What should I do to remove my belly fat?

Question

I saw this question and it is exactly what I am asking. However, there is one issue with me I want to explain.

I am only 137 pound. Kind of skinny for a 24 years old guy. But, its been 4-5 years since I have a small belly in my stomach and side fat around it. I tried to get rid of it since the time it starts appearing but, all the sports I tried (erobics, sit-up, 5 min walk and 2 min running (5X)) didn't work for me.

From what I read, it is impossible to do spot reduction (i.e trying to avoid a fat from specific part of your body). On the question I mentioned, one of the answers explained to reduce the fat through·out the body, which in turn will eliminate the belly fat as well. The problem is, I am not that fat to remove fat from other part of my body and I believe if I do some kind of sport that will turn the belly fat in to 4-6 pack I would be very happy. Nutrition is also one of his recommendations. But I think my diet is not that good either.

Based on my situation, what should I do? I will be commited to do all the sacrifice to get rid of this nasty little belly, even if it takes a year or more to get the final result but, I hope I will see gradual changes once in a while.

Answer 1

The problem is, I am not that fat to remove fat from other part of my body

Don't worry about that. Your body knows itself better than you do, and it is very good at what it does. If it needs to burn fat for energy, it won't deprive an area of essential fats when it could go across the street to an area with an abundance of fat. That's probably a bad analogy, but regardless: don't worry about where your body will take the fat from. If you get on a proper cardio/diet routine, eventually the fat from the belly will come off.

I tried to get rid of it since the time it starts appearing but, all the sports I tried (erobics, sit-up, 5 min walk and 2 min running (5X)) didn't work for me.

There are a couple reasons why these wouldn't work, and they all boil down to one word: diet. To quote the linked question, " Losing weight is as simple as burning more calories than you consume. The easiest way to reduce your caloric intake is to eat healthier foods." Now, there is nothing in "unhealthy food" that magically makes you fat; that is a pure myth. The weight loss comes from the fact that when you eat healthier, it becomes harder for you to overeat.

Consider a big mac and an apple. A big mac clocks in at about 600 calories, while an apple is closer to 100. After eating a big mac, I am usually still very hungry, and could easily finish a drink and fries... after which my meal has come closer to 1000 calories. But what happens if I were to eat 600 calories worth of apples? I don't think I could even eat 6 apples at once, but I'm sure if I did I would be full! Now, this is a basic example (obviously you wouldn't want to eat 6 apples as your meal) but it helps prove the point how eating healthy helps your diet: on a per-calorie basis, healthy foods are simply more fulfilling than highly processed foods.

In summary, you'll need to really work out a diet and cardio plan based off your current fitness levels, your desired goals (set a target BF% or weight), and how many calories you need to eat each day (make sure to factor in the cardio!).

Answer 2

In addition to eating well, I'd recommend intermittent fasting. That's a great way to control your fat cause you train your body to use fat reserves instead of sugar in your blood for fuel. There are tons of articles you can read all over the web and probably a lot of Q's in here too on intermittent fasting. I tend to just feel better head to toe too when doing intermittent fasting so that's another benefit after you get acclimated to the eating schedule.

Answer 3

If you have belly, chances are that you have a high bodyfat percentage, when you don't weigh much and have a high bf%, people call that being skinnyfat.

If you're 137 pounds, you don't really have a lot of fat to lose, it's more of an all around lack of muscle to balance everything than a big excess of fat, what you need to do to lose appearance of a belly is to lower your bf% by adding muscle while not gaining (or even losing some) fat.

To do that, you need to do stimulate your muscles with strength training and to have your diet in check.

For the diet, you can track calories with something MyFitnessPal, but IMO it's not that necessary and you should be alright by just keeping the alcohol to a minimum and eating lots of a veggies everyday

For the strength training, you have lots of options, by example you can join a gym and do a begginer program like Phrak's GreySkull LP variant or do a bodyweight routine like the r/bodyweightfitness Recommended Routine at home