As we age, figuring out how to lose belly fat for men is important — not just for aesthetics but our overall health as well.
It sucks to have a belly that hangs over your pants.
You hate it, you want it gone, and it's damn hard to get rid of.
But fear not, brother!
We've put together five steps that will show you how to lose belly fat — regardless of your age, shape, or level of fitness.
These five tips will teach you the exact habits you need to learn how to lose belly fat — starting this week!
You'll soon understand what is needed to shed inches from your waist, increase your energy, and avoid or reverse health problems.
Below are 5 tried, true, and tested tips on how to lose belly fat. No fads, no gimmicks — just straight up, easy to use advice!
Learn how to lose belly fat forever with these research-proven strategies!
5 Ways To Lose Belly Fat
1. Practice Good Nutrition — The No. 1 Key to Losing Belly Fat
Reducing belly fat is basically down to consuming fewer calories than you burn OR burning more calories than you consume each day.
One of the biggest misconceptions most guys have is that the latter is the way to go — that exercising long and hard will get rid of the dreaded belly.
Believe it or not, prioritizing exercise is the wrong approach.
It's substantially easier to consume fewer calories than you burn.
You can’t out-exercise a bad diet
It doesn’t matter how much exercise you do, if you're consuming more calories than you are burning, you will not lose body fat.
The average 1-hour spin class will burn around 600 calories, BUT a Burger King Whopper will set you back 677 calories and two slices of Domino's Pepperoni Pizza 618 calories.
The bottom line is, exercise alone simply isn't enough!
To lose belly fat, you need to get started on a proper eating plan.
To make it easy for you, start with this 1-Day Fat Loss Meal Plan For Men.
It will teach you exactly what to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and it shows you how to lose belly fat!
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2. Take Inventory of Your Starting Statistics
You wouldn't try and run a business without tracking sales, revenue, and expenses would you?
Losing belly fat is no different.
Knowing your key “tracking stats” will give you your current starting point for your weight loss journey.
It will also let you track results as the weeks go on to prove to yourself that you're making progress.
How To Track Your Stats
- Weigh Yourself Consistently: Even if losing fat (not weight) is your No. 1 goal, you should still weigh yourself at least every three days. It will give you a great indication of whether your diet and exercise plan is working for you. Most belly fat loss transformations go hand-in-hand with a reduction in weight. If the scale is not dropping, something needs to change.
- Estimate Your Body Fat Percentage: This is the amount of lean tissue vs. fat you have on your body. If you weigh 250 lbs and have body fat of 25%, you will have 62.5 lbs of fat and 187 lbs of lean tissue (muscle, bones, organs, etc). Your body composition is directly related to how many calories you burn at rest, so knowing this will indicate what your daily calorie intake should be. Check out our free calorie calculator tool for help.
- Take Measurements: These can be as few or as many as you would like to take. At a minimum, measure your chest (at nipple level), waist (at navel level), upper arm (midpoint between shoulder and elbow), and upper leg (midpoint between hip and kneecap). That will give you a good starting point to track progress.
- Track Your Water Intake: As you'll learn, drinking water is incredibly important for fat loss. This should include 1 liter to be drunk within 30 minutes of waking up. Knowing where you currently fall on this scale is very helpful, so you can track progress as you increase water consumption where necessary.
- Rate Your Energy Levels: Simply, on a scale of 1-10, how much energy do you feel you have at this point in time? Belly fat is correlated with your energy level. More fat typically equates to less energy. Tracking this number is another useful indicator of your progress.
- Assess Your Hours of Quality Sleep: Again, a simple one. How many hours of sleep do you currently get and what is your sleep quality? Belly fat loss necessitates a minimum of 7 hours of sleep.
- Assess Your Hours of Physical Activity Each Week: This will indicate how active you are currently and what happens to your other stats when you increase your activity levels.
- Take Front and Side Torso Pictures: As your body changes little by little, it can be easy to miss what is happening by just checking in the mirror. Having photographs taken 2-4 weeks apart is a great way to see how fat is dropping and muscle is increasing or becoming more visible.
Take the Time Now to Reap the Rewards Later
This all may seem like a lot … and it is.
The “secret” about tracking these things right off the bat is that it PROVES to you that you're serious about making this body transformation.
Yes, these data points will help you track your progress.
More importantly, though, taking the time to do these starting measurements will set up massive momentum for your future success.
If losing belly fat is an area of your life you seriously want to improve, you have to take the necessary steps and put in the work.
3. Exercise Short and Smart, Not Long and Hard
Yes, it's true that you can’t out-exercise a bad diet!
But that doesn’t mean exercise should not be part of your weight loss plan!
However, don’t follow the tradition of long, boring, slow-paced workouts that keep you in the “fat-burning” zone.
Get in, get done, and get out!
Metabolic Resistance Training (MRT) is perfect for what you need.
This type of training is completed by working out at high-intensity intervals followed by short rest intervals.
These intervals are then repeated in that pattern for the entire SHORT workout.
A sample MRT workout can look something like this:
- 1-minute BURST high-effort exercise (lifting, biking hard, running, etc).
