Belly fat poses a number of dangerous health risks. Unfortunately, the belly is one of the most susceptible areas where fat begins to accumulate as soon as you begin to gain weight.

A study that was published by The New England Journal of Medicine found that a large waist size actually doubles your risk of dying prematurely – even if your body mass index shows that you have a normal weight.

Needless to say obesity and belly fat go hand in hand. It has been found that one-third of Americans are considered obese – a seriously condition that rises your chance of contracting various heart diseases, stroke, or even cancer.

Belly fat presents the greatest risk to your body because it is stored within the abdominal cavity and then wraps around and sometimes even invades, the important internal organs, like the heart. Belly fat secrets a harmful and inflammatory substance that can contribute to various health problems. It is often known to damage blood vessel linings.

Though belly fat is truly dangerous, hard belly fat, or beer belly as it is more popularly called, is much more dangerous. This is because; hard belly fat has high levels of C-reactive protein, which is a high risk factor for heart diseases.

In addition, it is also believed that alcohol slows down the fat metabolism by more than 30%. The empty calories of beer only go on to add to the harmful effect of belly fat.

Also, if you have more belly fat than fat on your hips, your cells mostly become resistant to insulin, which puts you at high risk for blood pressure, heart attacks, diabetes and other reasons for premature death.

Excess fat in your belly means that you will also have excess fat in the liver and this interferes with the function of removing insulin from bloodstream. This excess insulin will then acts on your brain and make you eat more and may also cause heart attack.

Some of the other risks from belly fat

It has also been found that men and women who have higher percentages of fat are more likely to develop various kinds of cancers, including colon, kidney and breast cancer. The risk of dementia also increases with the increase of belly fat.

The high secretion of lung-damaging inflammatory chemicals from excess belly fat also gives rise to a number of lung problems. Diabetes and migraines are some of the other risks that arise from excess belly fat.

How much is not too much?

In women a waist size of less than 35 inches is ok, while in men, a size of 40 inches or less is ok. Each inch of increase in your waist size, puts your heath risk.

If you are on a weight loss and exercise plan, make sure it targets your belly too.

Firstly, you need to realize belly fat goes further then just vanity issues. Belly fat is dangerous to your health! Belly fat is responsible for many short and long term diseases.

So, as motivation, keep in mind the dangers belly fat is causing to your health!

1. Ok, the first place to start would be reducing any unnecessary calories you don’t need. Cut out that extra can of soda or candy?

Reduce you calories in steps like 50 calories a day. This makes it a lot easier then a dramatic decrease in calories because you don’t notice it as much.

However, you should never reduce more then 500 calories a day from your diet. This could begin to have negative effects on you.

Also, make sure you include exercises, if you don’t have access to a gym you could do bodyweight workouts at home.

You could do a routine like this:

• Push ups
• Mountain climber
• Burpees
• Bodyweight Squats
• Tuck Jump
• Side Jumps
• 3x Ab Specific Exercises

Make sure to keep the intensity high, and this should take you about 20-30 min, and should help you burn between 200- 500 calories depending on intensity.

This workout is for both men and women, not only will it help flatten your abs, but also tone the rest of your body. The key to visible abs is low body fat.

2. Thou shall not underestimate protein. All lot of people think protein is for bodybuilders, therefore ignore it and don’t realize the actual fat loss benefits it has too.

The body finds it hard to digest amino acids found in protein, therefore the body requires a lot of energy to digest protein. Resulting in more calories been burn.

Protein is also vital for maintaining muscle tissue. What most people don’t realize is muscle tissue is responsible for speeding up your metabolism and burning fat.

If you don’t consume enough protein this will lead to a negative nitrogen balance, your muscle will begin to weaken, and this will cause your metabolism to slow down, and your body will begin to store fat easily.

Protein in take varies from person to person, there are may factors to consider such as age, gender and level of activeness.

I can’t give you a specific figure for protein intake. But you could consult with a nutritionist, doctor or you can use this protein intake calculator

Try to eat protein foods such as

• Skinless chicken breast
• Lean cuts of red meat
• Skinless turkey breast
• Salmon/tuna/fish of all types
• Low fat cottage cheese
• Whey protein powder
• Egg whites
• Skim milk

3. Know your carbohydrates. Not all carbohydrates are bad, try avoiding processed carbohydrates (known as simple carbs) such as white bread, cakes, most baked goods, soda and so on.

These types of carbohydrates contain empty calories with little or no nutritional-value. Eat too may of types of empty calorie carbohydrates and seen enough your body will quickly store them as fat.

