The myth of spot reduction

WORTHINGTON — If you stay up late enough watching television, you are bound to see countless you “can’t afford to pass up” offers on products such as lotions that claim to eliminate cellulite and abdominal machines that promise you those perfect six-pack abdominals that you’ve always dreamed of, but never before could attain. Celebrities and infomercial stars with those six-pack abdominals swear that they achieved them through one abdominal machine or another.

Could this be true? How do you know if you should call the phone number?

While these exercises and machines may strengthen your abdominals, they will not remove the excess fat from your midsection. This idea of doing isolated exercises to lose fat in a specific area on the body is called spot reduction. Abdominal exercises, inner thigh exercises and arm exercises do not directly burn fat in those specific areas, even though you may feel fatigue in working muscle.

Even though there may be fat directly above your abdominals, the abdominals cannot use the fat above them that’s in the stored form. When a muscle uses fat as a fuel, that fat can come from anywhere in the body. Typically it comes from the fat cells that were deposited last. The stored fat, known as adipose tissue, is sent to the liver, where it is broken down into a form that muscles can use, free fatty acids (FFAs). These FFAs are then sent to the working muscle through the bloodstream. Any fat used by a muscle must be broken down to FFAs in the liver first.

A great way to view fat loss is like the layers of an onion. Rather than disappearing from a certain place on the body, it comes off layer by layer from the whole body.

The way fat is lost is different from person to person. Fat tends to be lost from the most recent place it appeared. If your mid-section started gaining fat first, then this will be the last place for the fat to disappear from. The truth is that you have no more control over where you lose fat than you did over where you gained it. This is why someone may complain of getting too thin in the face and yet still has fat around their waist, or why a woman may complain of a smaller bust and yet their hips have barely seen any change.

Exercise should always be a part of any fat loss program. Your best bet for losing fat is the combination of the right eating plan for you, full-body strength training focusing on large muscle groups and cardiovascular exercise. The money you would have spent on an expensive abdominal machine or product would be put to better use on a session with a personal trainer to help you make the most of your workouts.

Fat loss can be very frustrating, but remember, everyone is different. Have patience and remember that results don’t happen overnight. Understand how your body works and set goals accordingly to that. Set simple goals for yourself like attending the gym three times a week rather then setting a weight loss goal. After all, you need to come to the gym anyways to help get you moving in the right direction towards your goal.

Last and most importantly, always remember to keep moving!

Tags: health and fitness, weight loss, sports, ymca, health, fitness