- 1-minute RECOVERY exercise (core exercises, biking less hard, jogging).
- Repeat the 1-min BURST, 1-min recovery structure for 10-15 cycles.
These short BURST workouts are proven to burn more calories than their long, aerobic-based counterparts.
Even better, by mixing MRT workouts with HIIT bodyweight workouts, you will see even faster results.
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4. Drink 2.5-3 Liters of Water Every Day
We mentioned this earlier, but it bears repeating — water is a huge aid to fat loss and you should make sure to drink 2.5-3 liters per day.
It ensures nutrients are passed around your body effectively and unneeded toxins are flushed out.
It also helps you to feel fuller and therefore less likely to snack.
Drink 0.5-1 liter (16-32 oz) of water within 30 minutes of waking up.
You've been dehydrated for 7-8 hours overnight, so water is exactly what your body needs!
Then, keep a 2-liter bottle of water with you during the day (in your work truck, on your desk, etc.) and make sure it's empty by the end of the day.
Having it within reach means you don’t need to go anywhere for water throughout the day.
Even if you're stuck in a chair all day, you can still stay hydrated.
Use whatever tricks or conveniences you can to ensure you get your intake up to optimum levels.
5. Practice Good Daily Habits
Want to lose belly fat? Focus on losing 1 pound at a time.
Each of those pounds will be lost through the daily habits that you're building in your life.
Taking on what you have read so far, your daily habits will include:
- Wake up and drink 16-32 oz water.
- Enjoy a low-carb breakfast
- Drink another 2 liters of water throughout the day (tea and coffee are fine)
- Focus on eating proteins and veggies for lunch and dinner.
- Do 20-minutes of exercise daily (preferably mixed MRT and HIIT workouts)
- Sleep a minimum of 6 hours (ideally 7.5+ hours)
- Journal any result changes or blips in energy and/or sleep.
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Can You Lose Fat From JUST Your Belly?
No, losing fat from only one area of your body is called spot reduction.
Sadly, it is one of the biggest myths in the fitness industry.
For years, infomercials have tried to sell people the ultimate ab cruncher that is guaranteed to give you a six-pack, the giant elastic band that will burn away arm fat, the springy hinged thing that will give you the thighs of a supermodel, or any other goofy thing you've seen online or on late-night TV.
All fallacies, false claims, and items like that should go straight into the garbage!
The only way to reduce fat is to burn it from your entire body with a healthy nutrition plan and efficient exercise regime.
Is Excess Belly Fat Dangerous to Your Health?
Yes, massively!
Excess belly fat has been researched and scientifically proven to cause numerous health problems, such as:
- An increased risk of cancer. Being overweight and having excess belly fat contributes to 1 in 20 cases of cancer in the UK. It has been proven to cause meningioma (a type of brain tumor), myeloma (a type of blood cancer), as well as thyroid, esophagus, liver, upper stomach, gallbladder, pancreas, kidney, and bowel cancer.
- An increased risk of MI (myocardial infarction) and CHD (coronary heart disease). The biggest contributor to this increased risk is visceral fat. This is the underlying belly fat that surrounds your internal organs. If you have a waist circumference larger than 40 inches, you are more likely to have a larger amount of visceral fat in your body. That puts you at high risk of suffering a heart attack, heart disease, or stroke.
- An increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Shockingly, a review of medical literature published by the University of Kentucky showed that people who are overweight are 90 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who are not! A massive 60% of all type 2 diabetes cases are caused by weight gain.
- An increased risk of Alzheimer’s. Along with some of those above, visceral fat is again the culprit here. A study involving more than 6,500 participants found that subjects with the largest bellies had a three times greater risk of dementia than those with smaller bellies.
- Decreased testosterone levels and libido. Abdominal fat is heavily linked with a decrease in healthy testosterone levels. This is due to an enzyme in fatty tissue called aromatase that actually breaks down testosterone. When you have low levels of testosterone, your libido will suffer and you also run the risk of erectile and sexual dysfunction.
There is GOOD NEWS though my friends … all of these health issues can be averted or reversed with good nutrition and exercise.
Following a proven plan will ensure that you minimize belly fat.
Doing so will reduce your chances of being in these high-risk categories.
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Can You Still Get a Six-Pack if You're Over 40?
Hell yeah!
A six-pack is the dream of many men and is 100% possible at any age with the consistent execution of the tips above.
It may not be easy, but getting a six-pack will be the ultimate by-product of making a habit of the tips we have highlighted in this blog.
If you can stick to these simple steps six days per week, your prayers will be answered.
A six-pack “happens” at around 10% overall body fat and will become more defined as you drop into single digits.
Achieving this will take discipline, but you can do it!
Having read our top tips on how to lose belly fat, you now know exactly what it takes to get into great shape, get healthy, live well, and be awesome!
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*Please know that weight loss results and health changes/improvements vary from individual to individual; you may not achieve similar results. Always consult with your doctor before making health decisions. This is not medical advice – simply very well-researched info on how to lose belly fat.
