Intermittent fasting involves not eating for part of each day or a few times a week. When your body doesn't have a constant energy source from the food you eat, it allows your body to utilize the fat stores it already has, helping you lose belly fat.
Dr. Daryl Gioffre, a celebrity nutritionist and longevity expert who specialises in the alkaline diet, adds that when you fast for 16 hours, "your blood sugar and insulin levels lower," and the human growth hormone increases. He says this increases your metabolic rate ("by up to 14 percent in some people"), and when this happens, your body has no other choice but to start burning your body's stored fat for energy.
He goes on to say that "belly fat can be stubborn to lose because the abdominal area contains more alpha-2 receptors that slow down your ability to burn fat, compared to beta-2 receptors that increase your fat burning potential." IF is powerful because lower insulin levels "activate your b-2 receptors and shut down your a-2 receptors, allowing you to burn targeted fat in your belly area."