Can You Lose Weight with the Flat Belly Diet? Here's What You Need to Know

The flat belly diet is a new weight loss program that is taking the nation by storm. The diet is from the makers of Prevention magazine, and it's creating quite a buzz online as people everywhere gear up for swimsuit season.

Like most diets, it has big claims for its weight loss powers but what is it exactly? According to the authors, it isn't exactly a "diet" but a better way of eating that you carry on long after the 32-day diet plan. By making the right changes to your diet, the plan says, you can reduce the amount of fat in your midsection and have sleeker, smoother abs.

A key part of the plan is drinking "sassy water," which is a specific blend of grated fresh ginger, cucumber, lemon and spearmint. Mixing those ingredients in water and drinking at least 8 ½ cups per day is supposed to assist your body with fat burning and weight loss. You drink the sassy water throughout the diet.

The diet plan consists of 4 pre-diet days of preparation and 28 days of the actual diet. You begin the diet with a Mediterranean-inspired meal plan for four days. This part of the diet is designed to reduce bloating in your midsection. You should avoid simple carbohydrate foods, sodas and other carbohydrate beverages, gum, spicy foods and fatty and fried foods.

Once you're done with the first four days of the pre-diet meal plan, you'll move on to the actual diet. In the diet book, you'll get instructions for the correct food choices. You'll need to eat three different meals of around 400 calories each, in addition to an extra 400 calories, for a total of 1600 calories. You'll mix and match foods from the lists in the book.

One of the key points of the flat belly diet is to include a food with mono-unsaturated fat at each meal. These foods can include nuts, olive oil, chocolate, seeds, avocados and olives. Mono-unsaturated fats help you stay fuller longer in between meals and they can aid with weight loss.

You should eat each of your 400-calorie meals at least four hours apart. You can use the extra 400 calories as snacks throughout the day, or you can add them to a meal if you have a special occasion where you'll need to eat more than your diet meal allotment.

In addition to following the weight loss plan, you should also do exercises to make your belly flatter faster. By doing aerobic exercise, you'll boost your metabolism. A higher metabolism will keep you feeling fuller in between meals and you'll burn fat faster. You can also follow the exercise recommendations in the book, which should be done three to five times per week for maximum impact.

For complete instructions on the flat belly diet, order the book online – or look for it in your local bookstore. Now that you know a little about the diet, you can decide whether or not it is for you.