12 (cool) tricks to help lose belly fat
1. Exercise in Bursts
Awesome news: Turns out that marathoning for an hour on the treadmill isn't only boring as hell, but it doesn't even really give you that great of a workout. Experts say that if you're trying flatten your abs, one of the most effective methods is actually interval training, which means incorporating short bursts of high-intensity burnouts into whatever you're doing, whether that's running, squats, whatever. And bonus—it'll keep you burning calories for up to 16 hours post-exercise. Um, we'll take it.
2. Stretch, Then Crunch
The most common mistake you're probably making when doing abwork is jumping in without limbering up, which causes you to do most of the work with your hips and back. See, your core muscles are harder to activate when the areas surrounding it are still tense. Try this: Before doing a single crunch, put a foam roller in the center of your back at the edge of your shoulder blades and stretch back over the roller, arms up. Repeat until the middle part of your back, which tends to get pulled the most during improper abwork, feels loose.
3. Dip Into the Olive Oil
Yeah, it sounds a little weird, but hear us out. Experts say that certain compounds in olive oil stimulate a hormone in your stomach that signals to your brain that it's full. Thus, it curbs your appetite so your body doesn't feel quite as hungry. You probably don't want to shoot it straight up, so try dipping some multi-grain bread into about a tablespoon of the stuff 15 minutes before a meal. Quirky, but it should keep you from overeating and packing on unnecessary lbs.
4. Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate
We get that the last thing you want to do when you're feeling puffy is to chug water, but experts say that it's critical to regulating your metabolic rate (and consequently, your body's fat-burning mechanisms). Drinking your recommended eight glasses of H2O daily will help your body run more efficiently, making your workouts and healthy eating efforts way more effective. Plus, the more water you drink, the more excess you'll flush out, so you wind up actually de-bloating as a result. Win-win.
5. Nix That Before-Bed Snack
You know not to crush half a pizza before jumping in bed…but even munching on something healthy-ish at night can throw off your calorie-burning momentum. Ideally, while you're sleeping you want your body to burn its current fat storages (read: that pesky middle-jiggle) for fuel as opposed to whatever you ate as a midnight snack. Make sure to fill up at dinner every night, and then banish yourself from the kitchen at least two hours before bed.
6. Chill Out
One of the top belly-fat-building offenders is stress—and not just because that bad day at work can make you feel like demolishing a pint of Cherry Garcia.
When your body senses that you're overwhelmed, it automatically starts producing cortisol
