As Motley Health has grown over the last couple of years we have reported on various different ways to lose weight, get fit and reduce fat. Many people ask “how do I lose my gut?” and tell us “I want to reduce stomach fat!”. It can at times be difficult to determine which method is right for you, and it is often difficult to find the most relevant information and advice. So in this article we will provide a short synopsis of some of our most popular articles on weight loss and body toning. These fat trimming weight workouts will get you the results you desire if you put the effort in that is required!
1. How To Lose Belly Fat and Get a Flat Stomach
By far our most popular article has been “How to Lose Belly Fat“. This article simply provides five rules to follow, which should help most people lose fat, and is aimed at those looking to reduce fat on the stomach. The article does emphasis that exercise is key.
2. The Practical Way to Lose Fat
This article explains how our bodies are easily capable of losing fat, if the right conditions are met. Nutrition and muscle building exercises are the key components in this method. The final piece of advice is something that we have always tried to get across, simply that “you did not suddenly gain fat overnight. It was a gradual transition. So why should you expect losing the weight to be any faster? Take it slow.”
3. Fat Burning Cardio Workouts with Heart Rate Monitors
This article concerned with exercise and not diet, and is specifically about using a heart rate monitor to ensure that you work out in your fat burning zones. By monitoring heart rate while exercising, we can exercise more intelligently, and hopefully make greater gains from each session.
4. Interval Training Workouts For 20 Minutes A Day
This article really follows on from the previous one, in that it goes into more detail on how to use the principles of interval training to improve the quality of a workout, which will get you fitter quicker, and aid weight loss. Following a simple interval routine such as this will get your heart rate up and your blood flowing, and you will quickly improve your fitness and be rewarded with superior fitness.
5. Do you know your fats?
This article explains the roles of various different types of fat in our diet. Although you will not learn how to lose fat here, you will learn that fat actually comes in many forms, and most of them are essential to our health, so long as they are consumed in moderation.
6. Tips for Dieting Success
There is a vast array of diet plans available now, so much that people are more confused than ever about which “diet” they should follow. Here are some useful tips that can be used in any diet plan or in any sensible approach to eating. Remember, your “diet” is simply anything that you eat, and with some reading and research, you can devise your own plan that suits your taste as well as your needs.
7. Exercising after eating can increase weight loss
Recent research carried out by Surrey University and Imperial College London and published in the Journal of Endocrinology suggests that eating after exercising can help people to lose weight. Many schools of thought have said that exercise should be done on an empty stomach to help lose weight and reduce fat, but this may not be true.
8. The Atkins Diet – The Origin Of Low Carb Diets
Although we do not advocate commercial diets as such on MotleyHealth, we cannot ignore the Atkins diet theory and its role in weight loss. Reading up on the Atkins diet can help you to understand how the body reacts to different
types, and how fat can be accumulated, and lost. So the principles of the Atkins diet are relevant to any weight loss plan.
9. Twenty Minute Home Work Out
We have several different workouts on this site, but for those that have only 20 minutes a day, then this workout is a great introduction to circuit training and will help you to lose weight and get fit.
10. The 6 Pack Abs Guides – How to Get a Six Pack
The best ways of building a six pack are listed here. Includes yoga, Pilates, bodybuilding, weight training, crunching and burning!
Hopefully a review of these articles will help you to get started in devising your own weekly diet plan and exercise regime, to get the weight off.
Don’t forget, one of the best ways to stick to a plan is to keep an online diet and fitness dairy. Set yourself goals, and then update your diary as and when you achieve them, and when you have set backs. Also remember to stay focused, and to enjoy yourself.
I’m 24 years old. It is only my belly which troubles me but I want to lose a few inches without losing my weight. Please suggest a way to lose it in within a month.
Muskan, just cut the sugar and carbohydrate more, eat lean protein sources and low GI vegetables. Workout intensively 3 or 4 times per week. Sleep well.
I’m 43 years old. Over the last few years I have gained weight mostly around my mid section but mainly in my lower stomach.
Just in the last year alone I have put on 21 lbs.
I exercise daily. I do crunches and side leg lifts of an evening.
I walk on a regular basis but am limited on certain things due to my fibromyalgia. But I do try to walk at least 5 times a week at least 3 -5 miles. And some times the walk is on an incline.
