If you are finding it difficult to fit into your favorite jeans or the LBD you bought a year ago, it’s time to start doing exercises to reduce belly fat. Belly fat not only looks ugly and lowers our self esteem, it also screams just the opposite of ‘Good health’. So, for all the good reasons reducing belly fat is must. But, how to reduce belly fat? In this post, we will talk about some of the best and simple exercises to reduce belly fat. The bulged stomach area is enough to give us sleepless nights and I think you all would agree with me in this. After all, we all dream of having flat belly like the celebrities or the professional athletes have. If you are ready to fulfill your dream of having a fit body and flat belly, you need to make some serious lifestyle changes.
When you think about how to reduce belly fat, how to reduce tummy, the first thing that comes to our mind is exercises. There are various abdominal exercises to reduce belly fat. And we will talk about them later in the post. But exercises won’t do the job fully. Simply putting, reducing weight means less calorie intake and more calorie burning. Therefore, it becomes obvious to check what we are putting on our plate. Diet and exercise go hand in hand. And along with that, you need to make some simple yet very important lifestyle changes. You will find some tips on how to reduce belly fat in this post below. So, let’s get started. Before talking about the exercises for reducing belly fat, let’s find out some of the main reasons of gaining weight, or to be very specific, to gain belly fat. So, what causes belly fat? Find out below
Poor Metabolism
One of the main causes of belly fat is poor metabolism. Poor metabolism is often associated with aging. As we age, the normal metabolism rate of our body slows down which results in increased amount of fat deposit in our body. And these happen to women mostly. Many at times, you must have noticed that people who eat high-calorie foods every now and then, and still have flat stomach. The main reason for this is that they have higher metabolism rates than many of us.
Genetics
Genetics is another main culprit behind belly fat or weight gain in general. It has been proved that the number of fat cells that your body develops depends upon your genes. To put it simply, if your parents or grandparents suffered from excess belly fat or overweight problem, chances are high that you might have to suffer from the same. According to the health experts, there are mainly two types of body structure – apple shaped and pear shaped. If you have pear shaped body, then your body will gather fat at the lower parts, like buttocks. For apple shaped body, the fat tends to store in the middle section of the body, like around your belly. This means chances are more to suffer from belly fat in case you have apple shaped body. Therefore, it’s important that you start doing exercises to reduce belly fat.
Hormonal Changes in the Body
You must have heard that in comparison to men, women are more susceptible to gain weight. As a woman reaches her middle age, the ratio of body fat increases in proportion to her body weight. During menopause, the level of female hormone or estrogen hormone goes down and then, it can lead to fat accumulation around the waist area and thus, a bulged stomach becomes quite common. These type of hormonal changes control the fat accumulation in our body and thus, play a vital role in gaining weight. You need to perform exercises to reduce belly fat and stay in shape, specially during your mid-age.
Stress and Different Diseases
Stress is often the main factor behind excess amount of belly fat, as it increases the amount of cortisol hormone inside our body. Cortisol is a type of steroid hormone that regulates a number of processes inside our body, including metabolism. Certain diseases, like breast cancer, sleep apnea, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, hypertension etc can also result in fat accumulation around the belly area.
Poor Posture
Do you always slouch while sit on a chair? Then, chances are high that you might have to suffer from belly fat. Always sit straight to avoid fat accumulation around the belly area of the body.
Sedentary or Inactive Lifestyle
This is another vital reason of excess fat accumulation around the tummy. When you lead a sedentary lifestyle with almost no physical exercises and spend maximum time sitting in front of TV and computer, then you are going to gain weight in no time. And quite naturally, you will suffer from excess belly fat too.
Overeating is quite obvious when you lead a sedentary lifestyle. And with no exercises or very less physical activities, you are going to gain weight very easily. Therefore, if you are leading such an inactive life, make sure you start going to gym and perform exercises to reduce belly fat ASAP.
How to Measure Belly Fat
Now that we have looked into some of the reasons why we gain weight and suffer from fat accumulation around our tummy, lets find out how to measure belly fat.
- A measuring tape is all you need to measure your belly fat and find out if you have too much belly fat or not.
- Stand straight and place a measurement tape around the bare stomach, just above your hip bone.
- Make sure the measurement tape snugly fits you, it should never push into your skin.
