Let's start out by saying the title of this post is a lie. You cannot target fat loss in a specific region of the body. So anyone who wants to burn fat in just their belly and show abs, or just their thighs only, I'm sorry to say that's impossible without surgery. You'll have to accept that when you exercise, fat loss comes from all over your body.
Secondly, you cannot burn fat from your belly doing a million abdominal exercises. Abdominal exercises help build the muscle in your abs to get that six-pack, but it's still covered in layers of fat. There's a difference. You have to combine both strength training and Cardiovascular Exercise if you want a flat stomach and to lose weight. Remember Fat loss is 'Calories in - Calories burned' being negative.
There are two types of exercises: Anaerobic and Aerobic exercise.
Aerobic exercise is Cardio. This is the main contributor to fat loss. When I lost weight, I would run on the elliptical machine at the gym for 1.5 hours per day. I burned over 1000 calories each session. Remember, any exercise that gets your heart pumping and your heart rate up is considered cardio and can be used for fat loss. Here is a list of exercises for you to do if you don't have access to an elliptical machine:
Running/jogging around the neighborhood or track
Arc Trainer
Stairmaster
Treadmill
Sports: Tennis, Swimming, Soccer, Basketball, Raquetball
Martial arts
Just use your imagination. If it gets your heart rate up, it's cardio.
Anaerobic exercise is resistance training with weights. This can contribute to fat loss. How? By building muscle, you increase your metabolism (your daily calorie burn) because your body must burn more calories to sustain more muscle. This means you will have a higher negative net calorie intake daily.
Also, muscle can make you look less fat. When you burn fat, that leaves a void in your body. You need to fill that void with muscle! Also, the models you see on TV and magazine with that body you crave...they didn't get there by diet alone. They worked out with both Aerobic and Anaerobic exercise.
Personally I added 15 minutes of weight training along with my 1.5 hours of cardio everyday.
The best time to do Anaerobic training is before Aerobic training. Why? Because when you lift weights, your muscles need glycogen in order to lift the weights. If you did cardio before weightlifting, all that glycogen is burned out. That results in a less efficient weightlifting session. And, if you do weightlifting before cardio, you will have used up a lot of glycogen that it'll take less time for your body to switch to fat-burning mode when you do cardio.
So the best solution to weight loss is to combine weight lifting and cardio.
Remember to only exercise 5 days a week at most. Why? Because your muscles need to recover. You need break days so your muscles can grow and get stronger. So the best schedule of exercise to go on is 3 day, rest, 2 day, rest.
And remember to eat within the hour after you finish your workout. Why? Because after you finish working out, your muscles demand energy to replenish all they lost. If your body doesn't get that energy, it'll start feeding off the muscle you have. Yea, your body will literally eat itself.
I made that mistake of not eating after I did my cardio and I lost a lot of muscle mass along with fat. Now I'm paying the price because I am currently weightlifting to gain back all that lost strength.
I hope you enjoyed my posts. Please read them from earliest to latest post. That is the most effective way to learn how to lose weight and keep it off for good.
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