One of the best ways you can increase your basal metabolic rate and decrease accumulation of belly fat is by strength training. Strength training is very important in preventing loss of muscle and increasing weight loss. You can gain strength by joining a gym and lifting weights or by doing freely available exercises such as walking or by doing simple exercises such as sit ups or push ups.You will lose belly fat if you combine strength training with sensible calorie intake. Most questions about weight gain revolve around the excess number of calories that you take in per day.You should decrease the number of calories you eat per day and avoid foods that have many of calories such as chips and fries. Chips and fries for example are loaded with calories from fats and carbohydrates.Furthermore do not eat when you feel full.If you do this will probably gain weight. Avoid foods with large amounts of refined sugar such as muffins, chocolate and cakes. If you consume 100 excess calories in a day you will add more than 10 pounds in a year. Similarly if you decrease your calorie intake by 100 calories per day you will lose about 10 pounds in a year.

What foods should I eat to lose belly fat?

There is a lot of evidence to support that refined sugar, corn syrup, refined flour, and high fructose could be responsible for the belly pouch that is now common in both men and women. If you can avoid beverages containing these ingredients, you will do well. Red meat is also thought to cause accumulation of belly fat and it’s a good thing to limit how much of it you eat.

You may not believe it but both alcohol and smoking are also associated with an accumulation of belly fat. Giving up both habits of smoking and alcohol is an important lifestyle decision, which you must not ignore.

To lose belly fat make a decision to eat more healthy meats such as lean poultry, fish, soy products and legumes such as lentils In addition choose whole grains and fruits instead of red meat.

As you continue to read these frequently asked questions and answers make decisions and choices that will help you in future.

How does weight training help to shed off belly fat?

This is one of the most common questions many people have asked. Weight training is also called resistance training. It will help you to increase your lean muscle mass, which causes an increase to your metabolism. The more muscle you add, the more calories you will burn. Weight training is therefore a long-term strategy to lose weight and keep it away.

As you build more muscle you will be losing weight even when you are sleeping. Together with fat loss you will have more strength, energy, increased bone density and you will be protected from injuries that go along with lack of physical fitness. You should consider having 2-3 sessions of resistance exercise per week. During the exercise you may or may not burn fat. You might want to ask more questions such as, Why?

It has been estimated that on average a person will require 20-30 minutes of continuous aerobic activity to deplete the stored glycogen reserves. You have to deplete your glycogen reserves before you begin to burn fat. Significant fat loss will require an appropriate duration, frequency and intensity.

How can I lose belly fat and other fat without also losing muscle?

This is one of the most frequently asked questions. When you lose fat such as belly fat there is always a risk that you will also lose muscle. You obviously will not want to lose muscle. You may want to make your body experience muscle-sparing effect.

What you want to experience loss of fat but minimal loss of muscle. This is not always easy to achieve. You will want to start with resistance exercise but you will also need to eat high quality protein.

Experts recommend that you eat proteins after every 3-4 hours. In addition, eat some proteins before you fall asleep at night and reduce your carbohydrates intake.

What you want to do is to ensure that the body never comes to a situation where it has to break down the tissue proteins for energy. Perhaps you could take L-glutamine as a supplement. L-glutamine has been reported to have some muscle sparing effect. Carbohydrates intake should be decreased to very low levels as they decrease fat burning.

Avoid fat rich foods but keep the good fats such as omega three fat acids, and or flax seed oil. It is tough to lose fat without losing muscle. The key is taking high quality protein. This should be your first priority

Is aerobic exercise more beneficial than resistance training exercise?

This is one of the most important question out of the questions most people ask. Aerobic exercise is the most beneficial exercise that you will ever do but it should be in combination with resistance exercise.

It has been found to promote and enhance the growth of the two important arteries that originate from the aorta. They help easy flow of the blood to the heart. This type of exercise also helps to raise the amount of HDL cholesterol in your blood. Remember that HDL cholesterol is the good cholesterol.

It also causes a lowering of blood pressure. There are reports that aerobic exercise helps people who are diabetic to lower their blood glucose, which leads to the production of less insulin. This exercise also helps the body relieve stress.

The most beneficial aerobic exercise targets a heart rate of 70-85% of your maximum heart rate. Of course you will still need to eat the right amounts of well-balanced meals. Do not eat too little that you will lack energy to exercise and not too much that you are going to add extra weight.