If you're sick of fad diets, fast weight loss programs or restrictive food diets - it's about time! These kinds of inflexible diets are not only a waste of your time and money - it does not show you how to maintain or improve your lifestyle. If you really want to know how to lose abdominal fat, then use the tips below as a guideline to fat loss success -



1. This is old one but one of the best ones - get into your veggies! Eat at least 5 servings of veggies a day, and you will be on your way to maintaining a healthy weight. Fresh vegetables are high in nutrition, low in calories and loaded with fiber. Look at adding plenty of vegetables to every meal, preferably half a plate filled with veggies like spinach. Not only will it help keep your calories lower, it will help you stay fuller longer. Vegetables can really help curb hunger pains.

2. Walk as much as possible. Get in the habit of walking everywhere - Walk to work, walk up the stairs - in other words just use your legs more. It's great to go to the gym and work out, but walking in just a simple exercise that you should get into more. Look at it this way - it requires no special equipment, you don't have to schedule time for it and you just end up doing it as a matter of course.

3. Get into strength training - not only does it strengthen your bones, it controls body fat. Muscle burns more calories than fat at rest, thereby increasing your resting metabolic rate. So the more muscle you build through weight training, the more calories you burn, minimising the amount of fat that is available to deposit. And this message for women - get into it now and avoid those light weights (it ain't going to jolt your metabolism).

4. Farewell Fats - regardless of whether you're using healthy olive and sunflower oils instead of butter or lard to taste, baked or fired food, all fats have the same high calorie content and will add weight if used in excess. Cutting out one tablespoon daily of any kind of fat or oil - by dry frying food in a non-stick pan, grilling, baking or simply using a quick blast of spray oil - can see you go down a full clothing size in a year.

5. Eat several times a day - Eating 4 to 6 healthy mini meals a day is a great way to keep those cravings away. However the key to keeping the meals balanced is have a mix of protein, complex carbs and fiber. A meal should consist of the following - one quarter of it should be protein food including lean meats, poultry, fish, legumes, tofu, yogurt, or eggs. Another quarter of your meal should be unrefined carbohydrates including brown rice, assorted whole grains, whole grain cereals, breads and pastas. Potatoes are a good source of energy that also fit into this category. The other half of the plate should be made up with fruits and vegetables. But stay away from fried foods and foods that are high in saturated fat. Although it's okay to have a treat now and then, just remember that it needs to be in moderation.

The key to losing abdominal fat is - be consistent. That is eat healthy consistently and workout consistently. But this doesn't mean that you have to make drastic changes immediately - just take the steps to gradually work in some of the tips above, and increase the amount of effort and time put into it. By being consistent with the positive changes, it will become a habit and improve your health.