There is no quick fix to losing belly fat but there is also no unique method even though fad diets and extreme exercise routines appear to disagree. If you take what is said in these programs and consider it to be typical of the collective knowledge regarding belly fat loss, then the next paragraphs are going to shock you.

Why would you want to lose belly fat in a way that was completely at odds with the typical diet philosophies?

For starters, the typical diet philosophies are temporary. You cannot get a flat stomach or lose belly fat permanently if you follow a fad diet or extreme exercise program. There are 2 reasons:

• Fad diets or extreme exercises do not tend to work well with your body and you can cause damage to it, which you will probably not be prepared for

• Because of this, you do not stick with the diet and end up back at square one and usually with less muscle mass, hence a slower metabolism, hence yo-yo dieting.

You can go and research for yourself the number of new diets that appear every couple of months or the number of new "get slim quick" fitness programs that find their way onto your social media sites. Each one promises fantastic weight loss and fat burning but few deliver because they forget the most important thing.

They forget that someone has to actually follow the diet or program.

How do you lose fat in completely the opposite way?

You do it by adhering to these simple rules:

• Do not give up processes foods, beer or wine

• Do not spend any more than 2 hours exercising a week

• Do not spend vast amounts of money on gym membership fees or equipment

• Do not spend money on special diet foods

• Do not cut your daily diet by more than 10%

As you can see this is a long list of things to not do. What, then, can you do proactively to lose belly fat?

• Exercise 4 times a week, for no longer than 30 minutes each time.

• Introduce short high intensity interval training workouts into your exercise plan

• Keep up with any weight training or running that you may do but do it at home

• Eat 4 times a day

• Adapt your diet gradually in steps, by cutting out things like processed foods and beer slowly, but you do not have to stop having them.

• Only reduce what you eat in total by up 10%, and no more

• Get 7 to 8 hours sleep at night and drink at least 2 litres of water a day

The key is to vary your exercise routine and change your diet in such a way as you get used to smaller changes and can build new habits and familiarity around them.

The secret weapon in belly fat loss is motivation and habit building. Once you build good habits that help you lose belly fat you do not have to consciously force yourself to follow the plan. You will do it almost automatically.