The best way to hit this 500 number every day is to create a 250 calorie deficit through your diet and another 250 calorie deficit through cardio exercise. Remember, you want to fuel your body with high nutrient foods and keep your metabolism "stoked" throughout the day. The worst thing you can do is limit your food intake to severely which will cause your body to go into starvation mode and hold onto your body fat reserves. Your body is thinking its getting ready for a period of famine and will hold onto all the energy it can to survive this period. I recommend eating at least 1,500 calories per day and make sure you're eating "clean" and nutritious food. You want to make sure to eliminate all the excess and empty calories from your daily intake. The best way to do this is to write down everything you eat.

I recommend a general "clean" diet to adhere to. I would focus on lean protein sources (chicken breast, turkey breast, egg whites) and non-white starchy carbs such as brown rice, whole wheat pasta and boiled red potatoes.

I recommend starting on a light exercise program after your medical physical has been completed. You will experience the best results from a solid cardio program along with a nutritious diet when compared to only focusing on your diet.

Cardio training is any exercise that elevates your heart rate to a range between 60 to 85 percent of your maximum rate (fastest your heart could possibly beat). When you're in this heart rate range, you're training in an "cardiovascular" or "aerobic" state. Cardio training has numerous health benefits. In addition to burning calories and losing body fat, it strengthens your heart and lungs. Since heart disease is the leading cause of premature death for both men and women, cardiovascular fitness is a extremely important!

Most experts agree that cardiovascular training should last for 20 to 60 minutes, with the normal range being 30 to 40 minutes per session. Cardio should be performed a minimum of three days per week, with four to five days being optimal. Good examples of cardiovascular exercises :

Aerobics

Elliptical Trainers

Running

Sprinting

Stationary Bike

Tae Bo

Walking

Rope Jumping

Swimming

Sports

The list could go on forever.

The amount of calories you burn during your cardio session depends on your current body weight and the type of cardio exercise your doing.

Foods that are rich in Vitamin C have the properties of acting as fat burners. Limes, lemons, oranges, grapefruit and vegetables like, broccoli, cabbage, celery, carrot, watermelon and apple fall into this category. Broccoli and cabbage contain high quantities of calcium and vitamin C, and is also fibrous. What vitamin C does it dilutes the fat and thus renders it less effective. It also becomes easier for such fat to be flushed out of the system. Pectin is found in apples and mot fresh fruits. This substance is said to be able to limit the fat that is absorbed by the cells. In addition to this , pectin helps in the absorption of watery substances. The reaction of the watery substances on the cells makes it release fat deposits.

Breakfast foods like Oatmeal, skimmed milk and whole grain cereal and even spicy foods containing peppers are considered as foods that burn fat. Oats are a good source of vitamins, minerals and fiber. The capsaicin present in peppers induces the body to produce more stress hormones which in turn revs the metabolic rate burning more calories in the process. Soy is the wonder product, which has chemicals, which help fat from being deposited and also helps to act on the fat deposits in the body by breaking them down. Soybeans enhance the body’s ability to do away with fat.

The juice of garlic or the oil of garlic has the same protective property towards body cells and catalyses the action of getting rid of body fat. Many Indians aware of this fact are mixing their atta with soy flour.

Black Tea, coffee, and green tea also perform the same function. Consuming these foods and doing exercise would increase the metabolic rate of the body. Since the metabolism is boosted and the foods themselves are deficit in calories, the energy and fat that is stored in the body help in the digestion process. In short such foods take longer to digest and require more energy to break them down. These foods are often termed as negative calorie foods. Such foods often contain a lot of water, high percentage of fiber and are low in fat.

Water has always been in the news. Not only is it a natural product, which suppresses appetite, flushes toxins and excess sodium, but is also known to have contributed to an increase in the metabolic rate. The liquids and solids present in soup is also said to have the same properties. Low fat yogurt has been touted to be a rich source of calcium, which helps in weight loss. The bottom line here is that your body has to be taught to burn fat efficiently.

Good Luck!!

1. Eat 5-6 small meals a day instead of 2-3 big ones. Each meal should be a portion (size of your palm or fist) of protein and a portion of carbs, plus 2-3 vegetables a day. This trick stabilizes your blood sugar and keeps your metabolism up.

2. Eat more in the morning than in the evening. Ideally, your biggest meal is breakfast, and each meal gets smaller throughout the day from there.

3. Drink more water. Your urine should be clear all day, except first thing in the morning. If your urine is clear, your kidneys are properly hydrated, so they can filter your blood fulltime. This frees up your liver to do its other job: metabolizing fat!

4. Eat more fiber. Fiber makes you feel full longer, stabilizes blood sugar, and therefore keeps your metabolism high. Look for the word "whole" in your bread, tortillas, cereal, and pasta (whole grains have all three parts of the grain: the bran, the germ, and the endosperm. These work together for maximum fat-burning). Also, eat fruits, vegetables, brown rice, oatmeal, beans, and nuts.

5. Drink green tea.

6. Don't eat 3 hours before bedtime.

7. Don't eat 3 hours before or an hour after you work out. Low blood sugar maximizes fat burning.

8. When you're hungry, drink a glass of water or eat a handful of nuts. Both function as great appetite suppressants.

9. Don't overdo a diet. You shouldn't ever try to lose more than 2 pounds a week. Any more than that, and your body will fight back and resist fatloss — or worse, will burn muscle instead of fat, and then you'll just look flabby. Here's a calorie calculator: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

As for your ab fat, sorry. There's no such thing as spot reduction. Your fat comes off one whole body layer at a time. What you can do to make your stomach look better is perform ab exercises, so at least your muscle wall is straight. Here's a whole blog about lower abs:
http://lowerabexercises.blogspot.com/

you have to MAKE your body lose fat. your body loves fat, it's the prefered fuel source… so it keeps it for last… it will burn anything other than fat to keep it as a last resort, unless you force it to burn fat.

this is done by:
1- going on a high caloric diet (12-14 cals per lb of bodyweight)
2- weight training with heavy weights (relatively heavy to make you fail in between 8-12 reps)
3- knowing your ratios in your diet… do you need more proteins, do you need less carbs? less fat? MORE fat?? (yes, some people lose more fat by eating more fat)
4- cardio when needed… i would rather increase my clients cardio sessions than decrease their caloric intake
5- proper supplementation

that's how you do it… most people will dismiss this notion because it's "too hard", but this is the only and most efficient way to lose fat (notice i said fat, and not weight)

hope that helps

http://www.myfooddiary.com/resources/ask_the_expert/fat-burning_zone_myth.asp