Ask yourself – why do you have stomach fat? This question isn’t meant as a criticism, but is rather meant to get you to think about the lifestyle choices that you have made in the past.

Excess stomach fat is not an uncommon problem. It can be got rid off though, by focusing on two important issues: 1) Exercise 2) Eating habits.

Your stubborn belly fat can result from a lack of exercise. To find out if this is the case, ask yourself this question: are you currently working out for a minimum of 30 minutes a day, five days a week? Are you splitting your workouts between strength training and aerobic activity?

If your answer to the above is ‘no’, or if your activity level is so low that the idea of working out makes you break out in a cold sweat, then we need to address this problem.

Your eating habits are another obvious area to analyze. Do you consume more calories than your body needs to function? Consulting a basal metabolic rate chart is one way to determine this. If you find that you’re eating more calories than your body needs to function, add that to the list of considerations.

You may be suffering from a very low metabolic rate due to lack of proper nutrition. This can lead to some people being overweight even though they only eat one or meals per day. One of the chief reasons for this is that their bodies have become so used to not eating properly, it goes into starvation mode. When they do eat, their bodies act like hibernating bears and store as much as they can when they do get food.

If you find that you fit that profile, you’ll need to make some adjustments in your lifestyle. Other than a genetic abnormality, or thyroid problem, most people will fall into the area of lack of exercise combined with poor diet as their reason for gaining belly fat.

In order to burn stomach fat from your body, you’ll need a combination of an effective diet and exercise program. A combination of improving your metabolism, by eating small frequent meals, and daily aerobic and strength training workouts, will see you getting visible results quickly. If you strictly stick to your new program, within a week you should see a reduction in your belly fat.

Of course, it is easy to say than it is to do, but the best things in life always take some time and effort to achieve. The first few days will seem ok, then it will get really tough, but within a couple of weeks you’ll have gathered momentum and you will have adapted to your new lifestyle. So, stop making excuses, and start taking positive action to get the body shape that you’ve always dreamed of.