Spot Reduction

Alas: Not so, my friend.

Always remember the basic rule: Whenever you take in more calories than you use, the remaining energy is inevitably going to be stored in chemical bonds between adipose tissue, or, to put it simply, fatty deposits. That's the bottom line, and no hint of a pun is intended.

In adult men those fat deposits will be preferentially stored, with some input from individual genetic makeup, around the waist and abdomen, and in women, sadly, around the hips, thighs and abdomen.

As you participate in activities which demand an energy use by your body that is greater than can be supplied by available glucose, which is stored in muscle tissue and which is the preferred energy source, it turns nest to fat stores to supply the deficit. Fat molecules are then broken down and severing those chemical bonds releases the energy needed for maintaining internal temperature, muscle movement, etc.

Here's the kicker. You have no personal control over where the body takes that fat from, which is the goal of spot reducing. Cortisol may aid in releasing those fat deposits and breaking down those bonds, but it isn't targeted. There is, currently, no technology that will remove local fat deposits from any part of the body except medical or mechanical removal, such as in liposuction.

However! All of that still happens in an overall way, with no narrow location getting an appreciable share of the benefit. Most of the fat may indeed come from the waist, but that's because that's where most of it is, as a percentage. But the exercise still doesn't target that fat in any specific way.

Secondly, during a vigorous abdominal workout those particular muscles are being worked harder than others. That's the whole point of abdominal exercises, right? As a result, those muscles (along with the back muscles, typically) are being strengthened and toned. Toning and strengthening those muscles helps restore their youthful ability to hold in the internal organs, primarily the stomach thus giving the abdominal area a smaller size, but not necessarily by removing fat.

At the same time all this other stuff is going on, there will be a largely temporary loss of fluid that contributes to both weight loss and slimming. The net effect is that the waist looks slimmer, the bulge is reduced. That's definitely a good thing, both for general health and weight loss or fat reduction.

Obviously, however, it's not quite the same thing as targeting specific fatty deposits, as the makers of cortisol pills, and other "miracle cures" would like to sell you. The only effective program for reducing fat deposits - around the waist, on the thighs and buttocks, or anywhere else, for that matter - is the old-fashioned, high effort, high willpower one.

A program comprised of a combination of adequate daily exercise and proper diet is the key to long-term health, safe weight loss and fat reduction. You'll feel better and your health will be optimized. Not coincidentally, you'll reduce those unattractive fat deposits around the middle in the process.

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