Too little sleep —or too much of it—can throw your stress and regulatory hormones out of whack, which may lead to weight gain. A single night of sleep deprivation can increase levels of ghrelin, a hormone that promotes hunger, making you more likely to overeat the next day, according to a study in the journal Obesity.

Reduced sleep may also lead to fatigue during the day and less physical activity, which may be another reason why people who don't get enough sleep on a regular tend to gain weight.

If you're dehydrated , it can be hard to tell if you're hungry or just thirsty. If you're craving a midday snack, have a glass of water and wait a few minutes before reassessing your hunger level.

Water also helps food move through your digestive system, lessening feelings of bloating. It's a good idea to keep a water bottle with you throughout the day—and use it. Add cucumber slices and mint sprigs or fresh fruit to your water to infuse flavor. Have you ever decided to skip a meal to cut back on your daily calorie count?

Despite saving a few calories in the moment, this strategy almost always backfires. When you skip meals , you'll begin to experience excessive hunger that can lead to craving less nutritious foods—and lots of them. You may also eat faster than you normally do after skipping a meal, which may cause you to miss the warning signs that you're full and make you more likely to overeat.

Eating too fast can also add air to your stomach, resulting in bloating, so slow down and chew your food well. Unfortunately, there's no fast fix for belly fat. However, there are certain things you can do to help speed up the process.

Mindful lifestyle changes and a commitment to changing your eating and exercise habits over time are your best bet. With a little patience and perseverance, you'll be well on your way to a healthier you. Use limited data to select advertising. Create profiles for personalised advertising.

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List of Partners vendors. Special Diets Weight Loss Quick Weight-Loss. By Kristina LaRue, RD, CSSD. Reviewed by Dietitian Novella Lui is a registered dietitian and a nutrition and health writer.

Reviewed by Dietitian Novella Lui, RD, M. EatingWell's Editorial Guidelines. In This Article View All. In This Article. What Is Belly Fat, and Is It Dangerous? What to Eat to Lose Belly Fat.

Exercises to Reduce Belly Fat. Lifestyle Changes to Reduce Belly Fat. The Bottom Line. Foods to Lose Belly Fat. Healthy High-Protein Lunch Ideas for Work. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Related Articles. Newsletter Sign Up. You may accept or manage your choices by clicking below, including your right to object where legitimate interest is used, or at any time in the privacy policy page.

These choices will be signaled to our partners and will not affect browsing data. Weight loss—and sustainable weight loss in particular—is usually a process that takes time, says Jessica Cording, R. But there are some things you can do to speed up the process.

Accept that your behaviors will adjust. For example, when out at happy hour with friends, you may lose track of how much you're eating or drinking. The most basic approach to weight loss is burning more calories than you consume.

For instance, since 3, calories equals one pound of fat, a weight loss app —or even just a pen and paper—can help you decide how many calories you need to cut from your diet or burn at the gym in order to meet your goals.

This online tool asks you to you enter in information about your current weight and activity level, along with what your weight loss goals are and how much time you want to spend reaching them.

From there, it will give you an estimated amount of calories you should strive to eat each day. Eat more fiber. Instead, eat more fibrous foods like whole grain breads, oats, vegetables, fruits, beans, legumes, and chia seeds. A study from the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that for those who have a hard time following a strict diet, simplifying the weight loss approach by just increasing fiber intake can still lead to weight loss.

Women should aim for at least 25 grams of fiber per day based on a 2,calorie diet, according to the most recent U.

Dietary Guidelines. Start with our high-fiber diet plan. Walk every day. One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to lose weight is that they try to do too much too soon and get burnt out. An easy way to approach it: Commit to going for a quick, minute walk after dinner, and slowly increase the time as you become more comfortable with daily movement.

Begin strength training. To get started, lift weights at least two days per week and work up from there, says Gagliardi. Embrace healthy fats.

If you want to lose fat, you have to eat fat the healthy kind, that is. Adding healthy fats, in the form of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, can help you feel more satisfied with your meals.

