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Fact of life:  Shortcuts do not work. Which means that the exercise machine that “guarantees” fat loss only around your tummy does not work. The “revolutionary diet programme” that ensures tummy fat loss in 2 weeks does not work. You can do 200 crunches  day but you won’t lose fat round your stomach any faster – you will strengthen your tummy muscles, but the crunches won’t help speed up the  fat loss process. Why? Because spot fat loss targeting does not work. It’s a myth – so don’t believe any trainer, advertisement, book or website that tells you otherwise…

Emptying a Swimming Pool

Fact: You can not decide that this week I want to lose fat on my stomach and next week I will focus on my butt. The best analogy that I read was by trainer Ian Graham who compared it to a swimming pool. Imagine putting a bucket in one corner of a swimming pool and emptying the water. Do you see one corner emptying and not the rest of the pool? The water comes from the entire pool and not one corner right? The human body works exactly the same way – the circulatory system delivers blood to all parts of the body and, more importantly, converts fat to energy from all parts of the body. So the fat that burns during your workout comes from all over the body at the same time – you get no choice in the spot location.

Loose Rings

Hasn’t this happened to you – after a couple of months of exercising, your rings become lose. How often have you done finger-specific exercises. Never correct? Then how come you lost fat around your fingers? Simple answer: Fat loss happens all over the body and not just from the part you “target”.

Common Sense People: Don’t Confuse Spot Fat Loss Targeting with Isolation Exercises

A bicep curl strengthens the bicep muscle, it does not help you lose fat around your arms. Similarly, stomach crunches strengthen the stomach muscles but don’t make you lose ab fat. Fat loss and muscles strength are two very different concepts and you should not confuse the two. Common sense really – if spot fat loss targeting were possible, imagine how skinny runners’ legs would be. Or simply enough – we’d all have flat, strong and chiselled abs wouldn’t we?

So What Really Happens?

In simple terms: The fat burn process is triggered by an energy requirement stimulus. The stimulus first triggers hormones and enzymes into the bloodstream that are needed for “fat mobilisation.” These hormones and enzymes are concentrated evenly throughout the blood stream. So, all fat tissues are evenly and equally called on to release the energy, which they do. The hormones do not decide something like, “Oh you’re doing crunches, okay you tummy fat tissues, release your energy.” It just doesn’t happen.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the body parts with the least fat show results first – hence the rings loosening phenomenon. So it’s not that you’re not losing weight in your arms, thighs or butt or losing it there slower. It’ll just show results a later because there’s more fat to burn through.

And lastly, fat loss speeds vary from person to person. Someone who has not exercised a day in their 30 years of living will not suddenly, dramatically shed it all in a week when they start exercising. Fat loss is a slow and stubborn process – if you put it off or try spot fat loss targeting cheat tactics, you’re making the process slower and much more stubborn.

Moral of the Story

Start now! The longer you wait, the harder the process is going to become. Remember, there is no substitute for hard work and if you are serious about losing the extra weight then you need to focus on:

1. A healthy and balanced diet: Control your calorie intake so that you’re burning more than you consume. Forget the miracle diets – there’s no substitute for the real thing. So plan your calorie requirement and stick to it.
2. Eat right: Make sure your metabolism is constantly working. Eating a little every couple of hours ensures that your body is constantly working and constantly burning calories.
3. Burning calories comes from a balanced mix of cardio and weight training. Both are equally important processes and both are equally required for a successful weight loss and fat burn programme. Cardio burns calories during the session but weight training boosts your base metabolic rate so you’re burning calories (at a higher rate than you were earlier) even when you’re not exercising.

The results will come. There is no way that they won’t if you’re regular and dedicated. At the same time, exercise is a life-long activity. Don’t make the mistake of stopping when you meet your goals.

Sources: SparkPeople, About, Personal Trainer Today and ShapeFit