For the majority of us, losing weight is a taxing and challenging task - it requires a lot of physical effort, along with maintaining self-discipline, modifying your lifestyle including opting for healthy nutritional choices regularly.
We all generally want to lose weight from specific areas of our bodies. For example, the belly, arms, or thighs, etc. In an ideal world, individuals reducing weight in these areas would be a quick fix. Although not seen as drastic in this day and age as it once was, there are some individuals who opt for “the easy solution” and go down the path of cosmetic surgery.
This idea of being able to, through exercise, target “just the fatty areas we want gone” is where the phenomenon of spot reduction has come from. It is also sometimes called ‘targeted weight loss’. The phenomenon involves working out in specific ways to eliminate fats from a specific portion of the body. But is this possible?
One famous example of this type of exercises is crunches. Some individuals will have you believe that by doing a specific number of crunches, not only can you lose midsection body weight, but you’ll also reveal your six pack. Various research studies have been conducted on spot-reduction, but to date, none have found substantial evidence supporting it.
Spot Reduction: Myth or Reality?
Apart from liposuction and other surgeries for targeted weight loss, spot reduction is a myth. Very few studies have supported it and the ones that do tend to fail to consider the fact that every person has a different body. Weight can only be lost if the calories burnt are greater than calories consumed. Whether through diet or exercise, you cannot target a specific area and lose fat only within that area. When a body burns fat, it takes a systematic approach to the fat loss. Overall, the whole body loses weight at a similar pace. Do some individuals have ‘stubborn areas’ where it seems harder to lose fat from? The short answer is yes. For these individuals the level of commitment and consistency needed generally must be higher.
Why was there a hype of spot reduction?
The short answer – genius marketing. Some businesses took the fact that you can increase muscle size in a specific area, with targeted training of the muscles, and flipped it so that it seemed that gaining muscle automatically equated to losing fat in the area. This is simply not true. By specifically targeting a muscle, with a specific approach to the weights used, you can, and most often will, increase the size of that muscle. However, to lose fat you must be burning more calories than what you consume; and when you do this, then you can achieve overall fat loss.
Advertisers in conjunction with some trainers, devised programs and pills that promised to help target those stubborn areas of fat, without any scientific research being done and charged clients a premium. At the end of the day, it became a money-making business where you get individuals who are already in good shape with good physiques, to endorse a particular supplement that ‘helps to target an area of concern’, without those individuals using the supplement. Some of these supplements have been shown to have detrimental effects to vital organs of the body, especially with long term use.
We all know that there are certain commitments and sacrifices that we must make if fat loss is our goal. Knowing that we can’t achieve targeted fat loss, outside of undergoing surgery, following the practical steps below should play a key role in a day to day life.
· opt for an overall healthy lifestyle
· make regular movement the norm (be less sedentary)
· have a healthy and balanced diet
· incorporate a variety of strength training in your routine
· perform cardio exercises
· stay hydrated
· avoid extended periods of zero calories
· have healthy stress management skills in place
· maintain a weight-loss journal
There are no shortcuts or easy ways out when trying to lose weight. Always remember you must put in genuine and consistent efforts if you want to achieve your ideal fitness goals. It can be good to talk to someone (personal trainer, nutritionist, medical professional) who may be able to give you guidance on the achievability of your goals, along with the best approach to help you achieve them.
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