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How To Lose Belly Fat For Men: 7 Easy Tips To Do 2024

Updated on - Written by
Medically reviewed by Kimberly Langdon, MD

How To Lose Belly Fat For Men
Different factors contribute to the development of belly fat. Photo: Shutterstock & Team Design

If you are a man with stubborn belly fat, it’s time to look for solutions that successfully reduce unwanted, excess belly fat. Holding onto visceral fat around the abdomen and waistline can be hazardous for a man’s health. 

Exercising, eating a healthy, varied diet, and taking supplements for men can lose weight, trim your waistline, and flatten your tummy. 

Learn common factors that cause a beer belly to form and seven helpful ways to slay belly fat like a boss.

7 Best Way To Lose Belly Fat For Men

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for losing belly fat as a man. Everyone has different factors that contribute to their excess weight on the abdomen and variations in body type. Understanding your ideal healthy weight and fat level is critical to your success. Check with your physician to understand your target body mass index and steps to flatten a stubborn beer gut. 

Here are seven great ways to reduce belly fat that are helpful for men.

  1. Practice exercises that target belly fat
  2. Eat more prebiotics and probiotics for gut health
  3. Fil upon a high-fiber diet
  4. Consume more protein
  5. Lift weights
  6. Get enough sleep
  7. Increase your vitamin C intake

Losing belly fat is a big deal for men. Genetics, aging, stress, and lifestyle factors can contribute to a hefty frame, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and a beer belly. Exercising helps strengthen core muscles, burn fat, and increase metabolic activity. Eating foods that help shrink fat cells, boost energy levels, and discourage overeating is beneficial too.

To successfully manage your weight, lose a beer gut, and tone your body requires commitment and a combination of multiple solutions. If you want to know how to get rid of belly fat for men and why fat triggers specific health issues, read on.

7 Ways To Lose Belly Fat For Men

Execute Exercises That Target Belly Fat

If you want to lose belly fat, you have to keep it moving. Get fit and flatten a beer gut by regularly exercising your upper and lower abs, obliques and strengthening your core. Make the time to practice belly crunches, planks, bear crawls, leg lifts, and other critical exercises to build muscle and burn calories.

Consume Prebiotics And Probiotics

Your health begins in your gut. So, before you add junk foods, overeat, or seek convenience meals to stay full, reconsider what’s on your plate. It is essential to support a healthy gut microbiome by eating more foods with prebiotics and probiotics[1]

Prebiotics are good bacteria for your gut found in specific foods and supplements. Probiotics are the fiber that feeds good bacteria in your digestive tract.

Eat A High-Fiber Diet

If you get hungry often, resist the cravings to chow down on fatty, salty, or sugary foods. Add more fiber to your diet to stay fuller longer, improve your digestive tract transit time, and lose belly fat. Add foods like brown rice, popcorn, nuts, beans, and whole grains to your plate.

Consume More Protein

Feed your muscles, boost your metabolism, and lose fat by consuming high-protein foods. Studies have shown that eating enough protein at meals is linked to lower abdominal fat and weight gain. If you are rushed for time, consider making a power protein-rich smoothie that uses whey, or seek out vegetarian sources. Other protein-rich sources include eggs, fatty fish, chia seeds, and full-fat dairy products.

Lift Weights

It’s true; muscle burns off more calories than fat[2] and flab when the body is at rest. In addition to executing exercises that target your abs and reduce belly fat, it’s essential to do some strength training. Try to do weight resistance exercises for short periods but with intensity for the best results.

Get A Good Night’s Sleep

If you don’t get enough sleep, it can make you feel hungrier and more likely to overeat. Photo: Shutterstock

Don’t skip out on sleep if you want to decrease belly fat. The University of Chicago conducted a study showing that people who get a little over eight hours of sleep each night lose more fat than sleep-deprived persons receiving a little over five hours of shuteye. Not getting enough sleep has a connection to increased hunger and a greater chance of overeating.

Get More Vitamin C

People who have a low amount of vitamin C in their diet tend to gain belly fat. In addition to boosting immunity, consuming enough vitamin C helps you lose weight, reduces stress, and provides antioxidants for your gut health[3].

In addition to regularly executing exercises to lose belly fat and other weight loss solutions, it is critical to maintain a healthy weight and body mass index. Holding onto excessive fat and participating in activities that contribute to poor health, obesity, and metabolic syndrome diseases is not beneficial.

