Many people long to have a flat stomach again. Or maybe they can’t remember ever having a flat stomach because they grew up overweight. For as long as they can remember, they’ve “had a gut”.
Now, they’ve decided to do something about their weight and their physical condition. They want to lose weight, get healthy and have a flat stomach. So where do they start? Let’s talk about it!
Most people set out on a search to find the best way to get a flat stomach, but they don’t really know truth from fiction, so they either get confused or fall for gimmicky diets or exercise equipment that promises to help them get that “sexy six pack” they’ve been longing for.
Many people focus solely on exercise. They search high and low for exercises for a flat stomach or exercises to burn belly fat, but even when they find exercises that they think will help them, they try them for a while (usually only a short while) and then give up when they don’t see results.
The problem is that they’re going about it all wrong. I hate to break it to you, but there are no exercises that burn belly fat specifically. And there are no exercises for a flat stomach.
The truth is that you already have a flat stomach. It’s just covered up with fat. No gimmicky exercise machine in the world will give you a flat, sexy stomach if you have a layer of fat over it.
And you can do crunches until the cows come home, but it won’t give you a flat, hard stomach if you have belly fat. And you can search for months for exercises to burn belly fat, but you’ll never find any.
So, as I mentioned above, the truth about getting a flat stomach is that you already have one. It’s just hidden beneath your belly fat! If you get rid of the fat, your flat stomach will reveal itself to you!
Now, that might sound over-simplistic, but it’s the truth. Under your sagging, bulging belly, you have a flat stomach. It might not be in the best shape in the world when it comes to muscle tone, but it is flat, nonetheless.
The key to getting a flat stomach is fat loss. You need to burn fat from your body in order to lose the bulge and have a flat stomach again. But don’t fall for the myth that you can burn belly fat by itself. You have to burn fat from your entire body, and in doing so you will lose the fat covering your belly.
When we lose weight, our bodies will typically burn fat in the reverse order when compared to how we gained it. So the last places that we gained it will be the first places to lose it. And the first places where we gained it will be the last places to lose it.
Where we gained it first will typically depend on whether we are male or female. Guys tend to gain fat around their waist and mid-section first, and then it spreads from there, typically to the chest, arms, legs and face.
Women, on the other hand, typically gain it in their hips and butt areas first, and then it begins to show up in their mid-section, traveling on to their chest, arms, legs and face. It might not always be in that exact order, but you get the idea.
So when we start losing weight, it won’t automatically disappear from our belly area first. That’s typically around the middle of our total weight loss. And when we’re on that quest to lose weight and burn excess fat from our body, the most stubborn, last-to-go fat is usually around our belly area.
So in order to get that flat stomach you long for, it’s going to require a change in your eating habits. And I might as well be brutally honest and tell you that it will usually require (for most people) a drastic change in your diet.
Why is this so? Because many, many of the foods that we eat cause us to pack on excess belly fat, and body fat in general, at very high rates. This is because most of what we eat is really, really bad for us.
I know that sounds cliché, but it’s true and most of us don’t even know it until we want to lose weight and take a really hard look at what we put in our bodies on a daily basis. Let’s face it; we would not be overweight if we ate healthy foods and in healthy portions 😉
So there are a couple of key things that we need to do in order to burn fat and reveal our stomachs in all of their flat glory 🙂
First, we need to burn more calories than we take in. I know this seems like pure common sense, but you’d be surprised at how many people ignore that basic fact and spend all of their time, money and effort on gimmicks that are supposed to help them achieve results faster, and with little or no work.
Second, we need to eliminate foods from our diets that cause us to store fat. These are typically foods that are high in sugars and carbs. Think candy, soda, cupcakes, muffins, etc. Yep! All the “good stuff”.
As we start to get a handle on reducing our calorie intake, increasing our calorie burn and reducing/eliminating the foods that cause us to store fat, we will begin to see progress, lose those unwanted pounds, and before we know it, we will start to see our stomach flatten out!
Later on, in another post, I’ll discuss specific foods and types of foods to avoid when losing weight and burning fat. The list isn’t as long as you might think, once you understand the root cause of fat building up n your body.
In the meantime, do yourself a favor and get a handle on your portions, decreasing them to reasonable sizes. This one step alone will put you on the fast track to fat loss and a flatter stomach.
More to come…
Keeping it lean.
Curt
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