How to Eliminate Chest Fat
- 1). Eat a low-fat diet and stay within a healthy calorie range for your body. Based on recommendations by the United States Department of Agriculture, if you are a sedentary male defined as doing little more than daily tasks such as light cleaning and walking you should consume 1,400 calories daily. If you are moderately active, or walking from 1.5 to 3 miles daily, you can intake 200 calories more per day to maintain a healthy weight. Active individuals who walk more than 3 miles daily or get equivalent amounts of exercise can consume an additional 200 calories. Women have similar calorie recommendations but 200 less for each activity level. Dietary recommendations include 20 to 35 percent of calories from fat, 20 to 35 percent from carbohydrates and 10 to 35 percent from protein for healthy weight maintenance. Saturated fats found in processed foods should make up less than 5 percent of your overall calorie intake. Limit soda, alcohol and sugary foods to maintain or lose weight as well.
- 2). Perform cardiovascular exercise daily. A pound of body fat is made up of 3,500 calories, so it takes quite a bit of cardiovascular or aerobic activity to burn the necessary calories to reduce fat in the chest area and the body overall. Find your maximum fat burning heart rate by subtracting your age from 220, and then work out at 65 to 80 percent of this number for 60 to 90 minutes to burn the most fat. Exercises such as running, jogging and kickboxing work well for increasing calorie expenditure. Cardiovascular sports like basketball, racquetball and tennis work to burn fat and directly influence the upper body because of their inclusion of upper body movements during game play.
- 3). Add resistance training to your workout routine. Because increasing muscle mass will naturally raise your metabolic rate, you will burn more fat even at rest when you have more muscle. Perform chest presses with a progressively heavier weight to build chest muscles and help burn fat in the chest area. Bring the bar all the way to your chest and till your arms are straight up for best results Add in chest flys to build the pectorals and strengthen the chest area as well. Hold dumbbells out to the sides of your chest while lying on a bench or other flat surface and bring together vertically and straight up above your chest until the dumbbells meet. Lower slowly to start and repeat. Use a weight you can lift up to eight times to build thicker muscle, and up to 12 times to develop a more lean musculature. Include pushups and pull-ups in your exercise routine to eliminate chest fat and build chest muscle as well. Start by doing both exercises until you can do no more and progressively add more each workout. Allow a day or two of rest in between chest workouts and alternate with cardiovascular exercise to allow for muscle growth.