Tackling the Myth about ‘Spot Reduction’

MYTH: The famous spot reduction wherein you can lose weight on targeted areas.

FACT: Genetics determine where you lose fat

Muscle has nothing to do with the fat between it and your skin. I’m sure that I’m not the only one who have tried it once. Abs machines promising ripped abs. Common, you must be kidding; they don’t work at all. All they did to me is give me a bigger and muscular belly. The abs are there, but it is covered with fats. Below are some questions often asked to fitness professionals?

a) What is the best way to tone your legs, stomach and back?

People confuse tone with something else. What does it mean? People think it means something like “create muscle definition“, but there real target is to have less fat. People overlooked the fact that muscles become more visible by reducing the layer of fat that conceals them. There is no such exercise that will create muscle definition by removing fat from an area. So what’s the solution? Lose body fat and your muscles will be seen. In other words, simply eat fewer calories than before. You will see that your fat levels reduced to your satisfaction. However, weight training adds muscle as you lose weight, so once you’ve your body fat is less than before, you’ll have a much more defined look. Larger muscles help emphasize the body’s natural contours.

b) How can I get rid of the excess fat around my thighs specifically?

There is no way to do that. Your thighs are where all fats accumulate. But, if you are eating less than you are burning then body fat will leave from whatever area your body was genetically programmed to draw it from at that point in time. As a rule of thumb, the last part of the body that gets fat is the first place wherein you’ll see fat loss. And again, if you consistently on exercising and consuming fewer calories than you burn, that stuff on your thighs will go, it just might be the last to do so.

A word of caution–many exercisers, in an attempt to accelerate the loss of fat from troubled area, will launch an all out exercise attack on that area. Performing a high volume of resistance training for an area viewed as fat or bigger than one likes may have the undesired effect of increasing muscle size (called hypertrophy) in that area. If calorie intake is sufficient (and it often is), and body fat is not being lost systemically, then the area of focus can increase, pushing the fat over it farther out.