Those who have gone round and round on the weight loss carousel understand the bitterness and disappointment of stepping onto the scale after a long and hard struggle only to find the needle creeping back up.
Most of those who lose weight will gain it all back and maybe even a little extra. Before you give up hope of ever permanently losing your belly fat, think about how you lost the weight.
Too often, fad diets offer short term weight loss results caused by water loss rather than fat loss. Most diets require a strict regimen that leads to initial results but quick burnout.
Restricting calories and whole food groups is not a permanent solution to weight loss, so it’s no surprise that willpower can quickly wane and old eating habits can creep back in.
The best way to lose belly fat and keep it off is to gradually move to a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.
Develop Good Habits
Check out
our section on habits to learn how to replace poor habits with positive ones.
The key is to pace yourself, reforming one bad habit at a time and giving yourself enough time to fully adopt the new positive habit before moving on to the next change.
Ignore diet fads and just try to eat healthier
There is no magic formula for the perfect diet, but there are good foods to eat more of and bad foods to try and avoid as much as possible.
Read the articles in our fitness and nutrition section to learn about basic rules of thumb that will help you know which are the right foods and which are the bad ones.
Hint: good foods usually come from the ground directly to your plate (with some soap and water in between). Bad foods are usually hidden beneath fried crusts, icing, whipped cream or bright boxes with happy cartoon characters on the front.
Move, move and keep moving
If this advice sounds familiar, it’s because you read it in our fitness and nutrition section. To keep off belly fat, you’ve got to continue burning more calories than you consume.
The best way to burn calories is to exercise every day or at least several times a week. A mix of cardio and strength training exercises usually yields the best results.
Following these simple principles will help you lose belly fat and body fat the right way – through lifestyle change. Once you develop the correct habits, keeping off the weight should be simple. Just continue to do what you’re doing and reap the rewards of your hard work – no fad diets necessary!
