Obesity and excess weight is an unwelcome problem for a lot of people these days, and to be able to get rid of belly fat in an effective and long-term manner is a daunting challenge for too many of them.
An increasingly sedentary population, coupled with the marketing trend of "super-sizing" our food portions, combine to create the perfect conditions for growing those undesirable and hard-to-lose "love handles", "spare tires", or "beer bellies".
For the majority of the population, it takes awareness and effort to keep weight in check, and with the right diet protocols and exercise programs most people can achieve the degree of success they want.
Being healthy is more of a lifestyle, of consistently making the right choices for your body more often than making the wrong choices.
There really is no quick way to lose weight permanently and safely, and to get rid of "love handles" means you have to reduce your overall body fat percentage.
And believe this to be true - spot reduction weight loss is simply a myth.
Just as you can't choose where your additional pounds will be stored, neither can you pick and choose where your body sheds its bodyfat.
To reduce your body fat percentage, you need to run a calorie deficit.
Running a calorie deficit simply means that your daily calorie consumption is less than the number of calories your body expends during the day.
Your body burns calories through movement and exercise, of course, but it also burns calories even while at rest.
To measure for a calorie deficit, you first need to know what your basic metabolic rate (BMR) is, or to put it another way, how much energy you would need to consume to simply maintain your current body weight if you stayed in bed all day.
One of the most common methods for determining BMR is the Harris-Benedict formula: For men: 66 + (6.
3 x body weight in lbs.
) + (12.
9 x height in inches) - (6.
8 x age in years) = BMR For women: 655 + (4.
3 x weight in lbs.
) + (4.
7 x height in inches) - (4.
7 x age in years) = BMR One you have your BMR number, it's time to consider the thermodynamic effects of food.
Your system expends energy during the digestive process, usually averaging about 10% of the total calories you consume.
So, for example, if you are consuming 2500 calories daily, you're also burning about 250 of those calories during the digestive process alone.
Now that you have your BMR and a rough idea of how many calories you're burning thermodynamically daily, it's time to factor in the last variable - a measurement of your daily activity level.
This can be difficult to calculate exactly, so just multiply your BMR by the most appropriate rough guideline below:

• 1.
  2 if your average day is sedentary
• 1.
  375 if you are slightly active (you participate in activity 1-3 times a week)
• 1.
  55 if you are moderately active (your participation is 3-5 times a week)
• 1.
  725 if you are highly active (participating 6-7 times a week)
• 1.
  9 if you're highly active in a physically demanding job

Take this new number and add it to your thermodynamic burn number, and the sum is the total number of calories it takes to maintain your current weight.
To get rid of belly fat by running a calorie deficit, 1) eat fewer calories daily than this number, 2) increase your activity to burn more calories, or 3) a combination of both.
The ideal situation for most people is to build lean muscle mass (adding weight) while burning fat calories (losing weight), because there is an important distinction between "fat loss" and overall "weight loss".
Do this and you, too, can be well on your way to losing those love handles that, in all honesty, nobody really loves.