Do Sit Ups Burn Belly Fat?

• Tweet
• Pin It

The short answer to the question, do crunches burn belly fat, is no, they do not.  When you want to get rid of fat on any part of your body you simply can’t do “spot targeting” to get rid of it.  For instance, if you want to get rid of leg fat you can’t just do squats.  The part of the body in motion will not simply burn off the fat that covers it.

If you go to most gyms around the country you’ll see lots of people doing tons of crunches and sit ups in vain, trying to slim down their midsections and get the rock-hard abs they see in magazines.  While you can build some ripped ab muscles doing lots of crunches, you can’t melt off the fat that covers them up.

When you ask the question do sit ups burn belly fat, you need to understand that fat on your body (especially around your middle) is not an issue of muscle development.  If you have a beer belly or a bit of flab around your middle you should know that it’s not a lack of abdominal muscles that’s causing it.  The problem is that you have an accumulation of excess fat and to get rid of it you need to do exercises that focus on burning fat and calories.

How To Get Rid Of Belly Fat Without Sit Ups

Learning how to get a flat stomach for girls or guys should focus on 2 areas: Diet and Exercise

It would be nice if one thing like sit ups could tone your stomach and make it washboard flat, but it doesn’t work like that.  You have to focus on what you eat and what physical activities you partake in to burn off the calories.  It’s this combination that will give you the stomach you want.

Diet

You want to focus on eating flat stomach foods which are foods that will actually help you burn belly fat.  These foods contain monounsaturated fats and/or are low calorie which will make it much easier to burn off your excess belly fat.

You’re going to want to eat a lot of fruits, vegetables, lean meats, whole-grains, and fish.  You want to absolutely, positively cut out any and all processed foods including fast-foods, sugar, and fats.  This means no donuts, candy, cakes, cookies, french fries, cheese burgers, etc.

If you can effectively eliminate this type of food from your diet and focus on eating nothing but healthy and fresh foods then you will have a fairly easy time eliminating your belly fat.

Exercise

Crunches and sit ups are fine to build muscle and to develop your six-pack but when you are talking about getting rid of the fat that covers them, or getting rid of the fat on other parts of your body, you’re going to need to do cardiovascular type exercises.  These types of exercises include running, jogging, bicycling, swimming, walking, etc.  If this sounds boring to you then try things like boxing, dancing, spin classes, martial arts, etc.  Find something you enjoy doing and it will make it easier to lose your belly fat.

If you really want to burn belly fat quickly then try and do at least 45 to 60 minutes of cardio 5 to 6 times per week.  You have to decide what your level of fitness is first.  If you are in shape then you may be able to do 60 minutes of cardio every day.  If you are not in shape you may have to start out walking every other day or only 3 days a week for less time.  Eventually you can work your way up to longer and more intense workouts.

You want to aim to burn or lose around 500 calories  per day.  If you can do that then you’ll lose around 10-12 pounds of fat per month.  Soon you’ll have that flat stomach you’ve always wanted!

• Tweet
• Pin It

7 Comments

1. 

   hundertwasser

   January 9, 2012 at 5:41 am

   nice post!
   i cant share this link : https://timeforthenewyou.com/belly/do-sit-ups-burn-belly-fat
   am i doing it wrong ?

   Reply
   • 

     Admin

     January 9, 2012 at 1:05 pm

     You should be able to share it. Try again.

     Reply
     • 

       Billy

       February 23, 2012 at 6:07 pm

       Dont use https, leave off the ‘s’
       Just http://

       Reply
       • 

         Admin

         March 11, 2012 at 12:40 pm

         Yes, Billy is correct. Sorry, I didn’t see the ‘s’. If you take it out the link will work.

         Reply
2. 

   mary

   September 9, 2012 at 5:14 pm

   umm , so the article is saying if you start eating right , start walking .? && start excercising , all the stomach fat will go away .? but , like how long would that take for me to loose it .?

   Reply
   • 

     Sara

     September 13, 2012 at 4:08 pm

     Hello Mary,

     The rate at which you lose weight depends on several factors. But if you eat right and exercise you should lose anywhere from 1 to 3 pounds per week. This is a healthy rate to lose weight. If you try crash diets or starving yourself you’re only going to gain all the weight that you lost back.

     -Sara

     Reply
3. 

   yvette

   March 15, 2013 at 8:54 am

   I agree! Targeting a certain spot to lose weight is not easy to do.
   I suggest that you do cardio exercises consistently. It will help you burn calories and lose body fats. You can also incorporate protein in your diet. Check out this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V92wUegHpsU.
   It helped me a lot in achieving my ideal weight. I’ve started out with my routine two weeks ago and so far I’ve lost 5 pounds.

   Reply