Is it necessary to exercise to lose belly fat? Or can you burn belly fat with just diet alone? Research seems to point to exercise and specific types of exercise to get the best results. But diet does count too! So what’s the best plan?

First you do have to exercise to lose belly fat.

Cardio is important for all over body fat burning, this includes belly fat. But doing some additional work such as crunches (no, not hundreds of them a day) helps too. Crunches and situps help to get rid of visceral fat which lies deeper in the abdomen and surrounds your organs, but things like walking, jogging and even some heavy duty yoga can work on the subcutaneous fat which lies just under the skin.

This is usually the dimply stuff we want to get rid of. I think water exercise is great for to lose belly fat because you can combine some cardio with swimming and do a lot of stretching and resistance training all in one place.

So what about diet? What are the foods you have to avoid if you are trying to get rid of the pudge belly? Jillian Michaels says you need to avoid foods that aren’t clean and whole. So toss anything with high fructose corn syrup or a bunch of preservatives. Dr. Oz says switch from white rice to brown rice and I have seen a study from the Mayo clinic saying those who ate more whole grains lost more belly fat.

Sometimes, there is that little bit left that just wont seem to budge. I have seen some pretty convincing videos on YouTube of people who have done the Master Cleanse to lose that last bit. This is the diet that Beyonce used to lose a lot of weight for her role in Dreamgirls. Another celebrity, Kym Johnson from Dancing With the Stars, uses the Master Cleanse but it is in a pill form and is called The Lemonade Diet. I guess it is easier than drinking all of those glasses of lemonade.

Whichever diet or cleanse or exercise to lose belly fat you try, remember that the most important part is to have a plan and stick to it.

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