Yasi Ansari , M. Load up on protein. This helps them grow bigger and stronger, nudging out body fat in the process. As a general rule of thumb, aim to get at least 70 grams of protein throughout the day, says Dr. This is especially important before you exercise.

The result? You eat more calories than you burn and end up with excess belly fat. To avoid feeling hungry after a workout, eat a snack with at least 12 grams of protein before exercising , says Dr. Then, eat a protein-rich snack that also includes some carbs, like a protein bar with whole grains.

Okay, now you can do some crunches. Aim to do ab work three or four times a week on non-consecutive days with at least 24 hours of rest in between sessions, says Gagliardi. During those sessions, you can start with simpler moves like crunches, bicycle crunches, and planks.

Even though you may only be directly targeting your abs three or four times a week, you should still be activating your core aka, tightening your ab muscles in every workout you do, says Gagliardi. There are tons of different ab workouts you can do right in your home. Try to limit your stress.

Stress can mess with every part of your body —but how you deal with it can make or break your weight loss goals. The truth is, eating food to make yourself feel better is usually a whole lot easier than actually facing the stress head-on. Stress-eating can only lead to one thing: growing your belly rather than whittling it.

Find a way to remedy the solution or talk through it with a therapist rather than turning to a bag of Doritos. Prioritize quality sleep. Case in point: One review and meta-analysis from the U. found that people who slept 5.

On top of that, they preferred to munch on fatty foods full of empty calories, like chips. Although it will vary from person to person on how much sleep you actually need to be most effective and therefore make progress toward your weight loss goals , the ideal number is typically seven or eight hours, says Dr.

Drink less alcohol. To lose weight, you simply have to consume fewer calories—but that can be tough when feelings of hunger start creeping in. One good plan of attack? This includes all sugary drinks, like soda, but alcohol is a big one.

Ansari says alcohol can prevent weight loss in several ways, including the fact that heavy alcohol intake can stimulate food intake.

And many strength training exercises engage the core, which will help strengthen the abdominal area and increase muscle tone in the midsection.

Try one of these strength routines for exercises that will build muscle and work the core:. Finally, target your core by incorporating exercises that tone and strengthen the abdominal muscles.

Remember: The abs are the one muscle group you can train every single day! As a Pilates instructor, I recommend starting every ab routine with a pelvic tilt. This exercise helps you get in tune with your core. Plus, tightening the core and engaging the deep abdominal muscles helps to flatten and tone the midsection.

I also recommend choosing ab workouts like mountain climbers that work the entire body, not just the abdominals. Stephanie Mansour is a contributing health and fitness writer for TODAY.

She is a certified personal trainer, yoga and Pilates instructor and weight-loss coach for women. Join her complimentary health and weight-loss challenge and follow her for daily inspiration on Instagram and in her new app. IE 11 is not supported.

For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. But if you're thinking about trying to lose abdominal fat, consider these expert tips first. And, of course, speak with a healthcare provider before adopting any of these practices.

Essentially, abdominal fat takes two major forms: subcutaneous fat the visible kind just below the skin and visceral fat the kind embedded deep within your abdomen that wraps around the organs clustered there.

Though the first kind of fat is easier to see, the latter kind generally poses a greater health risk because of where it sits in the body.

With fat, it's all about location, and each fat "depot" has a highly specialized function. Fat, like muscle, is now known to be metabolically active. It produces dozens of chemicals, including hormones that signal to the brain that someone is hungry or satisfied.

In other words, fat releases hormones that vary depending on where it's located. For example, research suggests that the hormones produced by fat in the thighs may provide a health benefit. Visceral fat, on the other hand, is known to produce inflammatory agents that can, over time, increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and breast and colorectal cancers.

These 15 foods might help combat that inflammation. First things first, know that you can't strategically lose weight around just your abdomen or any part of the body for that matter , and there aren't any magic foods that help you lose abdominal fat specifically, Natalie Rizzo, M.

Instead, focus on simply losing weight overall. One study linked following a calorie-restricted diet for 16 weeks to a reduction in body weight and subcutaneous and intra-abdominal fat, but calories aren't everything.

