Advice for losing "belly fat"

This can be a real challenge. You should certainly consult your physician before making any lifestyle that cause you concern. But first, since everyone has a different body and background, so I'll address a few scenarios before getting to my recommendations.

For "non-athletes": If you not very athletic (would you be out of breath after running for five minutes) and by "belly fat" are referring to visceral fat (internal, pot belly fat, not the jiggly superficial kind), then I would tell you that a general diet and exercise program will solve your problem. Many people in this category think that 15 minutes on the elliptical trainer followed by a smoothie will result in some kind of progress. I recommend that you break up your 15 minutes in shorter blocks that are intense enough to preclude talking or reading, and then limit your dinner to 400 Calories, at least 100 of which are from protein. (depending on your size and since you aren't an endurance athlete, you probably want to shoot for 1600-2200 calories a day; PLEASE note that if you are losing more than a couple pounds a week, you are probably not eating enough!) Other notes: at your fitness level, forget about post-workout shakes, protein bars, creatine, and whatever else you read about in bodybuilder magazines. When you get to the point of considering yourself an "athlete", you can research on these and decide which, if any, of these is right for you.

Now for "athletes", the main advice. I assume that "belly fat" is the flabby, subcutaneous fat that seems to hang on even though you've been "training hard" and "eating right" - the stubborn, last few pounds.

Here are some things that are not the answer: (1) hundreds of crunches - these take up lots time, are not an efficient way to burn calories, and I assume that if you are reading this "athlete" section, you can already feel your rock-hard abs hiding beneath your flab! (2) excessive vitamin and water consumption - there's nothing helpful about overdoing these. Your excess vitamins are probably either going straight to the toilet or accumulating toward toxicity, and I assume that you have the discipline not to overeat without "fooling your appetite" by consuming water, which is a dubious strategy to begin with. (3) doing lots of cardio - people recommend this, but I have just found long cardio sessions to take a toll on my muscle mass without really helping fat loss. (4) eating small meals all day - I don't thing that there is anything really wrong with this, but it takes a lot of effort to do it right; almost all casual followers of this plan end up eating way too much.

Now, for some things that seem to actually be helpful: (1) Become meticulous about your diet - keep your calories low (for me, 6'1" male 170 lbs: between 1700-1800 calories/day - but the range is probably +/- 200 calories/day; this should not vary as much for your size as you might think) , and buy a food scale; you should approach your diet the way you approach scientific research - after a month of doing this, you will have become much more aware of your diet ("I can't believe I've been eating that much cereal." or "Wow, apples have a lot more calories than carrots!). This is key: NOTHING IS SACRED; there is no food that doesn't count, and moderation is the key for everything (even for vegetables, water, blueberries, whatever). (2) revamp your workout routine to focus on heavy, large muscle exercises - do squats (either with weights or just your body weight - i.e. air squats), pushups, pull-ups (if you can't do them, find something similar that will help you progress towards pull-ups), and KEEP YOUR WORKOUTS SHORT (less than half an hour), but intense. Since you are working out for less than half an hour, there is not much risk of consuming too little food... (3) supplements - Fat-burning agents can be a very tricky area since your body has lots of important fat - remember when ephedra caused damage to heart valves? These might work, but I personally don't play games in this area, since my overall health is important to me and getting results doesn't require them. A few related suggestions - try to limit the number of insulin spikes throughout the day (that is, minimize the number of times you eat a large amount of carbohydrates without comparable amounts protein, especially if the carbs are simple sugars), and make sure you've consumed a little bit of protein before getting to carbs (that way, you'll be likely have sufficient levels of circulating amino acids that will get driven into your muscle tissue by the insulin, in addition to its effect of pushing sugar into your other cells (including fat cells). Stimulants like caffeine might be helpful, but have risks like any other supplement and this is certainly not going to make or break you. (4) Finally, you have to be patient. All of your cells have life cycles that range from days to decades. It can take months for your fat cells to turnover, and it takes staying disciplined for several months to see your body transformation occur, but it will happen! Our bodies are complicated machines, and you will sometimes look bloated and feel like you are making the opposite of progress, and you will occasionally overeat or miss workouts when there are special events or vacations; accept this and stay strong. Remember that you can't measure your daily progress in the mirror or on the scale, you can only measure it in your discipline.

Finally, please don't let yourself lose more than a pound or two per week, and make sure you don't have an eating disorder or unhealthy body image (no, you can't know this on your own - you have to ask someone you can trust, and please believe them!)