If you’ve completed the 4-Day Jumpstart, you’ve now seen how a flatter belly looks, and you’ve felt the renewed confidence that comes from experiencing such fast results. You’re now ready to move on to the next—and most important—part of the Flat Belly Diet: You’re ready to lose belly fat.

The Flat Belly Diet is different from other diet plans. Cut calories from anywhere in your diet and you will lose pounds. Add in cardiovascular exercise and strength training, and you will even lose body fat. But no other diet can target belly fat specifically the way this diet can. That’s because the Flat Belly Diet contains a significant amount of MUFAs (monounsaturated fats). These unique fats—first brought to our attention by researchers studying the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle—are like little miracle workers in your belly. When you consume a reduced-calorie diet that’s high in MUFAs, you will not only lose pounds. You will also lose visceral belly fat, the type of body fat that wraps around your internal organs, secretes inflammatory chemicals, and ups your risk of chronic disease. This is why the Flat Belly Diet can help you to lead a longer, healthier life.

MUFA (MOO-fah) stands for monounsaturated fatty acid, a type of heart-healthy, disease-fighting, “good” fat found in foods like almonds, peanut butter, olive oil, avocados—even chocolate. MUFAs are an unsaturated fat, and create the exact opposite effect of the unhealthy saturated and trans fats you’ve heard about in the news. Numerous studies have shown that a diet rich in MUFAs is linked to a reduction in LDL cholesterol, the kind that clogs up arteries, and a boost in HDL, the kind that sweeps cholesterol out of the arteries and clears it from the body.

MUFAs are delicious in and of themselves. You’ll find MUFAs included in the meal and Snack Pack plans. You can substitute one MUFA for another as long as the calorie counts are equivalent. For example, you can exchange almond butter (202 calories) for macadamia nuts (203 calories). You'll find a complete list of MUFAs in the Food and Meal Plan FAQs in this Tutorial (Under Help and Support).

The latest heart health guidelines from the National Institutes of Health advise that under 7 percent of our total calories should come from saturated fat. Since the basic Flat Belly Diet is a 1,600 calorie plan, that equates to less than 12.5 grams of saturated fat a day. Here are some numbers to help you put that in perspective:

The grams of saturated fat in:

• ½ cup of premium chocolate chip ice cream = 12 (that means 48 per pint)
• 1 Tbsp of butter = 7 (that means 56 per stick)
• 1 cup (8 oz.) of whole milk = 5 (that means 128 per gallon)
• 3 oz 85 percent lean ground beef = 5 (that means 25 per pound)

The main goal is not to eliminate it altogether, but rather to keep it in check and make most of your fat choices MUFA-rich.

You’ve probably noticed from looking at the list of MUFAs that they’re not exactly low-cal choices. They’re all foods—nuts, oils, etc.—that we’re usually told to avoid when trying to lose weight. But because these MUFAs are so essential to losing belly fat, they need to be included. That means that calorie control takes on extra importance. All the meals in the Flat Belly Diet provide about 400 calories. An added bonus of this controlled-calorie plan is that you can substitute one whole meal for another. If you really want to, you can eat breakfast for dinner or lunch for breakfast. You can even eat four breakfast meals in one day if you really want to!

A diet won’t work if it makes you feel hungry or tired. That’s why on the Flat Belly Diet, you’re required to eat every four hours. Waiting too long to eat can cause you to become so hungry (and irritable) that it’s hard to even think clearly. That means you won’t have the energy or patience to think through what the healthiest choice is or come up with a meal idea, let alone prepare one.

Don’t skip breakfast. Studies show that people who skip breakfast and eat fewer times during the day tend to be heavier than people who eat a healthy breakfast and eat three or four more times a day. This may be because people who skip meals tend to feel hungrier later on and then eat more than they normally would. It may also be that eating many small meals throughout the day helps people control their appetites.

Snacks are equally important, but when you eat them is entirely up to you. It is also essential. To help make it more likely that you’ve include a snack each day, the meal plan options include a variety of Snack Pack options that you can prepare ahead of time and take with you each morning. They’re portable, and of course, MUFA-loaded. The Snack Pack is a floating meal. Use it when you most need to keep you energy and blood sugar steady, keep you metabolism revved up, and control hunger.

As we noted above, if your customized daily calorie level is in the 1100-1300 calories per day range, your meal plans might not include a snack. If you feel that you are too hungry on the plan you've been given in your meal plans, you can always add a snack or half of a snack to the foods you eat each day.