16 Moves to Lose Belly Fat

15 Moves to Lose Belly Fat

1. Trim Your Tummy With This Easy Ab Workout

Slimming down your middle isn’t just about looking good in a swimsuit (though it’s a nice perk!). Maintaining a trim tummy is key to good health. Belly fat, also called visceral fat, which is different than the pinch-able subcutaneous fat found on the hips, legs and arms, is linked to diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, stroke, dementia and, in women, colorectal cancer.


Fortunately it’s much easier to lose belly fat than its stubborn sibling, subcutaneous fat. Here are 15 ways to tone and tighten your tummy — and boost your health to boot!

2. Suck In Your Gut 

No, it’s not cheating. “People think their stomachs should be naturally flat, and that’s just not true,” says John Hoeber, MS, RD, CSSD, nutritionist, master fitness trainer and owner of the Mill Valley Health Club, a premier gym in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sucking in your gut, or in Pilates terms, “engaging your core,” is one of the most effective ways to strengthen your ab muscles.


Practice this often and you’ll have more muscle tone, even when you relax your abs.

3. Work From the Inside Out

True beauty comes from within, and your abs are no exception. While the 6-pack-forming rectus abdominis muscles get all the attention, they are one of the least-used muscles, functionally-speaking, says Hoeber. That means, unless you do a gazillion crunches a day, they quickly lose definition. Talk about high maintenance.


For beauty that’s more than skin deep, focus on your “inner unit” instead. The inner unit, commonly called the core, is comprised the transversus abdominis (TVA), internal obliques, diaphragm and pelvic floor muscles. In addition to stabilizing your back, the inner unit muscles literally hold in your gut. Moves that focus on strengthening the core help create a lean, firm silhouette.

4. Hit the Plank

This classic Pilates move is super-effective at strengthening your core muscles. Start in push-up position and lower your upper body to your forearms, with your elbows under your shoulder joint. Brace your abs, keeping your hips and butt level, and hold for 20 seconds. Work up to three sets of 60 seconds each.

5. Take a Side

To help lose those love handles, try a variation called the side plank. This move targets the internal obliques, the muscles on the side of the abs, in particular. Lay on your left side and prop yourself up on your left forearm or hand. Stack your right foot on top of your left and push your left hip off the floor, with your right hip pointing to the ceiling. Hold for 20 seconds, lower and switch sides. Work up to three sets of 60 seconds on each side.

6. Slim Down All Over

The secret to a trim tummy is to slim down all over. “You can’t just spot reduce,” says Hoeber. “When you lose weight in general, your stomach will automatically get smaller, along with everything else.”


Stick to a portion- and calorie-controlled diet, get 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise daily, maintain an active lifestyle — and be patient. If you’re losing weight at the recommended rate of one to two pounds a week, it can take 8 or 12 weeks before you see a real difference in the mirror, says Hoeber.

7. Breathe Deeply

The simplest move of all to beat belly fat is just taking a deep breath. “Stress increases the level of cortisol in your body and cortisol is directly related to increased belly fat,” says Hoeber. Deep breathing has been proven to reduce cortisol levels in the blood.

8. Cross Train

The criss-cross is guaranteed to make you jump, jump for joy when you see the results: total ab tightening, including the tough-to-engage lower abs. Lie on the your back with your hands behind your head. Bring your left knee across your chest while keeping your right leg extended and low to the ground. Using your ab muscles, reach your right shoulder up to meet the knee, rotating from your torso. Pause in the middle and switch sides. That’s one rep. Do 16 reps total, working up to three sets.

9. Rock the Roll

For rock-hard abs, nothing beats the classic Pilates roll-up. Lie down on the mat with arms and legs extended overhead. Slowly roll up to a sitting position, raising one vertebrae at a time off the ground. As you lift, pull your belly button back and down. Reach forward toward your toes in a C-shape, as if you’re hugging a beach ball, advises Caroline A. Dawson, group exercise instructor at New York Sports Club and CEO of Instructor Toolbox, a New York-based company that provides continuing education for fitness trainers. Reverse back down to the mat.

10. Straighten Up

Standing up straight is an instant belly flattener — and something we need to retrain ourselves to do thanks to hours spent hunched over the computer and slouched in the car. For proper posture, engage your abs, tuck your butt in, roll your shoulders back and down and lift up from your chest, as if an invisible string were pulling you up to the sky.

11. Meet Your Match

Ace your ab workout and score a major calorie-burn with an invigorating game of tennis. You automatically engage the abs to get more power in your swing, and the twisting motion in the forehand, backhand and serve work your TVA and obliques in particular, say Hoeber. Plus, an average 150-pound person can burn up to 600 calories in one hour of singles.

12. Have a Ball

By simply moving your crunches from the floor to a ball, you automatically increase the number of ab muscles you’re targeting, says Dawson. The wobbly surface forces you to engage your core muscles to stabilize as you lift. Balance your mid-back on the ball, using your leg and butt muscles to help support you, and do three sets of 15 crunches.

13. Go Opposite

The opposite arm and leg raise strengthens your core and back muscles, helping to improve posture and protect against back injuries. Get on all fours on a mat. Extend one leg behind you, toes pointed and leg parallel to the floor. Then extend the opposite arm in front of you, fingers pointed, arm parallel to the floor. Keep your hips and shoulders even with the floor and engage your core muscles, making sure not to overarch your back. Hold for 30 seconds and switch sides, doing a total of 3 on each side.

14. Dip Your Toes In

Tighten your tummy with some simple toe dips. Lie on your back with your legs up and bent at 90 degrees. Contract your abs and press your lower back into the ground as you slowly touch your left toes to the floor, and then slowly lift it back up to 90 degrees. Repeat with your right leg, alternating until you’ve done 12 reps with each leg. Work up to a total of three sets.

15. Dance It Off

You don’t need two to tango your way to a flat belly. Latin dances like salsa and merengue or Middle Eastern belly dancing are all about engaging the abs to move the hips. Plus, you can burn over 400 calories in one hour.

16. Take a Stand

Take your crunches vertical to engage your inner abdominals. Balancing on one foot at a time activates your core and by working against gravity to raise your leg to your chest, you’re building your stomach and leg muscles.


Start by standing on your left foot while you raise your right knee to your chest and pull both elbows down to meet it. Then switch feet, balancing on your left. Or you can touch your opposite elbow and knee together in front of your middle. Do 3 sets of 15 on each side.