My problem is eating.
I have cut back on my portion size and sweets and eating at night.
My thing is I don’t like the things that are good for me and I have to have my coke. But I have cut back one coke a day for right now and will try more and have replaced it with water. But then the water bloats me and I feel even fatter.
I’m 5’2″ and weigh 139
I can’t eat lettuce.
Don’t like tomatoes, carrots. Anything green I won’t touch.
Other than potatoes…which I know aren’t good for you….the only other veggie that I will eat is corn.
Fruits….I can tolerate a banana and maybe an apple once in awhile.
I’m not a fish eater either.
Tuna…I can eat it plain but have to have crackers with it.
Is there any hope for me???
Thanks!
Hi Maria, there is certainly hope for you! However, you really need to make an effort to change some things. You do not need your coke, you just crave is because you are addicted to sugar. If it is caffeine you need, drink a black coffee. You also need to be more realistic when it comes to eating vegetables. Learn to like them, I am sure you can. Try something different everyday and even if you do not like it much, eat a little more and then buy it again a week later. You will acquire the taste for a range of vegetables in time. The key is cutting sugar out of your diet and eating a well balanced diet. That does not have to include fish, lettuce, tomatoes or carrots if you do not want it to, there are so many other options available.
Keep up with as much walking as you can cope with. Water does not cause bloating. Stop the coke, drink an equal volume of water instead. You have to kick your sugar habit and learn to enjoy different foods if you are serious about losing weight. Good luck.
I am only 13 yrs old and 150. How can I lose the fat? I want to look good in a bikini but I don’t want to do boring cardio or aerobics. I want some tips to lose the fat in the next 4 weeks. plzz help
Hi Ashley. There are two vital aspects to losing weight – diet and exercise. Firstly you need to determine why you are overweight in the first place. It is very likely you are eating too much sugar. This can be sugar in the form of refined sugar (cakes, cookies, soda) and refined carbohydrates (breads, pastas, flour etc) and also high GI foods. You need to ensure that your energy intake (calories) is less than your expenditure (metabolism + exercise). So firstly, cut out sugar, eat mostly low to medium GI foods, stop drinking fruit juice (lots of fructose which is another type of sugar), soda and other artificial drinks.
For exercise, try dance, join a martial arts class, do circuit training workouts. Cardio does not need to be boring. If there is an outdoor bootcamp nearby that accepts children then speak to your parents about getting along there. The important thing is regular exercise. You should be able to manage 5 days per week quite comfortably at your age. It is not too late to take up a sport too, or even gymnastics. These will get you fit.
Results are purely a reflection of effort put in (just like everything else in life). Work hard, stay dedicated, then you will succeed.
Hello, Im a 37 year old female, wanted to know after I quit smoking (4months smoke Free) I picked up running, i go to the gym 5 days a week, weight training 5 days, as well as cardio, which ranges from Running to interval walking up hill (No hand rails) I have brought my diet to a low carb, no refined sugar diet. However i do have a sweet tooth, and went for more sugar free choices, if I indulge. I’m also taking 1000mcg of Green Tea extract, a day. Been doing this for 4 1/2 months, and maybe lost 4lbs? Did something happened to my metabolism, when I quit smoking?
Studies suggest that smoking suppresses appetite slight and also increases metabolism as a result of increased heart rate. Basically any stimulant can increase metabolism. However, the exercise and healthy diet should offset any reduction in metabolism caused by stopping smoking.
How are you doing? Are you losing weight? One suggestion is to improve the quality of your workouts and avoid over training. If you are weight training 5 days a week as well as running/cardio it is possible that those weight training session are not intensive enough. Consider increasing the intensity of your weight training but only do that 3 times a week. Lift heavier weights, do more big movements like the ones we list on the MCD weight loss plan. These exercises should be hard and leave you feeling exhausted.
Sounds like you are doing great though. Quitting smoking is probably the best thing you could have ever done for your health, so well done!
ever since i’ve put on weight, i’ve become very lazy. And because of which when i workout i get tired and then i don’t feel like working out again.
So, i’ve put on tons of weight.
I need to get slim again as it’s really embarrassing for me to be called a ‘fatso’.
And also i have got red stretch marks all over my body.
