Exercises To Lose Belly Fat Just Got Easier

A recent scientific article reveals that exercises to lose belly fat do not have to take as long as most people think they do. The study shows that exercise to lose weight requires half as much effort as previously accepted. Here are the details that you should consider.

What is the Required Level of Effort?

Exercising aerobically is considered to be the best of all the exercises to lose belly fat. Although aerobic exercise may the best exercise to lose weight, it is a bit controversial. The problem is that too much exercise is so strenuous that it leads to inflammation.

I have found a partial solution to exercise that is too strenuous and yet effective. Brisk walking fits the bill. The questions you might ask, though, are how often and how long?

Here is what you can expect from a brisk walk. During the first 15-20 minutes the stored sugar in muscle tissue, which is in the form of glycogen, is your main fuel. Beyond about 20 minutes, you begin to deplete circulating blood sugar (glucose) and free fatty acids. After about 40 minutes of brisk exercise, you start burning more of your stored liver glycogen and begin breaking down stored fats. A brisk walk of 60 minutes, therefore, gives puts you into a low level fat burning mode in the final 20 minutes. Brisk 1-hour fat burning walks are most effective for overall fat reduction when you do them at least 3-4 times per week.

Doing Half as Much Exercise

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have just published the results of a study showing the benefits of half an hour of exercise versus a full hour. Here are the reference data for this study:

Rosenkilde M, Auerbach PL, Reichkendler MH, Ploug T, Stallknecht BM, Sjdin A. Body fat loss and compensatory mechanisms in response to different doses of aerobic exercise - a randomized controlled trial in overweight sedentary males. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2012 Aug 1. [Epub ahead of print]

Sixty-one human subjects were grouped as follows: 1) the control group, who remained completely sedentary (no exercise); 2) the moderate exercise group, who exercised for 30 minutes per day, burning 300 kcal per session; and 3) the high exercise group, who exercised for 60 minutes per day burning 600 kcal per session). The study ran for 13 weeks.

The moderate and high exercise groups lost an equivalent amount of weight (7.4 lbs vs 6 lbs). Their differences were not significant statistically. Similarly, decreases in fat mass were also equivalent between the two treatment groups.

In the end, the important comparison is that the amount of energy expended during exercise did not correspond to different results in weight loss or body fat loss. Half as much exercise was just as beneficial as previously believed. This is a great result for those of us who do not want to or do not have the time to exercise for a full hour every day.

There it is. Now you know that you can get just as much out of a half hour of exercise as you can from a full hour. All you have to do is, well, exercise.

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