How to lose belly fat fast

Losing fat in one particular area isn’t possible due to how your body stores fat. However, weight loss can reduce fat throughout the body, including the belly. For this reason, belly fat loss is a common motivator for overall weight loss. 

We’re here to help you understand belly fat, how to lose it, and what it means for your health. 

What is visceral fat? 

Visceral fat is the type that sits around your organs, like the heart and liver. Even though you can’t see or feel under the skin, this type of fat has the biggest impact on your health. 

You need a bit of visceral fat to keep space between your organs. However, too much visceral fat can mean diseases affecting your heart and blood vessels become more likely as it might lead to: 

• Higher levels of a type of fat in your blood called cholesterol 
• Higher blood pressure 
• Higher type 2 diabetes risk 

What are the risks associated with belly fat? 

Even if you have a healthy body mass index (BMI), which means you’re a healthy weight for your height, having too much belly fat may still increase your risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. 

Too much visceral fat can also lead to faster ageing, according to a recent study. It’s also known as “active fat,” becase it doesn’t just sit there. It’s “active” because it acts on the body, affecting levels of chemicals called hormones that send messages to parts of your body and trigger effects. u 

People who store more fat around their belly also have an increased risk of some cancers. This may be because belly fat sends a lot of signals to other areas of the body. 

What are the best exercises to reduce belly fat? 

The best exercises to help you lose belly fat are those you enjoy that add to your daily calorie burn, as you can’t target one part of the body for fat loss. Using more calories than you consume in your diet drives fat loss over time, including your belly fat. 

These exercises include things like:  

• High-intensity interval training (HIIT) training   
• Strength training   
• Cardio  

Exercise alone cannot burn enough calories to burn belly fat. It needs to be part of an active lifestyle with a diet that provides fewer calories than you use while giving you enough vitamins and minerals for your body to work well. 

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) 

HIIT involves doing short bursts of exercise that leave you extremely out of breath, with brief rests in between each burst. 

• Running up and down the stairs 
• Fast or high-resistance cycling in a spin class  
• Sprints around a track for a certain distance 
• Lifting heavy weights 
• Circuits where you perform a series of intense exercises, broken up with rests 

The benefits of HIIT for belly fat

Research has shown that HIIT can reduce body fat mass and increase fat-free mass (that is, how much your muscles weigh). While this won’t reduce belly fat specifically, working HIIT into your day can go quite some way towards your overall fat burn in a short time span. 

HIIT consists of short exercise sessions, meaning it’s easy to fit into your day if you don’t often feel you have enough time to go on a long run, cycle, or spend hours at the gym. Some HIIT sessions are just 10 minutes long, and even 15 minutes of intense activity can help protect your heart.  

Strength training 

Strength training involves exercises that make the muscles work harder than usual by using extra weight in a pushing or pulling movement. The weight can be a hand weight, resistance band, kettlebell, machine, or your own body weight.  

Practicing this type of exercise two or more days a week can increase the strength, size, and power of your muscles, as well as how long they can work. Having more muscle means your body burns more energy, even at rest. This can help you lose weight in the long term. 

Key exercises to incorporate

Key exercises to include are core workouts, cardio and strength training. While core exercises won’t burn belly fat alone, they are great to incorporate into your diet to help burn belly fat. Core workouts strengthen the abs, pelvic floor muscles, and diaphragm, which help you breathe. Good core strength supports your leg muscles and spine, allowing for smoother, injury-free movements during other exercises and in daily life. 

Core exercises might include:  

• Pelvic tilts 
• Bridges 
• Abdominal crunches 
• Wall or floor push-ups  
• Superman 
• Wall squats 

When trying to lose belly fat, your strength workouts shouldn’t only focus on the core. They should work every other major muscle group, including the chest, legs, hips, back, shoulders, and arms. Try different machines at the gym to work different muscle groups, or chat to a personal trainer about how to mix up your workout. 

Cardio exercises 

Cardio exercises involve moving your biggest muscles (your arms and legs, for example) in a way that makes it harder to breathe and causes your heart to pump faster. A wide range of activities count as cardio, including: 

• Brisk walking / more walking
• Dancing 
• Cycling 
• Rollerblading 
• Hiking 
• Swimming 
• Running 
• Aerobics 
• Martial arts 

The faster you move, the longer you exercise, and the harder you work, the more calories you’ll add towards your daily burn. Getting more than 150 minutes of cardio every week may seem like a lot, but you can start with 5 to 10 minutes daily and slowly build up. 