Please can anybody help me with both my problems..?
The only solution is to change your diet and start exercising. You have done well to recognise the cause – that you put on weight before stopping exercising. This should mean that you understand the importance of sorting the diet out first. Take a look at our Weight Loss Plan, try to follow the diet suggestions and exercises. Any questions, just ask.
Hello, my name’s Shane and I’m 23 years old, I’m 5’11″, and weigh roughly between 200-210 lbs. I’m not super fat, just out of shape and a bit of a gut and some slightly fat thighs but I’d like to be around 175-180 lbs so I can start toning my body some. Just a few years ago I was Honorably Discharged from the United States Marine Corps because of a training injury to my feet. Due to this, even walking has become a very difficult task sometimes and cardio via running has become impossible. I’m a gamer and I religiously play a lot of video games so I have become accustomed to being naturally lazy which isn’t good and I know this. I’m not a smoker and I don’t indulge into food. I do however like to drink soda and water but can easily cut out sodas. With a low income and living paycheck to paycheck, specific food is hard to just purchase because I just buy quantities of cheap and quick foods such as Hamburger Helpers and a lot of meat for cheap. For about a week now, I’ve been doing crunches before bed until it hurts then I go to sleep. I sometimes eat at night because I usually only eat once or twice a day and I stay up to late hours sometimes. I know I should avoid the late night cravings but I can’t sit comfortably if I ignore it. I would also like to take some form of martial arts since I was took mandatory MMA classes while I was in the U.S.M.C but funding is really low for anything of leisure like that. I’m also a full time student at a university online so I don’t have to leave as much and waste time commuting and it’s better for hours. I have a weight bench, a treadmill (but I can’t use it), and some free weights. Is there any alternative methods to getting my cardio up enough to start losing my stomach fat with what I got and current situations?
Hi Shane. Firstly, you have to sort the diet out. Get into the habit of planning your meals better and eating a healthy and balanced diet. Cheap food does not have to be unhealthy.
Can you swim? If there is a pool nearby this could provide you with the cardio workouts you need and your feet should be fine with that. Then use your weights bench to perform regular weight training. As an ex-military guy I am sure you know how to get on with the weight training, so the important thing for you is to make a schedule and stick to it. As for late night eating – make this the time you do some exercises. Your hunger will fade and you burn more calories. Do other bodyweight exercises too, not just crunches. Squats, lunges, calf raises, push ups and dips are all good and can be done at home.
It would certainly be good to find a martial arts class, MMA is good, as would be judo, jitsu or some “Southern kung-fu” styles (less high kicking, so easier on the feet).
I’m 36 years old, 5’10 and 213 lbs. I have always had a bit of a pot belly because i ate whatever I wanted, and drank beer about 4-5 nights a weeks. My weight stayed pretty constant for years. I quit smoking about 2 months ago and I gained about 15 lbs. I’ve stated running for 30 mins 5 days a week, I do between 50-100 pushups everyday, I’ve started eating very healthy, (low carb, high protein) and I’ve cut my beer consumption by over 50%. Should I see results or is more required?
You should see results Bob. See how it goes, keep working on the fitness, add new exercises to your routine, keep up with the healthy diet.
Hello, my name is Kerry. I am 26 years old and 5’4”. For most of my life I was slim but gained approximately 20lbs in recent times. I’ve been in the gym for the past 7 months. I am currently satisfied with my weight, which is now 110 lbs. My problem is- I’ve lost the weight everywhere else except my tummy. Given my current weight I can’t afford to lose even a pound more from any other area of my body. However, I really want to get rid of the fat on my tummy. I know that increasing cardio will only result in more weight loss in other areas. I’ve cut sugar, reduced my alcohol intake and (though I indulge occasionally in fast foods) for the most part I maintain a healthy diet of protein and vegetables. What else can I do?
Hi KerryM, as it really is not possible to spot reduce fat then you need to concentrate on full body workouts to increase total muscle mass slightly. This will help with your metabolism to burn more fat. Maybe with some additional toning they you will be happier with increased fat loss? It can be hard to get the balance right, just continue to focus on health and fitness though and hopefully you will eventually see the results you want. Obviously with winter coming it can get harder to stick to the diet and exercise plan, but do you best. I wish you good luck with it!