Good carbohydrates known as complex carbs) are vital, because they are close to their natural state, and supply your body with many vitamins and minerals. Good carbohydrates are also high in fiber which helps you keep fuller for longer and naturally stimulates metabolism which promotes fat loss.

Good carbohydrates are foods such as:

• Oatmeal
• Brown rice
• Brown Pasta
• Wholemeal breads
• Wholegrain cereals
• Yams
• Beans
• Lentils

4. Not all fats are created equal! There are some goods fats out there that actually help with fat loss.

The healthy fats are – olive oil, nuts (excepting cashews), avocadoes, foods rich in omega 3 fatty acids (like sea fish etc.).

Healthy fats increase the amount of Essential Fatty acids (EFA) in your body and this increases your metabolic rate. Which in return, helps you burn more calories.

Conclusion

Getting flat sexy abs is all about low body fat, a lot of people think they can target just their belly in order to attain flat abs. but the key is to lose overall body fat and you belly will come along for the ride too.

Dangerously belly fat is linked with cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

The fat that you cannot see or grab poses the maximum health risks, because the ‘visceral’ fat cells produce hormones and other substances that affect your health.

Having a flat stomach is something everyone desires, but there is no ‘magic formula’ that can reduce the fat from your belly with a zap.

A proper diet and healthy living is what you need to reduce the fat around the waistline.

Here are some simple yet effective tips that might help you melt away some of that belly fat.

Manage stress: According to researches, when you are stressed the body creates several hormones which can increase the abdominal fat stores. Your body will continually pump these hormones into your bloodstream, if you have chronically high stress levels this will increase your chances of storing belly fat.

Best thing you can do when stressed is some anti- stress techniques. This will differ for most people, but it could be things like… deep-breathing, yoga, exercise or anything that is beneficial to your health that calms you down.

Regular exercise: If you religiously exercise 3-4 times per week, you can certainly achieve a flat belly. In fact, nothing reduces belly fat like regular exercise. Try speed walking, jogging, hiking outdoor and biking to burn the fat, you can even engage in playing your favorite outdoor sport. Aerobics are also good for reducing fat. If you feel refreshed after workout, it shows the exercise is helping you to lose body fat.

Proper food habit: A healthy food habit is very important in not gathering the extra fat around your waistline. However, there are not many people consuming healthy fats, especially the vital omega-3 fatty acids in their diets. These fatty acids decrease not only fat storing but increases fat-burning. It also helps in reducing the stress hormones in the body. Start eating omega-3-rich food items like fish and flax seeds or start intake of omega-3 supplements everyday.

Diet full of healthy fruits, vegetables, protein, fiber and whole grains will help you in reducing the belly fat, as these have low fats and sugar thereby promoting a lower calorie intake.

Start having small frequent meals that will help with portion control. It is generally recommended to eat four to six meals a day.

Thus, following the above tips regularly will help you to lose belly fat soon.

Increasing your metabolism will greatly benefit you, not only will your body burn calories at a much higher rate, but even when your not that active you’ll still be burning some calories.

If your metabolism is currently running at snail speed, here are 7 tips to help you turn your metabolism in to a super fast Ferrari.

1. You’ve probably heard this a million times ‘breakfast is the most important meal of the day’. Well… if you want to speed up your metabolism you can’t afford to miss breakfast!

Breakfast gives your metabolism that vital boost to start working faster. All you need is a 250-calorie snack to give it that boost.

Now, I know some people struggle too, or don’t like eating at breakfast, but if you really want to speed up your metabolism you’ll have to find creative ways to consume something.

I personally hate eating at breakfast, but what I do now is… blend some oats so their ultra fine, add some protein powder, milk and water, blend it all together and drink. Takes 4 minutes to make and consume.

Even a protein shake would be fine, just find something to consume to kick start your metabolism.

2. Kiwi fruits are something you really want in your diet, why? Well… it’s because Kiwis contain lots of vitamin C, and if you consume 500 mg, whilst exercising your burn 39% more fat!

Pretty cool, don’t you think? But remember, more isn’t necessary better, too much can have bad effects on your health.

3. This may surprise a few of you, but did you know that spices help speed up your metabolism? Also, according to the U.S. Agricultural Research Service, Cinnamon is one spice in particular that greatly speeds up your metabolism and burns calories.

You don’t need to consume too much Cinnamon, ¼ – 1 tsp a day is more then enough.

4. Here’s cool little tip, did you know that drinking ice cold water helps speed up your metabolism and helps you burn more calories then drinking normal cold water?

Here’s what happens… ice cold water makes your body work harder because it has to heat up the water whilst in your stomach.

