You want a flat belly right? Well you’re not alone! Everyone tries different tricks to circumvent the problem.
However, trying to suck your tummy in or wearing Spanx under your clothes aren’t tricks that actually “do” anything to fix the size of your belly. What you want is tricks that will reliably shrink and flatten your belly.
We all know diet and exercise are very important, but are there really any “helpful” tricks to getting a flat belly in less time? To find out, we asked experts to come together to figure out the best ways to lose weight from your belly.
more: The Easiest Natural Ways To Lose Belly Fat In One Week
These tricks will melt the fat off your belly, so you can start to see and feel the definition in your belly, minus any gimmicks!
18 Tricks To Flatten Your Belly Fast
1. Chew More Slowly
The more you chew your food, the better your food will digest.
Digestion begins in the mouth with saliva. Chewing your food thoroughly will not only help with digestion, but it will help with making you feel full before you reach for a second helping.
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Plus this prolongs the time you eat your first helping which also leads to increased satiety.
Chewing slowly also reduces bloating and makes your stomach flatter.
2. Don’t Rely On Crunches
Diet is the most effective thing for a flat belly. Cardio is the second most effective, with muscles coming in third.
Solely doing ab work is nowhere near as effective as eating right and breaking a sweat.
It’s better to combine diet, cardio, and strength training, which is the perfect trifecta for getting a flat belly fast.
When doing ab work the trick is to hit your stomach from all angles, using different moves, and a high number of repetitions. This way you’re getting cardio at the same time.
more: The Best Ways To Lose Belly Fat At Home
3. Add Boxing To Your Routine
Boxing builds your core. Twisting your torso works the ab muscles in your body.
Boxing is a great cardio exercise and it burns lots of calories. It also helps your stress levels and relieves anger.
If you are new to boxing, join your local gym and ask someone there for help. Try to do 40 minutes of boxing three times a week for best results.
4. Portion Control
Serve yourself the right amount of food to keep your weight in check.
If you don’t portion control, it can be very easy to overeat and lose track of how many calories you are eating.
Eat lots of whole grains, and monounsaturated fats. These are the most effective things to eat for a flat belly.
5. Try The Ball Exchange Exercise
The ball exchange exercise is great for getting a flat belly.
What you do is lay flat on your back with your arms above your head and your legs straight out. Take a stability ball and put it above your head in your hands. Bring the ball up above your chest, while at the same time bringing your legs up to meet the ball.
Then transfer the ball between your ankles. Once the ball is stable between your ankles, bring it down to the floor with your legs, and put your arms back above your head.
Repeat this around 10 times, 3 times a week for best results. If you don’t have a ball, or if you don’t like doing this exercise, you can replace it with a different exercise that works out your stomach similar to the example above.
more: Lose Weight From Your Stomach And Hips In Just 2 Weeks
6. Sea Salt Is Better Than Regular Salt
Sea salt is better than regular table salt because it has a lower amount of sodium. Sodium causes bloating and a lot of water retention in your body, which looks like fat even though it’s not.
Soy sauce is very high in sodium, so limit or avoid that if you can. Look for low sodium soy sauce instead.
There are many low sodium or salt free seasonings that taste good such as Mrs. Dash, celery salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and low sodium vegetable broth and bouillon cubes.
7. Don’t Hold Back Your Laughter
Laughing is so good for you!
Not only does it make you happier and release endorphins, it’s great for your core and abs.
It works you out and if you laugh long enough you can even feel a burn.
more: How To Get A Flat Belly As Fast As Possible
8. Don’t Eat Processed Foods
Processed foods are very bad for you.
Things like cookies, cakes, other baked goods, processed meats, pre-made meals, fast food, and processed bread all cause weight gain.
They are naturally higher in calories and other ingredients such as sugar. They are harder to digest and cause bloating.
Eat natural foods instead, whole foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds.
Whole foods are naturally lower in calories and don’t contain any added sugars. They are easy to digest and can relieve bloating instead of causing it.
9. Eat A Snack Between 2:30-3:30pm
Eating a snack in the afternoon will tide you over until dinner so you don’t binge later on in the day.
Make sure that the snack has lots of protein! Protein will help balance your blood sugar.
One example of high a protein snack is celery sticks stuffed with nut butters (almond or peanut butter) sprinkled with almonds. Another great snack is a (low sugar) protein bar.
This snack will also boost your metabolism!
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10. Stay Away From Sugary Drinks
Sugary drinks are normally nothing but empty calories.
Not only do they spike your blood sugar and insulin levels, but they cause weight gain as well. They have no nutritional value and you would be better off drinking water instead.
Sugar drinks, especially in the form of sodas, do cause bloating and indigestion in the stomach because they are carbonated.
11. Boost Your Glucagon
Glucagon is a hormone in your body that helps keep your stomach flat. Sugar is what holds glucagon down and lowers this hormone.
The less sugar you eat, the higher your glucagon will be.
12. Here Are The Best Foods To Eat For A Flat Belly
The best breakfast would be a smoothie with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter, 1 frozen banana, 1 cup of your favorite berries, and 1 tablespoon of flax seeds with 1 cup of a liquid of your choice, almond milk would work great.