Impact Of Belly Fat On Men’s Health

If you are sporting a lot of belly fat, you are living with a ticking time bomb to your health. It is normal for the body to hold onto an acceptable amount of body fat to cushion organs and provide energy in times of need. 

However, unless you plan on playing the role of Santa Claus year-round, it’s critical to reduce excess visceral fat on your abdomen and waistline. Your life may depend on it.

Some men may have a genetic disposition that causes their bodies to hold onto excess fat or become obese. But, typically, it is changeable conditions beyond age and genetics that contribute to a beer belly. 

Make an effort to get sufficient physical activity to tone muscles, get your heart rate up, and boost your metabolism. Consider taking supplements for weight loss, eating fat-burning foods[4], and reducing overeating and binge drinking.

Common health problems associated with excess belly fat include the risk of stroke, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, poor digestive health, an imbalanced gut microbiome, increased stress, and reduced immunity. Toning your abs, shedding fat, and managing your waistline goes beyond aesthetics.

What Causes A Beer Belly In Men

If you want to know how to burn belly fat for men, you need to know what triggers a beer gut in the first place. The following factors can lead to a hardened, rotund abdomen and excessive weight gain in men.

  • Drinking carbonated beverages
  • Overeating
  • Binge drinking
  • Inflammation from an imbalanced gut microbiome
  • A lack of exercise
  • Stress
  • Aging
  • Smoking

When there are multiple contributing factors to an extended abdomen and waistline, there is an increased risk of suffering cardiovascular health problems, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Sometimes genetics is a significant reason a man quickly gains a beer belly and has difficulty getting rid of it. Reducing the visceral fat accumulated over the intestines and liver is vital to creating a flattering gut.

Boost Metabolism, Burn Fat And Flatten A Beer Gut

Finding healthy ways to increase metabolic activity, tone the abdomen via exercises, and lose body fat is imperative. If you want to know how to lose belly fat for men, you need to understand your body, what it needs, and what works best for you to optimize your fat loss and get fit. The following activities and products may help flatten a beer belly and increase metabolic activity.

  1. Drink Cold Water
  2. Lift Heavy Things
  3. Stand And Walk More
  4. Do High-Intensity Workouts
  5. Drink Green and Oolong Tea
  6. Add Vinegar To Diet
  7. Consume More Iron
  8. Practice Intermittent Fasting

Combine exercise and healthy lifestyle behaviors to improve your rate of losing body fat and blast away your visceral belly fat. Don’t skip meals, stay sedentary, or indulge in excessive drinking or calorie intake. Use portion control, drink more water and eat less refined carbohydrates.

Precautions

Before taking supplements, changing your diet, or altering your lifestyle, consult your physician. Make an effort to investigate if any actions you will undertake to reduce your beer gut and blast away belly fat will interfere with prescription medications, sleep patterns, pre-existing health conditions, or other concerns.


+ 4 sources

Health Canal avoids using tertiary references. We have strict sourcing guidelines and rely on peer-reviewed studies, academic researches from medical associations and institutions. To ensure the accuracy of articles in Health Canal, you can read more about the editorial process here

  1. Aoun, A., Darwish, F. and Hamod, N. (2020). The Influence of the Gut Microbiome on Obesity in Adults and the Role of Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Synbiotics for Weight Loss. [online] 25(2), pp.113–123. doi:https://doi.org/10.3746/pnf.2020.25.2.113.
  2. ‌Yasuhiro Izumiya, Hopkins, T.A., Morris, C.N., Sato, K., Zeng, L., Viereck, J., Hamilton, J.D., Ouchi, N., LeBrasseur, N.K. and Walsh, K. (2008). Fast/Glycolytic Muscle Fiber Growth Reduces Fat Mass and Improves Metabolic Parameters in Obese Mice. [online] 7(2), pp.159–172. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2007.11.003.
  3. ‌Traber, M.G., Buettner, G.R. and Bruno, R.S. (2019). The relationship between vitamin C status, the gut-liver axis, and metabolic syndrome. [online] 21, pp.101091–101091. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.redox.2018.101091.
  4. ‌Salwa Refat El-Zayat, Hiba Sibaii and El-Shamy, K.A. (2019). Physiological process of fat loss. [online] 43(1). doi:https://doi.org/10.1186/s42269-019-0238-z.

Medically reviewed by:

Kimberly Langdon

Alex Smith is a NY-based content writer who enjoys covering natural health, supporting wellness, personal finance, history, and outdoor living. When he is not behind a keyboard living the wordsmith life, he enjoys visiting landmark destinations and bookstores.

Medically reviewed by:

Kimberly Langdon

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