The Truth About Targeted Fat Loss

Anyone have that place on their body that they wish they could just focus on, and it'll give you exactly the shape you want?

These places have gotten some interesting nicknames: bat wings, love handles, saddlebags, aprons, double chin, badonkadonk, need I go on?

But there's always one that seems to irritate us the most. Have you ever tried to focus on that area, do extra exercises to burn fat RIGHT THERE and tone it up?

Maybe you did a ton of ab exercises to try to make your stomach flatter.

Betcha it didn't work!

The truth is, it's not supposed to work that way. There is no such thing as targeted fat loss or spot reduction. Due to genetics, age, and a bunch of other factors, people hold fat in certain areas more than others, and there is nothing we can do, except lose body fat.

Alright, so that sound obvious enough, but what about that bit of chonk right there??

So when the body loses fat, it will do so proportionally based on, again, genetics. Some people will lose it in their legs first, some in their upper torso, some in their face right away. But really, what's happening, is that we have indeed lost it from everywhere else also.

So what can be done otherwise?

When you exercise and try to TONE UP a certain spot, first, watch out. You'll be more prone to injure yourself if you focus on one small muscle group and not the others. It can cause muscle imbalances. Be sure to work out the neighboring muscle groups too for extra support.

Second, when you tone up a certain area, remember that you're also adding mass, namely muscle mass to it. If you're working it hard, you'll also probably deal with some mild inflammation there also, as new muscle rebuilds itself in the process.

Third, the scale might go up from all these things. If you aren't making an obvious effort to get a calorie deficit happening, you won't lose fat or scale weight. The muscle mass will make it go up, the water weight from inflammation will make it go up.

So that means those super-ripped athletes you see pictures of might have really low body fat, but they weigh a lot more than you think!

Muscle weighs about 15-20% more than fat, if you were to compare, say a cubic inch of body fat and a cubic inch of muscle. I wish that this one personal trainer I had a long time ago explained that to me instead of telling me I had to stop strength training if I wanted to lose weight! Ouch!

What will matter in the end, if you are trying to trim up a certain area, is general body fat loss, which will benefit the rest of your body too. Then, to keep the area from looking "deflated", which is caused by loose skin after fat loss, is strength training to tone up the area, which looks much more pleasing and is absolutely healthier.

This information has been proven from numerous scientific studies. They can be referenced in the National Institute of Health's National Library of Medicine through PubMed .gov. as very reputable sources. Gimmicks aren't allowed there.