Nutrition tips for belly fat reduction

To lose belly fat fast, you need to work out and make diet changes that mean you use more calories than you eat. On average, people need to reduce the number of calories (kcal) they eat by about 600 kcal a day. 

Some of these changes affect how you eat rather than what you eat. For example, weigh out the amount of food you eat and use smaller plates to help keep your portions smaller. Calorie-counting apps or a food diary also help you keep track of your food. 

Foods to incorporate

Mainly sticking to these foods for weight loss can help you reach a lower calorie intake without sacrificing flavour: 

• Two or more portions of veg in a main meal, taking up about half the plate 
• Protein sources, like fish, eggs, meat, beans, or pulses 
• Wholegrain versions of pasta, bread, or rice, as these fill you up and count for at most one third of your plate 
• Light and low-fat milk, cheese, spreads, and yoghurt 
• Unsaturated oils, like olive or sunflower oil 
• At least 6-8 glasses of water daily 

Foods to avoid 

You can enjoy less healthy treats from time to time, but they should make up far less of your diet than before you were trying to lose belly fat. These include: 

• Chocolates 
• Sweets 
• Cakes 
• Biscuits 
• Pastries 
• Fatty or processed meats 
• Oils or spreads high in saturated fat, like butter, lard, or coconut oil 
• Alcoholic drinks 

Take care when eating in pubs or restaurants, as not all of them give calorie info for each portion you eat. 

Weight loss medication to aid belly fat reduction 

Prescribed weight loss medications like Wegovy (semaglutide) and Mounjaro (tirzepatide) can help you burn belly fat. However, they’re helping you get rid of fat across the whole body rather than targeting belly fat alone.  

MyBMI can provide Wegovy and Mounjaro if appropriate. These are a type of medicine called GLP-1 agonists, and they can be very helpful as an extra tool in weight loss. 

However, these aren’t a cure for belly fat by themselves. If a clinician recommends them, you’ll need to take them along with diet changes and increased exercise to help you manage your body weight and belly fat. 

Another injection, Saxenda (liraglutide), is available as a daily dose when prescribed. It works similarly, but doesn’t achieve quite the same results. 

Weight loss tablets are also an option. These are often more suitable for people who aren’t comfortable using injections. A lower dose of Orlistat is also available at pharmacies without a prescription. 

Mounjaro and Wegovy for belly fat 

Wegovy and Mounjaro are available as a weekly injection. You can only access them if a doctor prescribes them.  

A doctor will only prescribe Wegovy for people with health problems linked to their weight and a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or higher, or 32.5 or higher for certain ethnic groups.  

For Mounjaro, doctors only prescribe it for those with a BMI of 40 or higher and four of the five following health problems: 

• Type 2 diabetes 
• High blood pressure 
• Heart disease 
• High levels of blood fats 
• Obstructive sleep apnoea, in which you struggle to breathe at night 

Your doctor will review your prescription after 6 months. You’ll usually only continue to take Wegovy or Mounjaro if you’ve lost more than 5% of your weight.  

Sources 

• 3 exercises that are best for heart health. (2022) British Heart Foundation. [Accessed on October 1, 2025] 
• Active Fat campaign. (n.d.) Diabetes UK. [Accessed on October 1, 2025] 
• Calories in alcohol. (2023) NHS. [Accessed on October 1, 2025] 
• Eatwell Guide: How to eat a healthy balanced diet. (2025) NHS Scotland.  
• Healthy eating when trying to lose weight. (n.d.) NHS. [Accessed on October 1, 2025] 
• HIIT workouts: just 15 minutes of intense activity can improve heart health. (2021) University of Huddersfield. [Accessed on October 1, 2025] 
• How does obesity cause cancer? (2025) Cancer Research UK. [Accessed on October 1, 2025] 
• How to improve your strength and flexibility. (2022) NHS. [Accessed on October 1, 2025]  
• Mounjaro vs Wegovy: which is better for weight loss? (2025) British Heart Foundation. [Accessed on October 2, 2025]  
• Obesity. (2024) British Heart Foundation. [Accessed on October 1, 2025] 
• Physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64. (2024) NHS. [Accessed on October 1, 2025] 
• Treatment: Obesity. (2023) NHS. [Accessed on October 1, 2025] 
• What’s the best exercise to lose fat around your belly? (2025) British Heart Foundation. [Accessed on October 1, 2025] 
• Why your waist size matters. (2024) British Heart Foundation. [Accessed on October 1, 2025]