So you want a nice stomach

You want to lose belly fat and have a nice flat toned mid section? We see that a lot on this site. Hell, that was my goal for my birthday last year. We all want to be able to take our shirt off at the pool or beach and look great, but how do we do it?

1. Slight calorie deficit. Eating 800 calories and killing yourself in the gym is not going to get you there any faster. You need to fuel your body appropriately. I suggest the TDEE-20% method. www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc (If you have questions please feel free to ask them here). Make sure to weigh everything you eat! Guessing could put you well over your calories.

2. Strength training. If you want that toned mid section look you have to put some muscle there. If you just want a nice flat stomach muscle will still help it look tight. You can begin with Strong Lifts, a hypertrophy routine or a strength program from bodybuilding.com (free!). One that includes compound lifts like deadlift, squat, bench press and pull ups will help. Work on increasing the amount of weight you use. When the weight gets heavier you engage your core more and it builds the muscle.

3. Muscle insurance. There are a variety of studies done on the amount of protein the body needs. I like to think of higher protein as muscle insurance. My suggestion is about 1gram of protein per pound of lean mass. Make sure to get fat in your diet to help joints and metabolic processes. Make sure to get carbs in your diet to fuel workouts.

4. Cardio. I like cardio once or twice a week for 30 minutes. It's good for the heart and lungs. It doesn't add much to the calorie burn for the week, but it helps even things out in case you haven't been completely accurate weighing food.

5. Patience! It is not going to happen overnight. If you stick with it you could lose around 1% body fat a month. We aren't going to be perfect all the time. Enjoy birthdays and holidays. It is life and things will happen. Don't stress, learn to love the process.

FINALLY: Losing fat is like trying to dry out a sponge. You can't dry a corner while the rest of it is still wet. You won't magically lose belly fat or thigh fat or any other fat. It will come off where it wants to. Keep working at it! It is possible!

Um I do all of these and incorporate a lot of cardio and mountain biking and it works GREAT for me as long as I don't eat junk... I dont get the whole hate on cardio thing. I love weight training, but if you like cardio - do it. . My most successful routine is alternating between yoga, cadio and mountain biking and lifting three times a week.

As I said, I don't enjoy cardio. I didn't tell people not to do it and if I really hated it that much I would have left it out of my post entirely. I've explained my stance behind that many times over the last 14 pages. The reason I specifically pointed out that I personally only do one or two cardio sessions a week is because of the misconception that cardio is the way that you lose belly fat. Calorie deficit is what reduces belly fat (and all fat). You can do 2 hours of cardio a day and still never lose fat if you don't have your diet on track.

I provided a simple outline to explain why counting calories is the most important part of losing fat and why protein as well as resistance training are key to body composition in the end. These points were all to clear up the confusion we see over and over again in the forum (for example: lifting makes women bulky, protein makes you bulky/fat, cardio is how to lose belly fat).

I'm glad you found what worked for you. It sounds like you did basically what I outlined (calorie deficit and lifting) with additional cardio since you enjoy doing it.