noblepaladin

Unfortunately, there is no quick fix for the tummy fat. The body stores fat to save energy for later use. Unfortunately, the most efficient place to store fat is at the waist. If fat were stored in the arms and feet, imagine how much energy would be wasted to reach out and grab something or to lift your foot to walk. Therefore, most of the fat deposits are sent to the tummy area. For women, large amounts of fat are also sent to the breasts and the hips for other purposes (breasts so it can be quickly converted to milk if the woman has a child, also larger breasts and a curvy figure makes a woman more attractive, making her more likely to mate and propagate this gene).

There have been a lot of studies that show that situps don't really help you lose abdominal fat. It strengthens and defines your abdominal muscles, so if you have low fat, the muscles will show up a bit, making you look better. If you just want a flat stomach, then luckily, you don't really need that much abdominal workout. Cardio is a very good way to lose fat. Run at a speed that will make you start to break a sweat, but not so fast that you will run out of breath and have to stop. The best time to run is in the morning before breakfast, since your body has used up most of the sugar and other energy sources in your blood overnight (the body always uses these energy sources first before fat, since it is much easier and faster). This way it forces the body to convert the fat into energy. Other good times to run are before meals. Exercise immediately after a meal is never good (you will end up throwing up), but even one or two hours after a meal, most of that stuff is still in your blood stream. You will use up your meal on your exercise and not remove any fat. Also, you may become hungry after exercise, running before a meal usually means you won't eat any unnecessary snacks.

Also, don't be too concerned over weight. Most people worry that they do not look good and that they would not be healthy if they are fat. Fat and weight are related, but not the same. Your weight will go up and down a lot (water weight will cause you to swing up or down 2 pounds, right after a meal you would be a pound heavier, go to the bathroom and you are a pound lighter, etc). People who worry too much about weight often diet heavily. Yes, their weight goes down, but they don't look that much better. Why? Their bone mass goes down and some of their muscles disappear along with some fat. You might lose 2 pounds of fat but also lose 1 pound of the important stuff! What you really care about is losing that fat.

Muscles are a lot more dense than fat. An effective way to lose that tummy fat is to do some weight training. Muscles use up a lot of calories, so having more muscles would mean you metabolize faster. If you are female, don't worry about getting big (I know some girls do). Guys work their *** off and they barely get any results, and guys have lots of testosterone (an anabolic steroid). Unless girls go on a massive body building routine, they are not going to become scary big. The point of doing weight training is to make sure that your current muscles do not atrophy. When you are trying to lose fat, you are doing lots of exercise and probably dieting a bit. The body's natural response is to lose some muscle to decrease metabolism, because it detects that you are running at a deficit. If you keep your current muscles, and you are exercising+dieting well, then the only thing that can disappear is the fat.

Losing that last bit of tummy fat has to be a long term goal though. When you do any dieting and/or exercise routine, the first fat to disappear are the tiny bits of fat in your arms, legs, thighs, etc. However, after commiting to a routine for a month or more, you there will be a point where your body must get rid of that tummy fat and then you will start to notice huge improvements.