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Losing belly fat and replacing it with muscles is achieved through a combination of training and nutrition. Resistance training is essential for building muscle, and a good diet plan will fuel those muscle gains whilst helping you shed body fat!

The simple flat belly diet & training plan detailed below will help you go from flab to fab!

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Workout Plan

The key techniques used in this workout to strip fat,  are resistance training and high intensity interval training (HIIT).  These will work whether that’s specifically belly fat, or excess fat in another location. These exercises will burn more fat than steady state cardio with the added benefit of improving muscle definition and toning for a flat belly.

Some people think that training the specific muscles will shed fat from that area, e.g. doing crunches or sit-ups to lose belly fat. These exercises will improve your abdominal muscles, but they only target a small muscle group and therefore will not burn a significant amount of calories or fat.

Compound movements, which engage a range of large muscles, will not only burn more calories, but they will also work your core at the same time. Along with HIIT, resistance training will increase your metabolic rate even after you have finished exercising for up to 12 hours afterwards, meaning you will be burning more calories even during your idle time.

I would start with the following plan, using compound movements in the gym, and high intensity intervals in the gym or outside in an open area:

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Monday: Resistance training

Aim for 4 sets of 10-15 reps on each exercise:

1 – Barbell squat

2 – Dumbbell lunges

3 – Dumbbell chest press

4 – Jump squat

5 – Warm down

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Tuesday: HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)

1 – Warm up (5 minute jog)

2 – Light Stretch

3 – Sprints – 10 sets of 10 second all-out sprints

4 – Warm down (5-10 minute walk)

5 – Stretch

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Wednesday: Rest

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Thursday: Resistance training

Aim for 4 sets of 10-15 reps on each exercise:

1 – Barbell deadlift

2 – Dumbbell Lunges

3 – Barbell Rows

4 – Jump squat

5 – Warm down

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Friday: HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)

1 – Warm up (5 minute jog)

2 – Light Stretch

3 – Sprints – 10 sets of 10 second all-out sprints

4 – Warm down (5-10 minute walk)

5 – Stretch

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You can change any of the exercises during the resistance training sessions, and experiment with different rep ranges to keep things interesting. Try using 6-8 reps or 8-10 reps to mix things up a little. You can also change the HIIT from sprints to other exercises, such as bicycle sprints, box jumps, burpees, mountain climbers, tuck jumps or anything else as long as you ensure each interval is at maximum intensity.

If you have time, add steady state cardio on your days off.

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Flat belly diet plan

In order for your body to burn fat, you must be eating with a caloric deficit, although if you’re skinny this is quite likely the case already. Try using our simple nutrition calculator to get an idea of how many calories you should be eating.

Additionally, avoid processed foods and foods containing sugars. Processed foods, such as ready meals, are full of sweeteners, artificial flavorings and other substances which wreak havoc on your hormones, preventing you from reaching your health and fitness targets. Sugars are snuck into a huge range of foods we buy, and although they taste good, they are easily stored as fat unless you have recently exercised or will do shortly after.