Whether you gave birth weeks, months or years ago, you might harbor a little insecurity about your "mommy tummy." As your belly swells through pregnancy, the muscles of the abdominal wall and the skin on top are stretched to accommodate your growing child.

You do not need gym equipment or fad diets to get a flat stomach. While aerobic exercise is your best option for burning thick belly fat, you can achieve results more slowly through changing your diet, limiting your calories and doing daily activities.

According to the September 2007 issue of "Scientific American," more than 1.3 billion people worldwide are obese. Dr. Lan Liang of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality says, "Waistlines aren't the only thing poised to balloon in the future."

Traditional ab exercises like the sit-up can cause lower back and neck pain by compressing the spine. Consider safer, stationary alternatives like the plank.

Situps are a go-to ab exercise, but they use other muscles too. You may feel repetitions in your hip flexors, thighs and back.

Pregnancy completely changes your body gradually over 40 weeks. Your ligaments and joints become more flexible, your center of gravity changes, your organs shift as your baby grows and your abdominal muscles are stretched to make room for your baby. Once you deliver, it takes time for your body to change again.

Regular exercise and a low-calorie diet are typically used to flatten the stomach. Exercise helps increase your metabolism, which causes your body to burn more calories. When you combine exercise with a low-calorie diet, your body is forced to use fat storage to make up the calorie difference.

Elite swimmers look good even when they aren’t encased in girdle-tight, competitive swimsuits, but getting that sleek profile takes discipline and exercise. Water provides steady, gentle resistance for effective workouts.

Unfortunately, most people in the United States have excess body fat. Over two thirds of adult Americans are classified as overweight or obese, according to the American College of Sports Medicine.

A warmup before you do any tough exercises improves your performance and deters injury. Build a little heat before you exercise your abs, too.

Increasing your ability to perform situps builds your abdominal strength but requires practice and additional exercise. While situps do not do much to burn fat, strong abdominals improve your posture and help support you during many activities.

A flabby, hanging stomach can be a sign of an unhealthy lifestyle. Childbirth, extreme weight loss and weight that fluctuates frequently can also result in a hanging stomach. Making changes to your exercise routine, diet and lifestyle can add up to inches lost and a firmer abdomen.