- Don’t breathe in in an attempt to suck in your stomach.
- Simply relax and exhale. And measure your waist area.
- If you are a woman and your waist measurement is more than 35 inches, it indicates excess belly fat.
There is another way to measure tummy fat. It is known as waist-to-hip Ratio measurement.
- With a measuring tape, measure the widest or the broadest part of your hip area.
- Now, measure the smallest part of your waist area, which is normally above the belly button.
- Divide your waist measurement, by your hip measurement to find out your waist-to-hip ratio.
- According to WHO, if you are a woman and your waist-to-hip ratio is above 0.85, it indicates excess tummy fat. And if you are a man, waist-to-hip ratio of over 0.90 indicates too much abdominal fat.
- Since abdominal fat increases the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and other serious health problems, it is important that you start taking steps for reducing belly fat.
Simple Exercises to Reduce Belly Fat
The best way to lose belly fat is exercising. If you are serious about losing your bulging tummy, then you must perform the right exercises to reduce belly fat. And you must make it an everyday routine like you need to put in at least an hour of exercise daily or at least six days in a week to reduce tummy fat. Below you will find some fabulous fat burning abdominal exercises to reduce belly fat.
1. Crunches Exercise to Reduce Tummy
When it comes to exercises to reduce belly fat, there is no better exercise than crunches. Crunches are very helpful to burn stomach fat easily.
How to perform crunches exercise to reduce belly fat
- Lie flat on your back with your knees bent and keep your feet on the ground.
- Lift your hands and place them behind your head.
- Alternatively you can also keep your hands crossed on the chest.
- Take a deep breath and gently lift your upper body. While doing so, you need to exhale.
- Again inhale when you are bringing your body back to its original position.
- And then again exhale as you come up.
Now that you know how to perform crunch exercise to reduce tummy, do this 10 times at a stretch as a starter. Everyday you need to repeat 2-3 sets of crunches exercises to reduce belly fat.
2. Twist Crunches Exercise to Reduce Belly Fat
This is one of the best exercises to reduce belly fat. Once you are okay with doing basic crunch, you can start doing twist crunches which is another variant of crunch for more effective result.
How to perform twist crunches exercise to reduce belly fat
- Twist crunches are quite similar to basic crunches.
- Lie down on your back and put your hands behind your head.
- Now bend your knees in such a way that your feet do not touch the ground.
- Like regular crunch, here also you have to lift your upper torso.
- Lift your right shoulder towards your left. Make sure to keep your left torso on the ground.
- Alternatively, lift your left shoulder towards your right while keeping the right side of your torso on the ground.
This is all about how to reduce belly fat with twist crunches. Do this twist crunches exercises 10 times per set and repeat daily 2-3 sets of twist crunch exercise to reduce tummy.
3. Reverse Crunches Exercise to Reduce Tummy
If you are wondering how to reduce belly fat, then reverse crunches exercise can be your best solution. Once you are quite familiar with crunch and twist crunch, you should start doing reverse crunches exercise to reduce belly fat now. This is quite similar to the twist crunch exercise.
How to reduce belly fat by performing reverse crunches
- Lie on your back and raise your knees. Make sure your feet are on the ground.
- Keep your hands on either side of the body.
- Lift your feet off the ground and pull them near your stomach in such a way that your thighs are perpendicular to the ground.
- Now lift your back in such a way that your knees are bent towards your chest.
- Inhale when you put your feet and exhale when you lift your back and move your knees near your chest.
Reverse crunches is one of the best exercises to reduce belly fat.You should repeat reverse crunch for 10 times per day and do 2-3 sets of this exercise to reduce tummy.
4. Vertical Leg Crunches Exercises to Reduce Belly Fat
By now you must have noticed that losing belly fat involves a variety of crunch exercises. Here we will talk about vertical leg crunches which is considered as one of the best exercises to reduce belly fat.
How to perform vertical leg crunches exercise to reduce tummy
- Lie flat on your back and extend your legs upwards towards the ceiling.
- Make sure you cross one knee over the other.
- Now that you are in perfect position to perform vertical leg crunches, do what you have already done in other crunch exercises.
- Breath in as you lift your upper body and cross the knees. Then breath out.
- Breath in again as you slowly bring yourself down to the original position.
