by Carrie Beasley

Created on: October 23, 2009

The first place some people seem to gain weight is in the stomach area. This also seems to be the hardest place to lose weight. Certain diets and methods of weight loss seem to work better in the stomach area than others. Just exercising will not be enough you must diet as well to gain the results you want.

Monounsaturated Fatty Acids have been shown to lower belly fat and to increase the amount of fat burned. Avocados, nuts, seeds, olives and even dark chocolate are examples of MUFA's. They should be eaten in servings of no more than 200 calories.

This diet also uses MUFA's but that is not the only thing. The diet also calls for never going more than 4 hours without eating and eating meals that are 400 calories each.

The diet starts off with a four day anti bloat jumpstart which includes foods that prevent belly puffiness and allows 1200 calories per day.

The rest of the diet lasts for 28 days and allows 1600 calories per day. Foods on the menu include things such as peanut butter, tuna, walnuts and bananas. The diet plan also includes exercises that target the stomach area.

While this 32 day diet will help you drop pounds and stomach inches, if you simply return to your regular eating style after the diet is done you will quickly gain the weight back.

Some dieters have been known to swear by a diet that is rich in proteins while lowering your intake of carbohydrates and fats. Dieters using this approach should eat more of foods such as meat, poultry, beans, nuts and seeds. Foods to be avoided are breads, cereals, fruits, sodas and chips. You should also avoid any foods that contain a high fat content.

The general opinion of people who use a high protein diet is that belly fat is simply stored energy and that eating a diet high in protein and living a lifestyle high in exercise is the secret to eliminating belly fat. So dieting alone is not the answer according to the fans of high protein dieting. You must also add in regular exercise which includes cardio and fat burning, but does not focus on targeting certain areas of the body. Overall fat and calorie burning, and consistently burning more calories than you take in seems to be the best answer to eliminating the stored energy that causes belly fat.

Learn more about this author, Carrie Beasley.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.