The first sign for many people that they are gaining weight is when they start getting a fat belly and their pants seem to keep shrinking for no apparent reason. Well, that\'s not entirely true. We all know the reason but there is a period of time when most people are in denial that their body is changing its shape for a number of reasons.

As we age eating habits change, the amount of exercise we get changes, lifestyles in general change, but even if all those things didn\'t change there is one thing that does; our metabolism slows down as the years pass making it easier for the body to store away the fat that invariably shows up around our mid-sections first.

To combat this problem the solution is simple, keep your metabolism running at a high rate and its ability to burn fat will keep your belly in trim shape. And the best part is you can do this without spending all your money on the latest \"fat burning\" pill, or calorie cutting diet, or even buying one of those magical exercise machines shown on late night infomercials that bend you in half like some sort of human taco. In fact all it really takes to speed up your metabolism is two simple things; diet and exercise.

A Nutritious Diet - Everything your body needs to function daily comes from the food you eat. Unfortunately this can be one of the most misunderstood parts of any attempt to reduce fat stores. The nutritional content of the food you put into your mouth is a large controlling factor to how well your metabolism will work.

Your metabolic rate is the rate at which you are burning calories. Obviously the more calories you burn during the day the more weight you can lose. The mistake many people make is cutting too many calories from their diet which can have the opposite effect of slowing down their metabolism.

By choosing healthy foods you give your body high impact energy sources that rev up your metabolism which leads to better weight management. You may be asking, isn\'t a calorie a calorie? The answer is yes but the body utilizes calories from nutrient dense foods much differently then it does from the more refined and processed foods found on grocery store shelves today.

Your body has to expend energy to extract the nutrients from these healthy foods simply because it takes more energy to process and digest these types of food. Foods heavy in complex carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, and fiber are all known to increase metabolism while processed and refined foods and carbohydrates (sugar) are digested quickly and processed quickly into fat storage with little to no metabolic benefit.

Exercise - This is the second part of keeping that belly fat at bay but to be truly successful you have to incorporate two different kinds of workouts. The first is some form of cardiovascular or aerobic training. This is good for general overall bodily fat reduction and also building a healthy cardiovascular system.

Weight training of some form should also be incorporated in any fat burning routine because nothing burns calories quite like lean muscle mass, even at rest. Weight training also brings your core muscles into play. These are your abdominals, obliques, and back muscles which are responsible for stabilizing your midsection and keeping your stomach flat.

If you are getting a fat belly it may be time to start looking at making changes to your diet and getting some more exercise. Not only will you burn away that excess fat but you will also feel better about yourself physically and emotionally.