Vertical leg crunches, one of the best exercises to reduce belly fat should be done for 10-15 times for 2-3 sets.
5. Side Crunch Exercise to Reduce Tummy
Next on our list of best exercises to reduce belly fat is this one. Side crunch exercise is very much similar to twist crunch exercise. The only difference is that, as you lift your body, simultaneously you need to lift your opposite leg, like when you lift your left shoulder, you need to lift your right leg and vice versa.
Side crunch is very useful exercise to reduce belly fat. You need to repeat this 10-12 times on each side for 2 sets.
6. Bicycle Exercise to Reduce Belly Fat
Apart from crunches, one of the best exercises to reduce belly fat is the bicycle exercise. You can still perform this exercise even if you do not have a bicycle.
How to reduce tummy by performing bicycle exercise
- Lie flat on the floor and place both the hands behind your head.
- Lift both your legs off the ground and bend them at the knees.
- Bring your right knee near your chest while keeping your left leg away.
- Then bring your left knee close to your chest and keep your right leg away.
- This is simply like paddling a bicycle.
Bicycle exercise is very helpful for reducing fat around your belly. Repeat the exercises to reduce belly fat for 10-12 times on both sides for 2-3 sets.
7. Rolling Plank Exercises to Reduce Belly Fat
Rolling plank exercises are one of the most popular exercises to reduce belly fat. It is a great exercise that trains the body muscles around belly, hip and lower back.
How to reduce tummy by performing rolling plank exercise
- Position yourself on the ground in such a way so that your knees and elbows rest on the ground.
- Look forward in such a way that your neck is aligned with your spine.
- Lift the knees up so that you can support your legs on the toes.
- Now contract your knees and breath normally. This is the plank pose.
- Keep it like this for about 30 seconds.
- Now begin moving to and fro for about another 30 seconds.
You can also do rolling plank sideways exercise to reduce tummy. Lets check how to reduce tummy by performing rolling plank sideways.
- Lie down on the floor in a sideways position.
- Use your right elbow and right leg to support your body. Your elbow should be perpendicular to your shoulder.
- Place the left leg above your right leg. Keep your knees straight and lift your body in such a way that your hips are not touching the ground.
- Hold this for 30 seconds.
These rolling plank exercises are considered as one of the best exercises to reduce belly fat.
8. Lunge Twist Exercises to Reduce Belly Fat
If you are a beginner, lunge twist is one of the best exercises to reduce belly fat for you.
How to perform lunge twist exercise to reduce belly fat
- Stand on tour legs with your hip wide apart.
- Move your left foot forward and bend the left knee.
- Lift your hands, aligning them with the shoulders and make sure they are parallel to the ground and in front of you.
- Take a big step forward with your left leg and sit down as if you are sitting on a chair.
- Your knees would make a 90 degree angle with the floor. And your left leg should be positioned backwards and use your toes to support your legs.
- The upper body and the spine should be kept straight.
- Twist your torso to the right and then to the left.
- Repeat for 15 times.
Lunge twist is a great exercise to reduce tummy and it should be performed on both the legs.
9. Captain’s Chair Exercise to Reduce Tummy
Next on our list of best exercises to reduce belly fat is this one. Its one of the simple exercises to reduce belly fat.
Now check how to perform captain’s chair exercise to reduce belly fat
- You need a chair for this exercise.
- Sit on the chair while keeping your spine and shoulder straight.
- Keep both hands beside you with the palms facing downwards.
- Take a deep breath.
- Now as you exhale bring both of your legs upwards so that your knees come close to the chest.
- Do not bend forward and hold in this position for 5-10 seconds.
- Bring your legs back to the ground.
- Repeat the same process for 12-15 times.
Captain’s chair is one of those exercises to reduce belly fat that you can even perform at your office or home anytime.
10. The Stomach Vacuum Exercise to Reduce Belly Fat
After captain’s chair, this is one of the best exercises to reduce belly fat for the beginners. This exercise mainly concentrate on breathing.
How to perform the stomach vacuum exercise to reduce belly fat
- Position yourself on the ground on all fours as if you are supporting your body on knees and hands.
- Take a deep breath.
- Make sure your abdomen is loose at this stage.
- Breath out while holding your abdomen muscles tight.
- You need to stay like this for 15-30 seconds.
