How can you shift your belly fat?
It is impossible to spot target fat loss from any area of the body. Rather, you lose bodyfat more globally, from around your whole body. Where you hold the majority of your bodyfat, where you tend to gain weight the fastest and lose it the slowest, is largely determined by your genes.
For instance, if you lose 2kg of bodyfat, there is no way to make those 2kg come from your belly alone- it will come from your whole body, resulting in a modest drop in belly fat.
Therefore, if you want to lose belly fat, you need to lose weight from everywhere. If you have a large gut, this likely means quite a drastic weight loss. This is to be encouraged- the health benefits will be profound.
To lose bodyfat, maintain a caloric deficit through a combination of exercise and diet. A daily deficit of 500 calories will result in around 1lb/0.5kg of fat loss per week. Use a BMR calculator to work out how many calories you need for maintenance, then deduct 500. Alternatively, deduct, for example, 300 calories, and ensure that you perform enough exercise every day to burn the remaining 200.
How to form good fitness habits #17- hit compounds most of the time
Compound exercises- those that use multiple joints and muscle groups- are by far superior to isolation exercises- those that use a single joint, in most cases. There are a few reasons for this.
Firstly, they are more time-efficient. Rather than working each leg muscle individually through seven or eight different exercises, simply perform a few sets of squats. You will work pretty much every leg muscle all at once, greatly improving efficiency.
Secondly, they are better for burning energy and building muscle. The effort that goes into heavy compound exercises makes them very calorically demanding. They also increase your metabolic rate post-training. The hormonal response from this kind of training also primes your body for muscle growth.
Finally, they are more useful. They are more transferable into everyday movements. You often have to sit and stand as you would during a squat. You often have to pick things up from the ground as you would for a deadlift. You rarely have to curl your hamstring against something in isolation.