by Pat Lunsford

Created on: November 22, 2007

Researchers have found that losing belly fat is one of the most important steps you can take to stay healthy for life. Fat in the mid-section is stored deeper inside your body, in and around the liver and other organs.

Having several small meals a day, lowers cortisol levels, the stress hormone that comes from not eating. By lowering cortisol, you burn dangerous stomach fat first. When you eat several small meals a day, you are constantly resetting your metabolism.

The number of low-carb diet books have increased, along with obesity rates. The fact is, low-carb diets make you fat. Low-carb diets cause your body to go into ketosis, causing the body to lose close to 25% of the weight loss from muscle.

Losing four pounds of weight on a low-carb diet, you lose one pound of muscle, decelerating your metabolism by 50 calories a day so you burn 50 calories less a day. Many have lost up to 10 pounds of muscle from dieting back and forth which is dangerous.

Three to four hours after eating, the body begins to burn muscle and store fat. That is the way the body is designed. Eating several small meals a day keeps the metabolism active, burning fat instead of muscle.

On the small meals diet, you can expect to lose about two pounds a week. The first 6 to 8 pounds will come from the belly. But the first thing you'll notice with the small meals diet is the way you feel. Dopamine and serotonin levels will rise because you'll feel less stressful.

Starving yourself is wrong. It raises your cortisol levels, burns muscle and stores the fat you are trying to lose. Portion control is very important. Once you get your metabolism active, you will be able to reduce portions.

It's important to exercise regularly and get enough rest. The American Council on Exercise says you should do aerobic exercise three to four days a week. Walking is considered an aerobic exercise. Thirty minutes a day is the rule, but three, ten-minute brisk walks will do just as well.

The best thing about the several small meals diet is it is a lifelong dieting plan that doesn't deprive you of your favorite foods. You can enjoy the things you like to eat and still lose weight, especially belly fat . . . the healthy way.

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