So if tracking your calorie intake isn't your jam, consider trying these strategies to achieve your goals. When you sip on water or any fluid, for that matter , your stomach expands, and specific neurons that detect stretching in the organ tell your brain that you're full , Jennifer McDaniel, M.

Consequently, when you drink water before a meal, you could experience fullness cues sooner, she says. In turn, you may not consume as much during your meal, which may contribute to overall weight loss. Eating small portions of healthy snacks throughout the day can keep you from becoming hangry and help you potentially lose weight, and in turn, abdominal fat.

Munching on healthy snacks may help curb your appetite, which can prevent overeating at the next meal, as well as provide you with essential nutrients to keep your body functioning properly, according to the Harvard School of Public Health.

Noshing on fiber can help increase your metabolic rate. Research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that women who substituted high-fiber grains for refined grains had a higher resting metabolic rate, which means they burned more calories throughout the day.

Try incorporating fiber-rich foods and snacks into your diet to score that benefit and then some. Along with tweaking your diet, switching up your exercise routine could help you reach your health goals and lose abdominal fat.

Consider these tips when planning out your workout program. In addition to providing mental health benefits , walking can do your physical health some good—including strengthening your joints and muscles. Plus, a small study found that folks who walked three times a week for 50 to 70 minutes for 12 weeks experienced significant reductions in both subcutaneous and visceral fat.

Don't have that much time available all at once? According to fitness experts, bouts of exercise as short as 1 minute each can still be beneficial. Just make sure to hit the recommended 30 minutes of physical activity daily. After you've finished a high-intensity interval training aka HIIT workout, your body will continue to use calories, thanks to excess post-exercise oxygen consumption , or EPOC.

With a little detective work, you can discover the root cause of your belly fat. Not only does belly fat prevent you from looking and feeling your best, but it can also contribute to heart issues, diabetes and depression.

Belly fat is persistent for many reasons. Examining the physiology that makes you prone to extra padding around the waist can lead you to have a happier, healthier body.

Some of it is subcutaneous under the skin fat that behaves like other fat in your body. Visceral fat packs itself in deeply around the internal organs and can end up causing dysfunction. The cells of visceral fat are larger than regular fat cells and are filled with excess triglycerides that funnel free fatty acids directly into the liver.

Visceral fat can also build up in the pancreas, heart and other vital organs that are not meant to store fat. This is problematic because it can contribute to insulin resistance, blood sugar imbalance, high cholesterol and more.

It is stealthy as it accumulates, and can cause challenging health issues in women regardless of their weight or size. Research shows that four common physiologic causes are linked to stubborn belly fat.

All are imbalances that result in extra padding around the belly — though for good reason. Once your specific physiologic block is removed, your body will able to release the extra weight. Insulin resistance. High-carb diets that include moderate-to-high amounts of sugar and alcohol can overtime cause your cells to become resistant to insulin.

This means that the excess sugar you consume gets quickly converted to fat. If your diet stays the same, this temporary fat storage becomes more permanent, leading to abdominal obesity.

Adrenal imbalance. When your stress level is chronically high, you may find that belly fat increases as well. Even in young girls, both kinds of belly fat — subcutaneous and visceral — increase as a result of negative personal or family events.

Belly fat accumulation is linked to elevated cortisol levels, which can also cause elevated blood sugar. Lower levels of estrogen and progesterone around menopause often force your body to shift fat storage to your belly menopause belly.

As estrogen drops, it stirs up proteins that cause fat cells to store even more fat. To make this extra fat problem even worse, these cellular shifts also slow down the fat-burning process. Estrogen dominance. Estrogen levels can be strongly influenced by hormones and antibiotics in conventionally raised meats, dairy products, poisonous chemicals and hormone disruptors in the environment.

These estrogenic effects can dramatically disrupt metabolism. Shedding belly fat can improve your confidence and help you feel better physically.

But even more important, losing belly fat can reduce your risk for many serious health issues. Begin by implementing a couple of these ideas to start losing your belly fat and see how you do for a month or so.