To say that many people are obsessed with how their stomach looks is something of an understatement. Nothing defines health and fitness in this day and age quite like a firm toned stomach and because of that many people will try just about anything to burn away excess stomach fat.

What most people don’t realize is that they can lose weight by simply increasing their metabolism without the need to buy the latest gut busting exercise machine or taking the latest fat burning diet pill.

There are two important parts to any program that burns stomach fat naturally:

1. A Healthy Diet – The nutritional value of the food we eat has a large bearing on how our metabolism works and how much fat we store away. Eating right is probably one of the more misunderstood parts of how our metabolism works.

When people go on a “Diet” they cut back on the amount of food they eat. This decreases caloric intake, which makes sense for those who are trying to lose weight. The problem is if too many calories are cut the body will actually slow its metabolism to safeguard its energy stores. This can have the opposite effect that is wanted.

The point is the body needs a certain amount of calories to fuel its daily processes. If it gets less then this it goes into starvation mode and hoards every bit of energy it can.

The type of calories can have more of an impact on fat levels and metabolism then how many are eaten. Eating healthy nutrient dense foods can cause an increase in metabolism simply for the fact that the body has to expend more energy digesting and metabolizing all the nutrients for use by its cells. These include foods that have high amounts of complex carbohydrates, fiber, and vitamins and minerals. In contrast processed foods with lots of refined sugars are easy to digest and are quickly and easily turned into fat storage.

2. Exercise – This can be divided into two part, cardiovascular exercise and resistance training. Cardio or aerobic training is a good way to burn excess calories just by doing simple physical activities. While this type of exercise is not stomach specific it is good for overall body fat reduction, which is the key to losing weight because you can’t lose fat from specific areas.

Resistance or weight training is the perfect way to not only burn stomach fat but also firm up those all important abdominal muscles. By weight training your major muscle groups you bring your core muscles into play. These include the abs which helps stabilize the midsection while training. Another benefit that many people overlook is the large amount of calories it takes to maintain lean muscle mass. The more you have the more calories you will burn even while resting.

If you want to burn stomach fat naturally then the best way is to increase your metabolism with a combination of a healthy diet and an exercise program. By doing these two things you will soon have a trim and toned midsection that you can be proud of.