The best lunch would be a salad with lettuce, spinach, kale, avocado chunks, cherry tomatoes, smoked tofu, pecan halves, lemon juice, and a vinaigrette dressing.
The best dinner would be brown rice with grilled skinless and boneless chicken, and sautéed broccolini with olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon juice.
The best snack would be 1/4 cup of granola with Greek yogurt, and 1/2 cup of berries.
more: 5 Scientifically Proven Ways To Lose Belly Fat
13. Planks Are A Must!
The best way to do a plank is by getting into a press up position. Then, bend your elbows and rest all of your body weight onto your forearms, not on your hands!
Your body should be straight. Engage your core by sucking your belly into your spine. Try to hold this position for as long as you can.
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Try to hold it for at least 15 seconds longer each day and see what happens. To make the plank even more effective, open and close your legs, and raise and drop your hips.
When you feel ready, try planking with one arm and the other arm reaching out straight ahead.
more: How To Get A Flat Belly Without The Gym
14. Engage Your Core
Yoga designed to strengthen your core can be a great exercise to do in addition to boxing, planking, strength training, and cardio.
Try to mix up these exercises and do a few of them each week to work out different parts of your body and to make exercising more exciting and something to look forward to.
15. Lower Your Stress Levels
Anxiety and high stress levels produce extra cortisol in your body, which is a hormone that encourages your body to store fat.
If you eat healthy, exercise, but you are super stressed and don’t lose weight, high stress could be why!
Try to take deep breaths throughout the day, and try yoga or medication to reduce stress and anxiety in your life.
more: Tricks To Get A Flat Belly
16. Drink Tea
Tea has been proven to help with weight loss and reduce bloating.
There are many teas that are specific for bloating and weight loss. Green tea is a great tea to drink because it boosts your metabolism. If you need to add a sweetener to your tea, add some honey.
17. Eat Crunchy Fruits or Vegetables
Crunchy fruits and vegetables like carrots, apples, and celery make an excellent snack and they are full of fiber.
Fiber helps move everything along in your digestive system and gives you more regular bowel movements. This will in turn give you a flatter stomach!
more: 10 Ways To Get A Flat Stomach
18. Add a Probiotic Yogurt
Try eating one probiotic yogurt a day!
Probiotics are live bacteria found in foods such as yogurt that are great for your health, especially your digestive system.
Not all bacteria is bad, the probiotic bacteria in yogurt is considered a good and helpful bacteria. It helps keep your gut healthy, which will assist with getting a flatter stomach.
So there you have it! 18 truly helpful tricks that the experts say, when combined, will make short work of getting a flat belly.
Try them all, and good luck!
In summary…
18 Tricks To Get A Flat Belly
- Chew more slowly
- Don’t rely on crunches
- Add boxing to your routine
- Portion control
- Try the ball exchange exercise
- Sea salt is better than regular salt
- Don’t hold back your laughter
- Don’t eat processed foods
- Eat a snack between 2:30-3:30pm
- Stay away from sugary drinks
- Boost your glucagon
- Here are the best foods to eat for a flat belly
- Planks are a must!
- Engage your core
- Lower your stress levels
- Drink tea
- Eat crunchy fruits or vegetables
- Add a probiotic yogurt
awesome and yet simple tricks!
avoid salty foods, this is what’s making you gain weight even more
i have always wanted to try boxing. i hope i can find time son so i can really start working out
thank you, i will try variations on my work out routine
portion control is really a must! good thing you mentioned it. a lot of posts do not include this very important trick
i’d love to try these tricks and i can’t wait for the result!
chewing slowly and eating slowly in general helps avoid gaining weight
eating in a slow pace is really effective. it is very true to me
salty and processed foods are very bad for your health and they are the main reason why you are gaining weight even when you think you don’t eat too much
lower your stress level and transform them into work outs even at home
you’re absolutely right! stress should be a no-no!
i tried planks and a bit of sit ups and they really help
my sister and i have been looking for remedies and i think i just found them! thank you!
these are all awesome tricks and i will apply your advice
processed and fast foods are really the culprit, that i’m aware of. i just don’t know how to avoid them totally! am i the only with this problem?
i do planks and they help my core a lot. thanks for your advice, i think i’ll try boxing next
yogurt and tea are also my favorites
didn’t realize that eating snack in the afternoon could actually help
eating in small portions and chewing slowly are very important keys to not gaining weight
this is perfect, im sharing it w/ friends
ill try the ball exchange exercise..never done that before
I badly need to flatten my belly, I’ll read on and on
you’re right, portion control really works. i have been doing this for long now.
i tried badminton and a bit of boxing before, really effective.
wow, i need to this, i badly want to lose my belly fats
these are all true and effective, i hope a lot of women like me succeed in their weight loss battle
planks are really a MUST! i have started doing this a couple of months ago and i see so much improvement..yous hould try it!
i never believed in eating slowly but since you are the nth person to say it to be effective, i will try it as well as eating in small portions several times a day.
i have learned that eating/chewing slowly is a great way to avoid weight gain.
very encouraging, can’t wait to try some of the tricks!