Burn Belly Fat Faster

The short path to a trim tummy

By Selene Yeager , Selene Yeager is a contributing editor to Prevention.

A spare tire doesn't just make it harder to button your waistband--it can hurt your heart and boost risk of diabetes and cancer. But you can flatten it fast by speeding up your workouts.

In an 8-month Duke University study of 175 overweight 40- to 65-year-olds, two groups exercised and a third stayed sedentary. The couch potatoes' deep, organ-smothering abdominal fat spiked 8.6%. A group that did low-intensity workouts (such as walking at an easy pace) for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, kept their girth from growing--though they did gain 1 1/2 pounds. The real rewards came with higher-intensity workouts: In the same amount of time, the third group shrank their waistlines and belly fat by 7%--and they lost 6 pounds.

"All exercise helps prevent fat gain," says researcher William Kraus, MD. "But to lose abdominal fat, you have to work harder."

How hard? In the study, successful losers aimed for an effort of 6 to 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. That's what you muster for brisk walking uphill, jogging on flat terrain, or pedaling a bike about 12 MPH. Beginners should start with 10 to 15 minutes and slowly work their way up.

From Prevention.com