As we get older, it is increasingly difficult to lose fat by dieting. The place where our bodies tend to store this fat is around our midsection - this belly fat can be very difficult to lose. You might have had someone mention to you that you are developing a beer gut when you don’t even drink beer! You are starting to understand belly fat.

Your body has a natural drive to store energy in the form of belly fat to guard you against times of scarcity. Although in western societies, there is rarely if ever a risk of famine, our bodies have not kept pace with the progress of our society. Our bodies are still inclined to accumulate belly fat even when there is no shortage of food.

What happens when we attempt to lose fat through a diet, our body interprets this as a sign that we are experiencing a famine, meaning that your body will try to hold on to as much of the food energy as it can. It stores this energy in the form of fat. The key is to trick your metabolism by eating a variety of foods so that your body will not think that you are starving.

In times of extreme stress or when you are very busy, you may eat less and still gain weight. This is because your body sees the situation quite differently than you do. Your body thinks you are going through a period of scarcity - and the stress hormone cortisol also plays a role in encouraging belly fat formation.

A lot of diets do not allow you to get the variety of foods you need to keep up your metabolism and fat burning hormones. If you reduce the amount of calories you are taking in, your metabolism will typically respond by slowing down to match your lower caloric intake. This will have you hitting a plateau quickly and remaining the same weight. If you are dieting with the goal of reducing your belly fat, then you need to stay one step ahead of your metabolism by varying the foods you eat every few days.

To lose fat by dieting, you may have to “fool” the brain and fat hormones into thinking that it will continue to receive enough calories to fuel the metabolism and it is alright to burn excess fat from fat storage when needed, causing you to lose belly fat.

When dieting to lose fat, you need to balance your fat burning hormone levels and your metabolism by eating the right amount of nutritional and fat burning calories. This will let you lose belly fat even while eating a lower calorie diet. Since your body will only use stored fat after burning what you are taking in, you will have to have a lower caloric intake while keeping your metabolism high.

Once you understand belly fat, it is easy to lose those excess pounds. You just need to eat a varied diet at frequent intervals to keep your metabolism burning off fat; the Fat Loss 4 Idiots diet does just that and is highly recommended at the link below.