If you have more time and want to rev up your results, dive into Plan 2. If your goal is to whittle your waistline with the bare minimum exercise, follow Plan 1. What to do:Ħ or 7 days a week: Do one of the Flat Belly Walks, following our pace guidelines, below. Celebrity trainer Valerie Waters developed the firming moves. Try our belly-flattening strength moves and smart eating tips and you could drop a size or more this month!Įxercise physiologist Peggy Pletcher, consultant for Source Endurance, an online fitness coaching service, helped design the walking plans. Or go an hour and lose inches everywhere. Walk 20 minutes a day with our workout and your waistline may shrink an inch double it and double your results. 'Shaking up the intensity with on-again, off-again bursts of energy will give you the most time-efficient, calorie-burning workout possible,' says exercise physiologist Peggy Pletcher of Source Endurance, an online coaching service based in Austin, TX. 'If you exercise enough to lose 10% of your body fat, you may actually reduce visceral fat by 30%,' says Church.Īll walking burns belly fat, but for best results, crank up your weekly MET (metabolic equivalent) hours-the number of calories you burn. Why does walking work so well? It appears to help reduce deep belly fat (called visceral fat) first, explains Tim Church, MD, MPH, PhD, of Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University.

Researchers reviewed 40 years of studies on exercise and belly fat and found that just 2 1/2 hours of brisk walking a week-about 20 minutes a day-can shrink your belly by about 1 inch in 4 weeks. Studies show walking is one of the best ways to shed belly fat, in less time than you think. For a workout that really flattens your belly, get up and move your feet.

Brisk walking 40 minutes a day