First, I must say that losing fat in a particular way/area is up to the body. While activity is great, that won't do it alone.

The state of my metabolism seems to drive where the fat comes off. Since November, my waist measurement has dropped 6+ inches. I attribute that to varying what/when/how much I eat--in a deliberate pattern intended to simulate random variation. The more bold I've become with my n=1, the more normal my appearance has become.

What=rotation of meats, portion sizes; rotation of fruits, portion sizes; rotation of raw/cooked vegetables (portions are always large); probiotics have been very important but I skip some days with those also
When=could be 2 meals, one morning/mid-day/late afternoon meal, or up to 44 hours between solid foods How much=true hunger pangs on fasting days, true hunger with small no-protein meal on fasting day, good nutrition but mildly hungry, not hungry for hours but then mildly hungry, totally stuffed on occasional "feast" days

In general, all of the above appear to have optimized my health, appetite control and body profile. I'm actually surprised to note my first-glance appearance in store door/mirror images has recently shifted from still-obese (aka convex middle/butt) to sturdy but with no large bulges anywhere.

The specifics are easy: . I read Dr Briffa's book "Waist Disposal" . I read Gary Taubes' "Why we get fat" . I read Mark Sisson's "Primal Blueprint" . I quit reading, got off my backside and started walking a lot . oh, yeah, and I cut out grains and sugar.

Simples!

Most of these people hit on it:

Sleep, rest, relax - that lowers cortosol, great for reducing belly fat

Lower sugar, carb intake, especially fructose - when your liver is processing more fructose than it can handle, it shunts it belly fat just to get it out of the liver

Lower omega 6 intake - this may be more for women than men (but in the end we're much more similar than different), but I read a couple of places that omega 6 fat is preferentially stored in the abdomen, and omega 3 fat is stored elsewhere (in women, that means hips and thighs)

For me, the biggest of those is stress. If I'm not getting sleep, or if I'm overtraining at the gym, I notice the belly fat growing. As soon as I relax and dial the training back, I lean out almost immediately.

I have noticed when i go periods of very high in omega 3s, my body composition improves. It just happens when i ran out of meat, i turn to wild fish which is easier to get here than truly pastured grass fed meat. Sometimes i go as long as a month eating only fish and eggs, with some organ meats. I do fish organs too, milt, roe and today i did some burbot liver:)

Intermittent Fasting is da bomb.

I've noticed in a week good results from stopping caffeine after 3pm, walking in the evenings and getting good sound sleep. Lowering carbs and sugar, hiit exercise on empty stomach and intermittent fasting once a week.

Reduce calories and dont cheat

As others have mentioned you do not get to choose where you lose weight. However as you lose weight overall you might eventually lose weight in the spots where you want to.

I am having questions about this also... I have been Paleo for almost a year (my friends call it strict, I have my cheats, but they are usually primal cheats, like berries with heavy cream). Anyway, I know everyone says to SLEEP more to lower cortisol levels. I have two small children. What's sleep again?!? Really, though... what do you do in this situation? I find that I rarely get more than 6 hours of sleep a night. My husband works 4-Midnight. I wake up at least once every night when he comes home, and then if the kids are up, obviously, so am I. Does anyone have any ideas about other ways to try to relax. I'm very happy with Paleo, but the vain part of me really wants to see this thick belly and love handles whittled down a bit. I'm starting to get frustrated about it...

What boxing trainers call "road work", which is fancy training talk for running; which is how I got down to under 7% body fat.