Banishing Belly Fat!

Ask someone to name a body part that they'd like to see toned down and chances are the answer will be the abs.

Having a six-pack is a dream for most adults, but it doesn't have to be.

There's no secret formula to losing the fat covering your ab muscles but the good news is that when a person loses weight, the first place they shed it from is the belly.

According to research done at the Mayo Clinic, 99% of people who lose weight will lose it in the abdominal region before anywhere else, and will lose proportionately more weight from the upper body.

This is because visceral fat, the deep fat covering your abdominal muscles, is more metabolically active and easier to lose than subcutaneous fat which lies under your skin.

So how do you begin losing that fat? Well, most trainers and fitness competitors agree that getting a flat stomach is at least 80% diet. Eating clean is almost a prerequisite for a six-pack.
According to a recent study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, whole grains can help you lose belly fat.

Study participants who ate whole grains in addition to five servings of fruits and vegetables, three servings of low-fat dairy, and two servings of lean meat, fish or poultry) lost more weight from the abdominal region than another group who ate the same diet but replace whole grains with refined ones.

This is because eating whole grains changes the glucose and insulin response and makes it easier to mobilize fat stores.

What about all those crunches you've been doing? Well, while crunches won't flatten your belly, they will strengthen your abdominal muscles which will make them look tighter and thinner.

Having said that, you won't be able to see the muscles if they are covered in fat. So eat a proper diet and do regular bouts of cardio and weight training to drop fat. If you can keep your program regular, you may reach that six-pack goal sooner than you ever thought!