lazy people are especialy when you havn’t had to deal with that problem eh?

8. kyuss
   January 15th, 2009 at 1:11 pm

   I think EVERYBODY at neatorama is awesome.

   But this is just a bad post.

   1) The content is a total load of crap (Not food pun intended).
   2) What isn't toatally wrong in this, is common sense.
   3) How is this even "neat"?

   People (Americans) just need to stop eating fastfood, and too much of it, watch less TV, and make some sort of attempt to be productive. Any fashion seems to work... If you using your mind, generally, you're using your stomache less.

9. xayzer
   January 15th, 2009 at 1:13 pm

   I have no problem with FAT. I have a problem with short top+FAT (pictured above). Keep it covered and we're OK.

10. Christophe
    January 15th, 2009 at 1:42 pm

    I'm so with you xayzer !

    And everybody knows that liposuction is the only answer

11. Xayzer
    January 15th, 2009 at 2:02 pm

    @Christophe

    True. It will also solve our fuel crisis (by utilizing all that bacon fat as diesel)

12. Mr. Binky
    January 15th, 2009 at 2:21 pm

    If you're overweight and you lose weight via exercise, you'll probably get HEALTHIER. Is that important?

13. LJ
    January 15th, 2009 at 2:32 pm

    Come on. Not only is the 'spot-reduce' bullshit, but the idea of 'losing weight is healthy' thing is bullshit.

    Be active and you'll be healthy: http://kateharding.net/but-dont-you-realize-fat-is-unhealthy/

14. Gauldar
    January 15th, 2009 at 2:41 pm

    Mr. Binky,

    Do people seriously actually care about their getting "Healthier"? No, then change their habits because the doctor tells them that if they don't chance their habits they are going to DIE and then become concerned about their health. Look the majority of these posts, given the majority of these opinions; does getting healthier actually matter? That's the real BS here. If there was a miracle cure for an instant slim body but gives you 10 years to live, more people than you think would take it, and then regret their decision just before those years are up. Yes, people are that shallow.

15. SenorMysterioso
    January 15th, 2009 at 2:52 pm

    You lose fat around the middle the same way you lose fat anywhere, burn off more calories than you take in. Doing some spot specific exercises will help tone that area.

    If you have sagging skin as a result of weight loss you were more than just overweight when you started. The elasticity of skin is pretty resilient to weight gain and loss. I lost 70 lbs several years ago and did not have any sagging skin.

16. scifiiiiinite!
    January 15th, 2009 at 3:00 pm

    If I want some bs health advice, I'll read a 'health tip' page on Yahoo.

17. Parahaps
    January 15th, 2009 at 3:29 pm

    Woo! The people here are so misinformed. Yes, it is impossible to spot reduce by doing exercises. This article is about diet and not exercise, though. It is absolutely true that some diets/foods will cause specific sorts of fat deposits, though (such as belly fat).

18. I C Kook
    January 15th, 2009 at 4:08 pm

    This is Kook! Totally, kooky I tell ya!

19. vonskippy
    January 15th, 2009 at 4:20 pm

    #17 @parahaps

    What BS - site any published study (and leave the Lady's Home Journal and National Enquirer articles on your night stand) that backs up your speculation.

20. Byrd Brain
    January 15th, 2009 at 5:45 pm

    Gauldar,

    One anecdotal story about someone, even if you know them personally, does not mean that everyone with a wieight problem thinks/feels the same way. Or will even face the same skin sagging issue. That is not normal for that to occur and might have occured because she lost that weight way too fast. When weight is shed at a healthy rate (about 2lbs. a week), the body has time to get rid of the extra skin as well. Rapidly shedding water, which a lot of dieting and weight loss really is, will result in sagging skin.
    As the genius that I am, I would suggest that she see a doctor to find up what is F'ed up with her body to respond to weight loss that way.

21. McFly
    January 15th, 2009 at 6:47 pm

    I agree with most of you. It is possible to tone the abs, but not to lose weight on one specific part of the body through diet.

22. AJB
    January 15th, 2009 at 7:49 pm

    I'm puzzled. The linked article cites studies in peer reviewed journals that suggest that some dietary factors do reduce belly fat. Is it really so hard to believe the conventional wisdom (that you can't target a particular area of fat) might be wrong?
    I've heard that too, repeatedly, but I've no idea what evidence there is for that claim. Sure, the studies might be flawed in some way, or be talking about smaller effects that we'd like. But, as presented anyway, they seem solid enough to warrant consideration.

23. Moon
    January 15th, 2009 at 8:52 pm

    That sagging skin caused by losing weight is eventually toned up and disappears. Ask any post-pregnant woman.

24. John e boy
    January 15th, 2009 at 11:39 pm

    When cortisol is elevated (ie in times of stress) fat is moved from other parts of the body to the abdominal area. This is because fat here is more easily mobilized than at other parts of the body.

    Several of these points relate to lowering cortisol...

    Generally,people have multiple times of the day where they are either burning fat or storing fat, whether dieting or not. If cortisol levels are too high, the fat will be stored in the tummy when fat is being stored. This can result in your tummy being slightly fatter even when in a calorie deficit; that is, until you lose enough fat everywhere so you tummy starts to shrink.