The stomach vacuum is one of the simplest exercises to reduce belly fat. You need to repeat the entire process for 2-3 sets.
11. Side By Side Bending Exercises to Reduce Belly Fat
When it comes to the best exercises to reduce belly fat, you cannot ignore this one. Its very helpful in reducing fat deposited in the stomach area.
How to do side by side exercises to reduce belly fat
- Stand straight with your feet together and hands on the sides.
- Now bend your body to your left side until you feel a strain on your right side.
- As you do so make sure your legs are on the ground and your right hand is on the right hip and your left hand is raised upwards.
- Hold in this for 15 seconds.
- Return to the original position and bend to the opposite side.
As this is one of the best exercises to reduce belly fat, you must perform this daily for reducing fat.
12. Boat Pose Exercises to Reduce Belly Fat
One of the best exercises to reduce belly fat is this boat pose.
Lets check out the steps below.
- Sit with your feet on the floor.
- Your knees should be bent and place your hands under your knees for support.
- Lift your chest while keeping your shoulders back and raise your lower legs with the help of your abdominal muscles.
- The lower legs should be parallel to the floor.
- Once this feels comfortable, start to straighten your legs and slowly stretch your arms forward.
- Hold this for 5-15 seconds.
As we already said it is one of the best exercises to reduce belly fat, so you must repeat this at least 5-6 times for reducing fat.
13. Swan Dive Exercises to Reduce Belly Fat
Next comes on our list of best exercises to reduce belly fat is swan dive.
Check out the steps below.
- Lie on your stomach and stretch your arms overhead.
- While your toes are pointed on the ground, lift your arms and legs about 6 inches.
- Imagine your legs being pulled back and away from your hips.
- Next circle your arms out to the sides behind you.
- Breath out and reach the arms towards the toes.
- Hold for 1 count and bring your arms back to the starting position.
One of most effective exercises to reduce belly fat, swan dive should be repeated 6-8 times.
14. Walking as one of the Exercises to Reduce Belly Fat
One of the simple cardio exercises to reduce belly fat is walking. In fact, walking is great for reducing fat from your entire body. Walking increases metabolism and high metabolism rate helps to burn calories faster and thus help to get rid of the fat including belly fat. That’s why walking is considered as one of the best exercises to reduce belly fat.
15. Running as one of the Exercises to Reduce Belly Fat
We are going to conclude our list of best exercises to reduce belly fat with running. Running is one of those exercises that you can do anywhere and you don’t even need an equipment. All you need is to go outside. At an average pace a person can burn up to 600 calories per hour. If you opt for more intense and faster pace, you can even burn up to 1000 calories per hour. No wonder running is considered as one of the best exercises to reduce belly fat.
Few Other Ways to Reduce Belly Fat
We have describes 15 best exercises that will help you reducing excess belly fat. But as we said before, exercises alone won’t do the job. You need to bring in certain changes in your lifestyle to get rid of excess abdominal fat.
Eat Plenty of Fiber
In your attempt to lose belly fat, try and consume fiber rich food. Some of the best sources of soluble fiber are flaxseeds, brussels sprouts, avocados, blackberries, legumes etc.
How to reduce belly fat with fiber
Soluble fiber promotes helps to reduce weight by making you feel full for a long period of time. When you feel full, you naturally eat less and thus, avoid gaining unwanted body weight. These type of fiber absorbs water and forms a gel which actually slows down the food as it passes through the digestive system. Soluble fiber is one of the best way to reduce belly fat, according to a study. It has proved that every 10 gm increase in soluble fiber intake has lead to decrease of belly fat by 3.7% over a period of 5 years.
Avoid Trans Fat
Avoid foods that contain trans fat. Its important to read the ingredients before buying any packaged food and stay away from foods that contain trans fat. They are often listed as ‘partially hydrogenated fat’ in certain packed foods. Some of the most common sources of trans fat are margarines and spreads.
Don’t Drink Too Much Alcohol
In case you are looking for lifestyle tips on how to reduce tummy fat, keep this in mind. Alcohol does have some health benefits, but according to researches, too much alcohol can result in excess abdominal fat. In a study which was conducted on more than 2000 people, it has been found that those who drank alcohol on daily basis, but averaged less than a drink per day had gained less belly fat than those who drank less frequently, but consumed more quantity on the days they had alcohol.