And because your body’s working harder to heat up the water, its burning more calories!

So, try to drink as much ice cold water as you can or add ice cubes to your water to help speed up your metabolism.

5. Green tea is also another great metabolism booster. Green tea it is a thermogenic agent, and what this means is it helps speed up you metabolism above and beyond what you’d normally burn.

6. Natural Yogurt – next time you feel like desert after your meal, try eating plain natural yogurt with some strawberries or berries.

These reason why natural yogurt help speed up your metabolism is because of the high levels of protein found in it. Protein requires a lot of energy to be broken down and processed.

7. This next tip will really help you boost your metabolism, instead of eating 2-3 large meals, split it in to smaller portions, try to eat every 2-3 hours if possible or split it in to 6 smaller meals.

The reason why little and often is better is because it tells the body you are getting energy so it doesn’t need to store any calories as back up energy. And of course it’s this storing of calories which usually turns in to fat.

So to sum it up – frequent smaller meals tells you body not to store any unnecessary calories as back up energy (later turned in to fat) because it knows more food (energy) is coming in a few hours.

So what it needs to do is burn what you’ve just consumed quickly (your metabolism needs to speed up) to make room for the next meal that’s about to come in a few hours.

Conclusion

Remember that boosting your metabolism is a series of things, no one thing on its own will have a big impact on boosting your metabolism.

So, fit this tips in to your life style, and soon enough you should start to see a noticeable difference.

However, with a bit of dedication and persistence it’s easily achievable.

For long lasting results the key is to be patient! If you follow one of the many quick fixes out there, you’re setting yourself up to fail.

Some people may get desired results, but it won’t last for long because they have not spent the time on creating solid foundations for long lasting results.

Below are some tips to help you create foundations for long lasting results…

Your Food Habits

Yes, if you are serious about having sexy flat abs or a six pack, you’ll need to keep a close eye on your food habits. Firstly, don’t consume more calories then you can burn.

Remember, the more unnecessary calories you eat, the more weight you gain, and the first place that excess weight goes is around your stomach!

Secondly, keep an eye on where those calories are coming from. Calories from a KFC chicken breast are different to a home cooked chicken breast.

Avoid process foods and try to make sure your food is prepared from scratch with fresh notorious ingredients.

Avoid process carbs and stick to carbs that are in their natural state. Instead of 2 – 3 big meals a day spared it across 4-6 meals this helps speed up your metabolism and burn more excess fat.

Include high protein foods in your diet. Protein actually helps burn excess fat. Also, if your last meal is at night, make sure it’s a high protein meal. And never skip breakfast.

Exercise

Weight training is one of the best types of exercises for maintaining a high metabolic rate. Yes ladies this applies to you too, don’t worry it wont make you huge like bodybuilders.

You know those female fitness models with perfect body’s? They weight train too, because they know the fat burning benefits of weight training.

Did you know that weight training continues to burn fat up to 24 hours after you’ve finished your workout?

Your weight training should consist of compound lifts such as squats, bench presses, dead lifts, shoulder presses and so on.

Also, cardio should be done after your weight training sessions to help burn excess fat.

Don’t do too much cardio as this will start to eat in to the muscles. And it’s the muscles that continue to burn fat after your workout.

And finally the obvious, add some ab specific exercises to help build abdominal muscles.

Follow these tips and they should help you build solid foundations for long lasting eye popping abs.

What most people don’t realize is the actual danger abdominal fat causes to your health! In fact, did you know that scientific researches from all over the world has proven how damaging excess abdominal fat is to your health?

Did you know that excess abdominal fat is linked with cardiovascular disease, diabetes and even cancer. And that the deepest layer of belly fat actually poses the most risk to your health!

Types of abdominal fat you need to know about!

The two types of fat that you have in your abdominal area are subcutaneous fat and visceral fat.

Subcutaneous fat – This fat lays directly on top of your abs, if you pinch your belly now, the bit you’re holding is subcutaneous fat.

Visceral fat – This fat lays deeper in the abs and wraps it self around the major organs.

Although both of these fats posse a threat to health, science has regarded excessive visceral fat even more harmful because it releases more inflammatory molecules consistently into the body.

Visceral fat plays an important role in giving that ‘beer belly’ appearance where the abdomen pouts excessively as well as feels sort of hard if pushed.

These two types of fat increase the risk of developing heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea, stroke, different types or cancer and other degenerative diseases.

Tips to work on, to reduce your abdominal fat…

If you really care about the future of your health, then you must get rid of that extra ugly fat around your waistline in order to live a healthy life.

