Lose Belly Fat
 Just Increase Metabolic Rate  

All forms of "dieting" that only call for reduced calories or just certain foods will only end up making you grow larger.

Most are only fads and instead of giving you the results you hoped for they leave you frustrated. Eventually you may give up on dieting and just accept that you are fat and that you have a fat belly.  But, you don't really accept it, you still hate yourself for the big fat belly.

The answer is a combination of ideas that combine healthy food and enough exercise to increase your metabolic rate.  Exercise is crucial as you must build muscle to more effectively burn calories.  The following are 7 tips to jump start your new faster metabolism.

1. Sleep well, live well. According to studies, people who just have 4 hours of sleep at night have slower metabolism than those who have 8-hour sleep. Add to the mix the fact that those 4 hours are usually filled with snacking and watching TV or playing on the computer. And add in the caffeine you are probably consuming and no wonder your body can't tell when it is time to rest and heal.

2. Sweat out a little in the evenings. There is recent research that tells us that our metabolism tends to slow down during late in the afternoon or at the end of the day. So, in order for you to burn more calories, it is wise to do some evening walks and other exercise forms that would allow you to sweat it out and burn calories. You want to avoid any work out at least 2 hours before bed time.

3. Do not be a lump - move more. As you move more, you burn more calories. Instead of driving to a near place, walk. If you gradually but consistently make minor lifestyle changes of moving your body, it will not seem so difficult. Get in the habit of always parking as far away from a store as possible. Push your own grocery cart and load your own groceries in the car. Then when you get home, you have to unload the car and put things away.  All this movement is burning calories and boosting your metabolic rate.

4. Eat more lean proteins. Diet studies show that protein intake stabilizes the amount of insulin in the bloodstream. Although we all think of protein and meat in the same bite, protein is available in vegetables such as mushrooms and beans and the all important egg.

5. Skipping meals is a stop sign to your metabolism. It is that regular intake of food that convinces your mind and your body that you are not starving.  If your first meal of the day is lunch -- that could be a 12- 16 hour period of starvation. Your at rest metabolic rate will not change until you put some food in your stomach to tell your body time to work.  I know that some people complain that they eat breakfast and are then hungry all day.  Explanation:  You have been starving your body by not eating breakfast.  Your body and mind are convinced that you must eat whenever possible to store fat because a famine is in place.  Suffer through for 2 weeks and one day you will realize you are no longer always hungry. One thing that helps during this transition is to drink lots of fluids such as tea or water.

6. Sweat from exercise. Exercise increases metabolism because you are building muscle and muscle burns calories 70% better than fat. Sweating also releases toxins from your body.  You replace the fluids with clear clean water and that helps all the body parts to function more efficiently and that is health.

7. Most of all increase muscle. I heard the phrase lean muscle and I tried to picture fat muscle.  Just could not see it. Muscle is lean tissue.  Fat is fat tissue.  Never the two will mix. A few push-ups and squats daily are a big help. Work on core muscles, those are the ones in the torso.  They support all the internal organs not just your belly you are trying to erase. For those of you tied to a desk with no time before or after work, still easy.  Every two hours, get up and run in place as fast as you can.  At first you may not even be able to manage a minute but keep at it until you get 2 or 3 minutes. Oh don't forget to breath.  What a rush.

 ©Answers For Your Health.com

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Answers For Your Health.com/Shrink Belly Fat is edited and published by Sharon Owen.  Plain language answers to your health questions.  Want more solid information on Getting Rid of Belly Fat Check out Shrink Belly Fat at Answers For Your Health.