Six pack abs...not beer

Everyone wants nice tight abs emphasized by a six-pack, yet it seems that people are prone to adding weight to the belly area first. Overeating and drinking excessive amounts of beer will quickly add inches to the waistline and give you a spare tire. Knowing how to burn belly fat will maximize the benefits from your ab workouts and help you shrink those extra inches. However, there is no magic formula or special cream that you can use to instantly transform your midsection. To burn belly fat you need a combination of diet and exercise, with a focus on increasing your metabolism.

Your belly fat might be covering firmed muscles that are lying underneath. If you are overeating and performing sit-ups or other ab workouts regularly, but not seeing the results you intended, the problem is your diet. A layer of fat covers Ab muscles. This means that you can be regularly toning your abs, while increasing the amount of fat that hides them. Reducing the amount of fat will reveal the toned abs you have been working on. Increasing your metabolism will ensure that you continually burn calories and reduce the amount of belly fat in your mid section.

Take both hands, make fists, and put your hands side by side. That is the approximate size of your stomach organ. Next time you eat a meal, look at your hands and remember that if you overeat, you are causing that muscle to stretch to hold large meals. Eating several small meals throughout the day will increase your metabolism without putting unnecessary stress on the stomach organ.

Visceral fat is the fat stored deeply, often in between organs. The stomach is prone to visceral fat, in addition to retro peritoneal and subcutaneous fat comprised the other two of the three types of belly fat. Visceral fat is highly sensitive to increased metabolism and is easy to burn. Once your body's metabolism increases and you are in fat burning mode, this fat is one of the first types your body will burn. In addition to ab workouts that target the core stomach muscles, you must choose activities that will increase your metabolism, and burn calories through aerobic exercise. Running, interval training and key abdominal workouts is key for targeting the beer belly.

When choosing foods, make certain that the selections you make are those that help regulate metabolism. Foods that cause your blood sugar to spike will have a negative effect on your metabolism and will affect the fat burning process. By choosing the best foods such as whole grains, reducing sugar and refined carbohydrates, and burning calories you will effectively burn belly fat. Food that you want to stay away from, besides from the obvious like candy bars, ice cream, and fast food, are foods with refined sugars like white bread and cereals that are high in sugar. Whole wheat breads and cereals are great for you, but beware of breads that just say wheat. Just because it says wheat does not mean it is whole wheat.