Losing The Dreaded Belly Fat

     If the need for losing belly fat is becoming an obsession, you may be wondering how you approach it in such a way as to actually succeed. How to lose belly fat for me is the one goal in my life I have never actually accomplished. To those that do not understand where I am coming from, you probably should not be reading this article as it is likely you have won the battle. However, for those of you that find losing belly fat a lifelong trauma; read on.

The key for me to losing belly fat or any other excess weight lies in four things:

1) Nutrition;
2) Exercise;
3) Motivation, and;
4) Patience.

If I am honest, I need to lose in the region of 112lbs to reach the top end of my 'healthy weight'. To me this seems like a mountain reaching into the heavens that of which I can never reach the summit. So how do you lose belly fat and still enjoy the foods you like to do?

The first step is to understand the relationship between calorie intake and weight. It is simple, for a man to survive not doing any exercise takes approximately 2200 calories. For a woman this figure is in the region of 1600 calories to maintain her weight. If you increase your exercise levels and keep your calories the same over a prolonged period excess fat will be lost and eventually you will reach your ideal weight. Reduce you calorie intake by 100-200 calories per day and your weight loss rate will increase.

Although I understand the principle and can put it into practice over a couple of weeks, even a month I eventually fail due to boredom with the same old routine and my relationship with food. As my mood varies so does my food intake, when experiencing a low mood I tend to reach for the chocolate and crisps. Where most people will have one packet of crisps or a chocolate bar I will have two or three. After which, I feel the same low mood only with a little guilt thrown in due to my gluttony. Now I am not writing this article just to tear myself apart, on the contrary, it is a way for me to assess why I have bouts of overeating and what triggers these episodes. I know I am not alone; millions of people out there suffer the same frustrating relationship with food. We love eating and eat to feel better only to feel guilty for eating.

I would be more pragmatic about our disorder; we simply have not trained ourselves in the methods to control the overeating. So spend one week writing down every time you feel the urge to over eat. If it results in an overeating episode, write down your thoughts on why you ate and MOVE ON to the next day. Every overeater, including myself, around the world needs to learn to forget the last day and live in the moment.

So in order to lose belly fat, it is essential you understand why you have cravings and put mechanisms in place to ensure these thoughts lead to a positive effect on your weight loss. Now my approach is this, every time I feel the need to overeat I put my shoes on and take the dog round the block. This has two effects, the dog burns excess energy and stops chewing my walls and I feel better without the guilt associated with over eating. So try it for one week or a month, substitute food with an activity and like me you will start to feel the benefits of a more active lifestyle and the belly fat will slowly start to reduce.

This leads me to points 3 and 4, motivation and patience. If you need to lose 100lbs it is going to take a lot of motivation and a great deal of patience as it is going to take up to two years to healthily lose the belly fat. In order to keep your motivation levels high I would recommend joining a club where there are groups of people who can help motivate you. If you cannot do this, make a video of yourself or take pictures and every time you feel your m motivation is lacking; take a look at the video or pictures and remind yourself where you came from and the probability of going back there if you fall off your personal weight loss program. So keep motivated but be realistic; do not expect a rapid change. It will take time and patience but your life WILL be transformed in the long run.

Copyright (c) 2009 Lakeland eBooks

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