How to Aggressively Attack Belly Fat

Reduce calories. To lose belly fat, you must shed weight all over and your stomach will shrink proportionately. A pound of fat is about 3,500 calories; so if your weight is currently stable, cut 500 to 1,000 calories a day from your normal diet to lose 1 or 2 pounds of fat per week. However, don't eat fewer than 1,200 calories per day if you're female, or 1,500 calories per day if you're male -- you may not get adequate energy and nutrition.

Remove trans fats and fructose-sweetened foods from your diet. These products may encourage visceral fat buildup, according to Harvard Medical School. Visceral fat lies deep in your belly, whereas subcutaneous fat sits just beneath your skin. Visceral fat is particularly unhealthy and is linked to heart disease, asthma, breast cancer and colorectal cancer, states Harvard.

Perform cardiovascular exercises. Cardio activities burn calories quickly to fight fat more aggressively than dieting alone. For optimal weight loss, spend 300 minutes per week performing moderate aerobic exercises such as power walking, recreational swimming or bicycling on flat ground. Alternatively, perform intense cardio 150 minutes per week. Options include jogging, swimming laps or playing racquetball.

Perform resistance exercises three days per week. Targeted stomach moves won't trim your belly fat, but they will sculpt your abdominal muscles. Try situps, crunches and supermans. To perform supermans, lie on your stomach with your arms and legs straight out. Then lift your arms and legs a foot or so from the ground, keeping your head aligned with your spine. Pause for a few seconds, then lower back down. Weight machines at the gym, such as the seated torso machine and crunch machine, are other resistance-training options. Perform 12 repetitions for each exercise, pause and repeat for two or three total sets.

Reduce stress. When you feel anxious, your body produces a substance called cortisol that can shift fat distribution to your midsection, according to the University of New Mexico. Fight stress with meditation, deep breathing, visualization techniques, tai chi and yoga.