Best Exercise Program to Lose Visceral Fat
After realizing I had visceral fat, and making the hypothesis that this could be causing conditions in my body which made my cholinergic urticaria worse, I decided to change it.
So I researched quite a lot on both diet and exercise. As you can see from my diet posts (see above), I really wanted to nail my diet so I could start burning fat. I also realized how much sodium I was consuming, and have changed my diet in big ways (but very gradually) to accommodate a much more healthy approach.
I am slowly weeding out foods that are unhealthy, high calorie (with little nutritional content), and I am trying to eat as natural as possible. I am still tweaking this quite a bit, but so far I am really enjoying my diet.
Diet is where I started because I knew it would be easiest to change. Plus, I am the type of person who can eat nothing but rice for 2-3 weeks and be okay with it. I have even fasted for a couple of days (boy that was tough!). I started slowly with diet (cutting out soft drinks and making only 1 pancake instead of 2). But the more I learned, the more I tried to keep adjusting it to reduce calories and eat more healthy.
But I knew diet alone really wasn’t enough to lose visceral fat. At least, not nearly as quickly as I wanted the stuff gone. So began my research onto which exercises are best for this goal. 
Of course, I had to weed through all of the “ab machines,” “lose 90 pounds in one minute eBooks,” and all the other junk floating around on the web.
The Truth About The Best Exercises for Visceral Fat
What I did learn (consistently from reputable medical sources), is that visceral fat responds very well to cardiovascular (or “aerobic”) exercises. These include exercises like running, cycling, swimming, ellipticals, treadmills, etc.
These exercises seem to burn the most calories, and by helping to burn excess calories, your body will eventually begin to burn body fat (assuming your diet is under control).
These same articles also stressed that strength training should also be added if possible (since building muscle will help burn fat even more and increase your metabolism). But “cardio” or “aerobic” exercises combined with diet will really make quite a difference for the average person.
How Much Cardio Should You Do To Lose Visceral Fat (Belly fat)?
Most websites recommended 30 minutes of cardio exercise at least 4 or 5 times per week. If possible, 6 times per week at 30 minutes is even better. I always recommend taking 1 “sabbath” off per week from all physical (and even mental) work to let the body rest.
Obviously you don’t have to start at this level, and you can start with just 15 or 20 minutes (or less). But this is the target that most medical websites suggested that people should aim to achieve.
In one study, it noticed that those running/jogging less than 17 miles per week lost little or no visceral fat, while those running above 17 miles lost significant visceral fat. So most articles seemed to encourage at least 4-6 days of aerobic/heat pumping/cardio exercise at least 20-30 minutes long.
Summary: I Learned That Aerobic “Cardio” Exercise Was Most Effective at Burning Visceral Fat
So most legit articles seemed to suggest that cardio exercise (combined with a healthy diet), was very effective against cutting body fat, and even the stubborn visceral fat. Now I’ve already mentioned some of the ways to do cardio exercise (running/jogging, swimming, bike riding, treadmills, elipticals, etc.).
So which is the very best way to get cardio? That is my next post.
I will also discuss how a guy who breaks out in hives every day was able to pull it off…
This is yet another post in my recent series of posts how my cholinergic urticaria went from being very severe to tremendously better (basically gone now). If you have not yet read my previous posts, then I strongly urge you to read them first so you can know exactly how this has progressed:
- My brief history of hives
- My body’s health history
- The Discovery of my hidden fat
- What is visceral fat?
- and My Hypothesis of visceral fat making cholinergic urticaria worse
- How to lose visceral fat
- Use Diet to eliminate visceral fat
- High Calorie Foods to Watch
- My Joyce Chen Steamer Review (My secret cookware weapon to reduce calories)
- Low Calorie Snack Ideas–some snacks to help you curb your cravings without adding too many calories.
- High Sodium Diet–How I was eating way too much sodium, and you may be too.
- Low Sodium Diet Tips
- Summary on Diet
Note: please keep in mind that you should always talk to a doctor before changing your diet or exercise habits. These posts are only relating general information and experiences only.