Exercise doesn’t always have to feel like work. These tried-and-true visceral fat loss methods prove it.

Fat is fat, right? Actually, no. Your body has two layers of fat: There’s the subcutaneous layer, which is just under your skin. And then there’s visceral fat.

Visceral fat is the fat that settles in your midsection when you consume too many calories and exercise too little. It’s also the type of fat that can increase your risk of serious health complications, including heart disease, breast cancer, stroke, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes. This is largely due to where your body stores visceral fat—in your abdomen, right around important organs like your liver, stomach, and intestines.

While we need some body fat to live a healthy life, too much of a good thing can be a very bad thing for our health.

A DEXA scan of your body composition can tell you if you have too much visceral fat. If this is the case, you’ll want to tackle it head-on with the right exercises. As it turns out, some of the most effective exercises are the same ones you probably enjoyed as a kid! Let’s explore more.

But First, What Causes Visceral Fat?

Visceral fat is a fancy term for belly fat. Experts also call it “hidden fat” because it’s not the same as the fat you can feel when you pinch your skin. Studies say that around 10% of all body fat is visceral fat.

This fat largely comes from two sources: over-eating and under-exercising. Genetics also play a role in where body fat is stored. For example, some women tend to hold onto fat around the belly, while others see their fat settle into their hips. Age can also play a factor: as you get older, muscle mass decreases, and body fat increases. You might not notice any changes because you don’t always put on weight when this happens.

Knowing what causes visceral fat can lead us toward an attack plan. Let’s look at some fun fitness activities you can do to reduce belly fat and feel like a kid again.

Jump Rope

A favorite family fitness idea, this one gets everyone in your household on their feet. Jump rope is highly effective cardio that can also double as strength training. There are tons of activities you can do with a jump rope, from basic skipping to fancy tricks. What’s more, jumping rope activates multiple muscle groups in your body at once, helping you get a full-body workout in one fell swoop.

On average, you can burn 15 to 20 calories per minute of jump roping. To put it another way, you can burn 200 to 300 calories in just 15 minutes. That’s more than running for the same amount of time!

Make your jump rope workout a family fitness activity by holding contests with your kids, doing easy tricks like a criss-cross, or trying to jump rope on one foot.

Swimming

Another full-body workout, swimming is ideal because of its low impact on the body. It especially works your core muscles as you alternate your arms with each stroke and maintain your balance while floating or treading water.

It’s also great for torching calories. For every hour of leisurely swimming, you can burn anywhere from 430 to 575 calories, depending on your weight and the distance you swim.

Keep it fun by doing more than just swimming laps. Experiment with different types of strokes, try racing your kids from one end of the pool to the other, or time yourself to see how many laps you can do.

Speed Walking

Did your school teacher ever let you run in the hall? Probably not, which is why most kids pick up on the practice of speed walking. Whether you had to be the first one outside for recess or wanted to get the best seat in the lunchroom, speed walking was the next best thing to running. And even if you didn’t know it at the time, it was also good for your health.

Brisk walking can help you burn visceral fat while also boosting your mood, building muscle, and improving balance and coordination. And because it’s a higher-intensity exercise, it can also improve your metabolic rate, which will help you maintain a healthy weight.

Though you’re no stranger to walking, you should take care to demonstrate good form when speed walking. Use this checklist to perfect your form:

Head is up and looking forward
Chin is parallel to the ground
Back is straight and tall
Shoulders are down and back
Core is engaged
Arms are swinging (bend arms at a 90-degree angle to pump you along)
Feet are stepping from heel to toe

Brisk walking has a faster pace than your average daily stroll. This increases your heart rate, allows you to cover more distance, and burns more calories. In fact, you can expect to burn anywhere from 80 to 140 calories per mile while walking briskly.

Strength Training

Muscle burns fat, even when your body is at rest. That’s why strength training deserves a spot in your visceral fat attack plan.

Strength training focuses on building muscle mass. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn during and after working out.

What’s more, strength training is more effective than doing cardio alone. That’s because when you’re doing cardio, you are only burning calories while exercising. Once you stop your cardio workout, you also stop burning calories. Strength training, however, will help you keep burning calories even when you’re not actively exercising.

Examples of effective strength training exercises include:

Squats
Weight lifting
Pushups
Pullups
Using resistance bands
Situps
Planks

Combining strength training with cardio will give you that one-two punch to reduce visceral fat.

Play — With Your Food!

“Don’t play with your food,” your parents always told you. But as a kid, that’s what made mealtime fun!

As an adult, “playing” with your food takes a slightly different approach, especially if you’re not the healthiest eater. Processed foods and foods that are high in trans fat contribute to higher levels of visceral fat.

Part of reducing visceral fat means lowering your calorie intake. You don’t necessarily have to eat less to do this: you just have to make smarter food decisions based on calorie content. Play around with calories and find creative substitution options. For example:

Trade potato chips for fresh, crunchy vegetables
Try making jicama fries instead of French fries
Eat fruit for dessert instead of sugary sweets
Switch ice cream for sorbet
Use large lettuce leaves instead of tortillas for sandwiches or wraps (it works for tacos, too!)
Chew gum if you’re craving candy

When you make the right swaps, you might be surprised by just how much you’re able to eat without packing in extra calories.

Sleep

If you ever fought sleep as a kid, chances are you’ve regretted it at some point in your adult life. Who knew how much you’d miss sleeping in on weekends and summer breaks as a kid? You might not have realized it back then, but sleeping is one of the best fitness activities you can do for your body. It helps your mental performance, improves your mood, supports a healthy metabolic rate, and yes—you even burn calories while you sleep (about 50 calories per hour!).

The average adult needs about 7 to 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night. Babies, children, and teens need anywhere from 10 to 13 hours of sleep to support healthy growth and development. Older adults should get between 7 and 8 hours of sleep.

If your sleep schedule isn’t up to par, there are a few things you can do to improve your sleep duration and quality:

Go to bed at the same time each night
Disengage from screens 1-2 hours before bed
Wake up at the same time each morning
Avoid naps that could interfere with your nighttime sleep
Limit your caffeine intake

If this seems like too much to ask, try building one good sleep habit at a time until you get your schedule back on track.

Book a DEXA Scan to Understand Your Body Composition

All of the above family fitness exercises can be highly effective in reducing visceral fat. Another plan that should be in your toolkit is a DEXA scan to understand your body composition. A DEXA scan can measure the amount of visceral fat you’re carrying around and can also be a valuable tool in measuring your fat loss progress.

Find a DEXA scan near you—and in the meantime, enjoy our fun fitness suggestions!