The Skinny on Belly Fat Burn

As promised, I have gathered some info regarding the best and most recommended ways to burn belly fat. In this article, you will find links to the sites where I've found the information/advice. As with anything you read, always consider the source. I am in no way an expert or professional. I am just like you. A common average person with common average belly fat.

Now on to the skinny:

It seems that the 160 crunches I do at the start of my work out are all for naught; "...the amount of calories you spend doing exercises like crunches and sit-ups just isn’t enough to make much of a difference to the appearance of your waist and stomach.

Developing your abdominal muscles is relatively easy. The hard part is getting your body fat low enough so that you can see them." from Beat my Belly fat

The concensus seems to be that a workout that combines high intensity cardio with resistance training is your best bet to burn fat.

Here's an interesting snippet; "...  don't think that you only need to work on your abs. This is another grave misconception. The truth is that when you work all the larger muscle groups, adding more mass to your muscles, you rev up your metabolism to heights it has never before reached. Your muscles need extra calories to maintain themselves, so more of the food you eat will be feeding your muscles instead of your trouble spots. Your conditioned heart (from the cardiovascular stuff) is more effective at burning calories as well, so you have the golden combination there. As the fat comes off your body, it will come off your belly. Your body fat is like one organ, located throughout your body, and you can't take it off of just one spot unless you have liposuction done. The large muscles that you should concentrate on are (in this order):

1. Front and back of thighs
2. Buttocks
3. Back
4. Chest
5. Triceps and biceps
6. Calves
7. Hips
8. Forearms
9. Shoulders

Always work your abs at the end of your workout. There's a good reason for this. You are indirectly using them for all the other exercises you do.
The abs are important stabilizer muscles that keep your form in check. If you do abs first, you will tire them out, and your whole workout will be less than optimal. Work down from the largest to the smallest muscles."
from Body Building.com

So it seems I've been totally doing this wrong!! No problem, I am going to adjust my mis-informed routine and follow the advice I found. This same site also mentioned that the abdominal muscle called the transversus abdominis, "... located at your sides, below the obliques. Often called "lower abs", this is the muscle that women who are trying to lose the belly after pregnancy should concentrate on. Exercises that call for raising the legs instead of the upper body are very effective at strengthening the transversus."

This site also recommends walking, weight training and yoga to reduce belly fat and tone your abs.

I found loads of other sites and recommendations. What I chose to include here were ideas and suggestions that were most commonly found on all the sites I visited. What I chose to not include were recommendations from sites that were directly sponsored by a particular product or company.

Well, I'm gonna try these new ideas, and track my progress here. Hopefully by summer I will have some improvement to show you.

don't sweat the small stuff