Cardio Workouts

• Shedding body fat is very simple in principle, but difficult in practice. If you are able to burn more calories every day than you take in, you will lose weight over time. A regimen of cardiovascular activity will help accomplish that. Cardio workouts include exercises like running, cycling, swimming and rowing. Any exercise that raises the heart rate above 60% of the body's maximum heart rate (220 minus your age is a basic formula to calculate maximum heart rate) and that can be sustained for 30 minutes or longer is a good candidate for burning calories and losing belly fat. The best cardio exercise for burning belly fat will depend largely on preference. If find jogging difficult but enjoy cycling, that might be the best exercise for you; if you hate the feeling of being sweaty and hot, swimming might work best. Do whatever cardio exercise keeps you motivated and you can sustain for at least 30 minutes.
  
  

Intensity

• Cardio exercise is the best way to shed body fat, but that doesn't mean that doing some cardio exercise will necessarily lead to losing stomach fat. The number of calories you burn will depend largely upon the duration, intensity and frequency of your workouts. People are often advised to get at least 30 minutes of exercise three or four times a week to help lose weight. While this might be effective for someone who was previously sedentary, shedding belly fat often requires more intense and longer workouts. Your goal should be to eventually increase the total time spent doing cardio by increasing the length of your workouts or working out more than four days a week. If you have little time to spare, increasing the intensity of your 30-minute workouts by going faster or against more resistance can increase calorie burning.
  
  

Considerations

• TV commercials often advertise abdominal workout devices that claim to burn belly fat with minimal effort. These devices may increase the strength of your core, but they will not help you burn belly fat beyond the few calories using them will burn. Body fat does not melt away due to working the muscles directly beneath the fat; it is used up when the body requires extra energy. The muscles being worked have no impact on the area of the body fat to be burned. For many people, the body tends to burn fat in areas other than the stomach more quickly, which makes getting rid of stomach fat very difficult. Even very fit people with little fat anywhere often hold a reserve of fat around their belly.