Proper diet – There are many ways in which you can eliminate the danger of excess abdominal fat and one of the most important and effective ways to reduce abdominal fat is to keep a close eye on your calorie intake.

Unless you put a limit on your calorie intake, you will not be able to lose fat from around your belly. A scientific study has proved that people eating whole grains with five servings of fruits, vegetables, three servings of low-fat diary and two servings of lean fish, meat or poultry lost more belly fat than those eating the same diet only with all refined grains.

Eating whole grains bring a change in the glucose and insulin response in the body and helps reduce belly fat and visceral fat from the body.

Exercises – Regular exercises will not only keep your weight in control but also will make you feel better. You will need to exercise 3-4 times a week. You can run on a treadmill, engage in some cardiovascular exercises like swimming, jogging and Aerobics.

De-stressing - Relaxing and de-stressing also helps in reducing that extra flab from your waistline. If you are stressed, the body will create several hormones which are pumped into your bloodstream. And these hormones play a part in increasing belly fat.

However, you will find that most people, who try to lose weight in this fashion, end up gaining more than the weight they lost within weeks of completing the course.

Crash diets are not only extremely unhealthy, but also ineffective.

So, if you want to lose belly fat and also gain an overall healthy and fit body, you will have to lose weight in a proper and healthy manner. Starving yourself to lose your belly fat is not an option.

So, it is important that you find a diet plan that suits your lifestyle and at the same time suits your taste. A diet that repulses you from the very beginning is never going to work for you.

You can search online for a plan that works for you. There are a number of recipes that can help you to eat healthy. You can make your food taste better by adding various spices and herbs to them. You can also choose alternate food types that can help you to reduce the calorie intake.

More meals through the day

That’s right! Eating a number of times through the day will help you to lose more weight. You can spread your meals 5-6 times a day, instead of 3-4 meals. This should not mean that you eat more quantity of food.

You should spread the same calorie intake through the day. This will help you to stay full through the day, which in turn will help you lose weight. The key is to avoid feeling hungry.

If you can make yourself feel full, your metabolic rate will not drop, and this in turn will help your body to burn more calories. So how does eating more help you and why? It has often been seen that when you try to lose belly fat by reducing the food intake, it has just the opposite of the desired effect.

This is because, your body assumes that you are starving and kicks itself into starvation mode – that is, it slows down its metabolism and begins to store as much calorie it can. This makes losing belly and body fat a truly uphill task.

Eating healthy and eating the right amount

Though it is true that having a number of meals through the day can aid you to lose weight, you cannot afford to have fast food. You will never lose weight if you have junk food filled with empty calories.

So you need to choose the right kind of healthy food – food that is rich in minerals and fiber and low in sugar. Food of this sort will help you to feel healthy and thereby help you to avoid overeating.

Apart from eating healthy, you should also eat the right amount of food. Too much of even a healthy dish can hinder your diet, and you may not lose weight that easily.

Finally, remember that you can lose your belly fat easily, as long as you stick to your healthy diet plan. However, if you slip up once, do not lose heart. Forgive yourself and continue with the diet plan.

If your struggling with your lower abs, you need to check out this exercise video by fitness trainer Vince DelMonte from YourSixPackQuest.com .

Vince will show you 3 killer exercises for lower abs that are grate for both men and women, and should help you on your way to killer lower abs.

Get Vinces FREE 16-Week Razor-Sharp Abdominal Cardio Workouts Click Here to Get Your FREE Copy

Don’t his abs just make you green with envy? Well… he’s worked hard to get them, so i guess he deserves them. Just goes to show you what you can archive with a bit dedication and persistence.  Here is a fantastic abs workout routine by Greg Plitt.

The four main abdominal muscles are:

• Transversus abdominus – the deepest muscle layer. Its main roles are to stabilise the trunk and maintain internal abdominal pressure.

• Rectus abdominus – slung between the ribs and the pubic bone at the front of the pelvis. This muscle has the characteristic bumps or bulges, when contracting, that are commonly called ‘the six pack’. The main function of the rectus abdominus is to move the body between the ribcage and the pelvis.

• External oblique muscles – these are on each side of the rectus abdominus. The external oblique muscles allow the trunk to twist, but to the opposite side of whichever external oblique is contracting. For example, the right external oblique contracts to turn the body to the left.

• Internal oblique muscles – these flank the rectus abdominus and are located just inside the hipbones. They operate in the opposite way to the external oblique muscles. For example, twisting the trunk to the left requires the left side internal oblique and the right side external oblique to contract together.