by: Andrew Bicknell

There is nothing worse then slowly watching you belly get bigger and bigger and your clothes getting tighter and tighter until they no longer fit. Belly fat is the cash cow of the weight loss industry because every body’s health, fitness and attractiveness are judged by it. For many people that layer of belly fat sneaks up on them, growing slowly as the years pass, for others it can be a more sudden occurrence, but no matter how it got there it can become an obsession to get rid of it.

What’s the first thing everyone does when they want to get rid of belly fat? They jump on the diet bandwagon or the more motivated try an exercise program. They try and eat less and reduce their caloric intake and this may work for a little while, but the human body needs calories to function properly and sooner or later their cravings get the best of them and before they know it they have fallen off the diet bandwagon. Some people take it a step further and throw some sit-ups or crunches into the mix hoping they can spot reduce the fat that sits around their belly, but this too is doomed to failure.

If you want to know how to get rid of belly fat then you have to look at the whole body. It is impossible to lose fat in a particular spot. No amount of sit-ups or crunches will melt that layer of fat away. You’ll just end up with a set of rock hard abs that nobody will ever see behind their blanket of fat. You have to have body wide fat reduction if you ever want to get rid of that extra belly fat. This where an increase in metabolism comes into play.

The most misunderstood part of any weight loss routine is why metabolism is the most crucial factor when it comes to losing excess weight. The human body needs energy to produce the energy it needs to function properly. This energy comes from the calories contained in the foods we eat. This caloric energy is then metabolized by the body’s cells and either burned through the daily functions of the body or stored away as fat for future use. The thing to remember is that the body uses an outside energy source, calories from food, to create the energy the body needs everyday. During this process the body also uses energy to create more energy. While this is an over simplified definition of metabolism it is the most important thing to remember.

There are three things you will have to do to increase your metabolism and get rid of belly fat.

1. Diet � This has nothing to do with the latest diet fad. This has everything to do with the nutritional value of the food you eat. Your body is a high performance machine. It needs protein, carbohydrates, fiber, and vitamins and minerals to function properly. A lean healthy diet will allow your body to metabolize its fat stores more efficiently.

A proper diet is one of the most misunderstood ways to increase metabolism. The vast majority of people who go on �Diets� cut way back on their food intake and therefore greatly decrease the amount of calories they consume. What they don�t realize when they do this is that the body reacts to this decrease in calories by slowing its metabolism in order to conserve its energy stores, in this case fat storage.

It’s the type and amount of calories that are the culprit in most excess weight situations. By cutting calories the body isn’t getting the energy or nutrition it needs. The key is to eat complex carbohydrates such as are found in fruits, vegetables and whole grain breads. It takes more energy for the body to digest and process the calories and nutrients from healthy food then from the more processed and refined foods found on supermarket shelves today.

2. Core Strengthening Exercises – You must exercise and strengthen all your core muscles, not just your abs, if you want that firm toned midsection. It is also important that you weight train your major muscle groups including you legs and back. By exercising the largest muscle groups you will burn more calories then if you just focus on you abdominal muscles.

3. Cardio/Aerobic Training – The key to getting rid of fat is burning more calories than you take in. Aerobic training combined with the tips above does just that. If you want to get rid of belly fat then get up off the couch and go for a walk, take a bike ride, or play some hoops. Just be sure to enjoy whatever form of exercise you are doing and keep doing it.

Weight training and aerobic exercise increases the demand for more calories simply because the body is using more energy not only during the work out but also post work out.

Building a stronger cardiovascular system with aerobic exercise and adding lean muscle mass with weight training will go along ways towards an increase in metabolism. Not only does lean muscle require more calories, even at rest, it also helps to increase enzymes in your body that burn fat. Because of the need for a fit body to consume more calories to maintain its current condition there really is no better way to increase your metabolism then through exercise.

If you seriously want to get rid of that extra belly fat then you will need to increase your metabolism to help burn away those excess fat stores. With a little effort and motivation simply changing your diet and starting some form of exercise program is a great way to start losing those extra pounds.