There is no getting around the fact that belly fat is unsightly and incredibly unhealthy. There is a plethora of medical research which proves that carrying excess weight around the stomach leads to a much higher incidence of heart attacks, strokes, cancer and diabetes. despite these medical risks the reson most people want to reduce belly fat is because of asthetic reasons, quite simply a fat belly is unattractive and not only reduces your appeal to the opposite sex but also is harmful to your self esteem. So how to reduce belly fat?

Luckily, due to recent medical research, starving yourself and doing brutal workouts on a daily basis is not the answer. in fact there is much evidence to show that starving yourself with calorie deprivation is possibly the worst thing you can do in terms of long term success with reducing belly fat. To reduce belly fat quickly and permanently you have to work smart not hard. A little extra vigilance in terms of your diet and lifestyle is the order of the day. Running daily marathons before a breakfast of unpalatable gruel is not a sensible option in terms of how to loose belly fat !

Here are some simple changes you can make today to reduce belly fat

Reduce or eliminate alchohol consumption - no doubt you will have heard the term "beer belly", if you are unlucky enough to have a alarge amount of belly fat you may even have heard other people referring to you in this way (I know I have in the past and it can be very upsetting!). The thing is this term exists because there is a lot of truth in it, alchohol not only contains a lot of calories but is also promotes unhealthy and excessive eating by relaxing the natural controls of the body as far as appetite is concerned

Stop drinking soda and other sugary drinks - sodas are very high in sugar and can be quite addictive, also forget drinking diet sodas as even though they contain very little sugar the sweet taste can fool the your insulin response making you more susceptable to weight gain (not too mention sodas are inherently unhealthy anyway, essentially just a bunch of chemicals in water with no nutrients whatsoever, next time you fell like a soda read the label first!)

Cut down on processed foods and ready meals - you have to realise that we are genetically programmed to be lean and fit, however eating un-natural foods will promote an un-natural response i.e. we will get fat! processed foods contain many chemicals and preservatives, some of which are already proven to be harmful, such as trans fats. Try and eat natural wholesome foods as much as possible, lean meats, poulty and fish combined with fresh salads, fruits and vegetables. This is what you are designed to eat and your body will thrive on it!

Eat little and often - it has been demonstated in numerous medical studies that eating many smaller meals is better for weight loss than fewer larger meals. Eating often keeps the metabolism burning and can turn you into a fat burning machine.

Exercise - on its own exercise is not a great way to lose weight, however when combined with the correct dietary changes exercise can be an excellent method of long term weight loss. Regular strength training exercise can build lean tissue (muscle) which will actually burn more calories by raising your base metabolic rate.

the above tips will go a long way in how to reduce belly fat but if you want a complete methodical step by step approach I recommend the book called The flat belly diet . This book really helped me out and I managed to lose just over 4 inches from my waistline in 4 days. It is a unique approach that targets unsightly belly fat first and best of all it can be downloaded onto your computer instantly and comes witha risk free guarantee so you have nothing to lose! I heartily recommend it as I am now down around 15lbs after just over a month and am well on my way to achieving my desired bodyweight!