Ask anyone about how to get rid of stomach fat, and you'll get as many answers as people you ask. The problem is that there are so many myths regarding weight loss, and particularly how to get rid of stomach fat, that it's hard to separate fact from fiction. I'm going to try and do just that.

First of all, doing thousands of crunches, situps, planks, or any other kind of killer abdominal workout, just isn't going to do the job. While it will strengthen your core muscles, and that's a really good thing, it's not going to get rid of that layer of fat on top of those amazing looking abs. All the abdominal exercises in the world won't get rid of that.

When you get right down to it, the only way to get rid of fat is to consume less calories than you expend. The calorie is a measure of energy, and different kinds of food can be converted into a certain number of calories for your body's energy needs. Excess calories are stored as fat. When you have a deficit, your body uses those fat stores for its energy needs.

So it would seem that simply not eating anything at all for a few days would be the quickest, sure-fire way to burn away that fat. Well, not so fast. As it turns out, if you crash diet, your metabolism slows down thinking that food is scarce and that it needs to conserve. You have your caveman ancestors to thank for this. What you need to do is to have a small deficit for many days.

It takes about 3500 calories to equal one pound of fat. Many people consider a healthy weight loss amount to be around 1 pound a week. Put that together and you need about a 500 calorie deficit each day. This, in and of itself, is not just how to lose stomach fat, it is how to lose all fat. It turns out that you will lose it evenly throughout your body, not just in one area.

The next thing to watch is what you eat. Foods high in sugar, including alcoholic beverages, get converted to energy very quickly. They also get converted into fat very quickly if you are not using the sugar. The sugars found in fruits and vegetables burn slower than the sugars in candy and soda, so they don't pack on the pounds as fast. Remember that the next time you feel like reaching for a candy bar or soda.

Of course, exercise also has many positive benefits. In addition to helping you feel better and increasing your cardiovascular health, exercise burns calories, which can help contribute to weight loss. Some people love to walk, others ride a bicycle, and still others swim or jog. The type of exercise is not really important, it's the fact that you get out there and do something for at least 30 minutes, 4 times per week.

Resistance training, or weight training, is also a great form of exercise in addition to one of the more aerobic forms listed above. Weight training has the added benefit of keeping your metabolic rate elevated while your muscles do their repairs from your workout. Not to mention the fact that you can shape up other parts of your body to complement the amazing 6 pack you are going to have.

When you get right down to it, the right combination of diet and exercise is how to get rid of stomach fat, or any other kind of fat. Don't get wrapped up in the hype surrounding some new pill or fad diet. The rules of biology will not change and you will always need to spend more calories than you take in.