Therefore, it suggests that you don’t need to give up on alcohol altogether, but cutting down on the amount you drink every day surely helps.
High Protein Diet
Another very important tips on how to reduce tummy fat is to eat a high protein diet. Protein is actually a very important nutrient for overall weight control. Meat, fish, eggs, dairy, nuts etc are considered as high protein sources that you must include in your daily diet.
How to reduce belly fat with protein
High protein intake increases the release of Peptide YY Hormone, which controls appetite. According to experts, peptide YY plays a vital role in reducing food intake and thus, helping you to maintain a healthy weight. Peptide YY makes you feel full for a long time and prevents unnecessary eating. Protein also increases metabolism rate and protect the muscle mass during weight loss. So, make sure you follow a high protein diet along with doing all the exercises to reduce belly fat.
Reduce Stress Level
Stress, as we already said, is one of the main culprits behind fat accumulation Stress results in increased release of cortisole hormone. Cortisole hormone, according to health experts, increase appetite and lead to belly fat.
How to reduce belly fat by decreasing stress level
Do whatever you can to reduce your stress level. Engage in pleasurable activities, do something that takes away all your stress. Spend time with your family and friends, do some meditation, listen to music, practice yoga, practice deep breathing etc will help to bring down your stress level.
Cut Down on Carbs
Remember, its not ‘no-carb’, it should be ‘low carb’. Normally we intake 60% carb, 30% protein and 10% fat. For weight loss, all these nutrients are important, but we just have to change the ratio of them.
How to reduce tummy fat with low carb diet?
Along with performing certain exercises to reduce belly fat, it is very important that you keep a check at your daily diet. Make sure your diet has less than 50 grams of carbs to reduce belly fat. Replace refined carbs with unprocessed carbs, which will improve metabolic rate and reduce the weight including belly fat in your body.
Avoid Sugar-Sweetened Beverages
If you ask me how to reduce tummy fat, then I will suggest you to completely avoid sugar-sweetened beverages. These kind of beverages are loaded with liquid fractose, which actually can lead to gain weight as well as belly fat accumulation. Excess intake f sugary drinks can lead to increased fat accumulation in the liver, which is dangerous fr our health.
How to reduce belly fat by avoiding sugary drinks?
Sugar-sweetened beverages are worse than high sugar foods. Sugary drinks contain liquid fractose, and our brain cannot process liquid calorie like the way it does solid fat. As a result, you end up consuming too many calories afterwards and eventually, they store in our body as fat. If you are serious about losing belly fat, then completely avoid sugary beverages, such as soda, sweet tea, alcoholic beverages that contain sugar.
Good Sleep
We know getting a good, peaceful sleep is important for our health. But, not many of us are aware about that peaceful sleep is also important for reducing weight. According to studies, people who do not get enough sleep tend to gain more weight, which also include belly fat.
How to reduce belly fat by getting good sleep
Get at least 7 hours of sleep every night. According to a study, people who sleep less than 5 hours per night are more likely to gain weight than those who who sleep for at least 7 hours. Sleep apnea, a condition where breathing stops intermittently during the night while you sleep, also leads to belly fat accumulation.
Drink Green Tea
Green tea is extremely good for our health and did you know, drinking green tea is beneficial for losing weight as well.
How to reduce tummy fat with green tea
It contains caffeine and antioxidant catechin, both of these are very helpful to increase metabolism. Catechin is particularly very beneficial to lose belly fat, according to several studies. When you combine regular consumption of green tea with right exercise to lose belly fat, it boosts the effect. Apart from performing exercises to reduce belly fat, follow a healthy diet that includes green tea.
Drink Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple cider vinegar is extremely beneficial for our health. It helps to lower blood sugar level and reduce weight.
How to reduce tummy fat with ACV
Apple cider vinegar contains acetic acid which is very useful in reducing belly fat in our body. A study has shown that obese men who took 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar per day for 12 weeks was able to lose almost half inches from their waistline.
This was a list of 15 of the best and simplest exercises to reduce belly fat. Combine these exercises with proper diet and some healthy changes in your lifestyle, you are sure to get result. But reducing fat is a time consuming process, so make sure you enjoy the entire process, specially the exercises to reduce belly fat