    They idea that people store fat and lose fat evenly over there body is false... the truth us more complicated than that.

    The idea that one can spot reduce using exercise is also false. However, there are certain things you can do to influence hormones in your favor to have fat storage patterns be more complimentary to your figure....

    but if your dieting this last point is moot anyways

25. John e boy
    January 15th, 2009 at 11:41 pm

    # 19

    did you bother to look at any of the studies cited by the article???

26. TronStuck
    January 16th, 2009 at 1:19 am

    I think it might have been a joke. I mean seriously, how can any site touting that it can help you lose weight when it pretty much tells you to smoke.

    Some people need to lighten up I think.

27. olddude
    January 16th, 2009 at 6:44 am

    Bryd Brain dont waste your time with Gauldar. She obviously has some kind of agenda other than wanting people to be healthy. Who the f*** cares if they have some loose skin, if they are much more healthy as a result? This is a health issue not one of looks. Why is it that people are more than willing to (rightfully so) attack people promoting anorexia as ok, but are not willing to do the same with another unhealty extreme (obesity).

    Less than a few hundred people die of anorexia related illness in the US per year, but hundreds of thousands die of obesity related illness. So why not attack obesity the same as we attack anorexia? This is a health issue not one of appearance as some try to make it. The reality is people gain weight by consuming more calories than they burn. Either eat less (using a well balanced diet) or exercise more, or BOTH.

    It is absurd some people try to make this into some kind of political issue acting like people should not point out the dangers of this unhealthy lifestyle. We point out the dangers of smoking, anorexia, drinking too much, etc. Why shouldnt we point out the dangerous lifestyles that lead to obesity?

28. Miss Curly
    January 16th, 2009 at 11:28 am

    Well, I just drank a whole bottle of olive oil and now I'm gonna smoke my cigs and eat my supersized fries GUILT FREE! Oh, and some cake too, and then some chocolate to go with my drink!

29. PaulVI
    January 16th, 2009 at 2:48 pm

    Obesity *is* an *independent* risk factor for other unhealthy conditions like high BP and coronary artery disease. I can agree that there are 'fat' people who are healthier than some 'skinny' people (however you want to define these terms), but I won't agree that this is universally, categorically true.

    I'll go with the Mayo Clinic on this one. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/obesity/DS00314/DSECTION=complication s

30. LisaL
    January 17th, 2009 at 12:16 am

    Just another crap "research" to get people's hopes up.
    Almost every research, as others have pointed out, will tell you that you can not lose weight in only a specific area, spot reduce whatever you want to call it.
    You exercise, eat right, and the fat burns off everywhere. It may seem to reduce quicker in areas you have the most, such as belly, or thighs or wherever, but there's nothing out there to prove that you can lose fat in a specific area by doing something special.
    As for the saggy skin, it just depends on the person I think and how much they had to lose and how quickly they lost it.
    Some people won't have any saggy skin while others will b/c they've lost that elasticity in their skin. Diabetes caused my brother to lose about 70lbs in a very short amount of time. The only place he has saggy skin is his belly. It was sorta bad at first, but as the years went by, it's slowly tightened back up. It's still a little saggy but not bad.

31. Noelegy
    January 17th, 2009 at 11:20 pm

    I thought it had been known and understood for some time now that there are two kinds of fat: subcutaneous and visceral. The visceral fat that accumulates around the internal organs is beneath the muscle and pushes out, that is why you will see guys with enormous guts that feel hard to the touch, not bowl-full-of-jelly jiggly. Visceral fat, along with a hereditary tendency to carry your weight in "apple" fashion around the waist, is linked with type 2 diabetes. Anecdotal though it may be, I'm only 20 lbs over what I should weigh for my height, but that and a family history of diabetes, plus the familial tendency to carry weight around the waist rather than below it (it's healthier to have a big butt than a big waist) resulted in getting diagnosed with type 2 diabetes 4 years ago.

    It seems to me like all of the advice in the article was good, sound, healthy stuff for losing weight, period. But the two kinds of weight thing is a valid fact, sorry. Fat IS fat, but it affects your health in different ways according to where it accumulates. So guess who's been avoiding white sugar, white flour, and has exercised *nearly* every day of the new year?

    *just keep swimming, just keep swimming*

32. Kawiee
    January 21st, 2009 at 7:01 am

    Xayser forget about bacon. How about human!

    http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=biodiesel-from -human-fat-illegal-no-2008-12-29

33. Rich
    February 9th, 2009 at 10:16 am

    Hi there! I came across your site and I actually have a couple myself in a related area that I am working on.

    http://losingbellyfatguide.com

    I am contacting you to see if you want to do a link exchange/blogroll with me. As you know linking to related sites increases traffic to your site. If you are interested, please let me know what anchor text and url you'd like me to use, and I can put your link up right away. Thanks, Rich

    You can contact me at richardblack@kramnet.se

34. How to lose belly without pills
    March 19th, 2009 at 2:14 am

    I like this one too

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