Can You Target Fat Loss AKA Spot Reduction?

Intro

If you’re someone who’s looking to lose weight, you’ve probably heard about the concept of targeting fat loss. It sounds like a dream come true – you can focus on specific areas of your body and watch the fat melt away. But is it actually possible to target fat loss?

I get asked all the time: “How do I lose fat on _____ body part?” Whether it’s the arms, stomach, or somewhere else, everyone has specific areas they want to improve. Trying to lose fat in one specific area is defined as spot reduction. Many people seek it, but many don’t know how it works.

So, for you to understand how spot reduction works, you need to know how fat loss works first. Let’s take a look at the science behind fat loss, explore whether or not you actually can spot reduce, and provide some actions you can take to help reach your weight loss goals.

Understanding How Fat Loss Works

In order to achieve long-term fat loss, you must understand the science behind it. Our bodies, like everything else, follow the rules of the universe. Fat loss happens when you are in a calorie deficit, meaning you are eating fewer calories than your body burns daily (calories in < calories out). So, you will not lose weight until you are eating less than you’re burning.

About 70% of the calories your body burns come from your metabolism. That’s the majority of your calories out.

Many people are confused about what the word metabolism means. Simply, it is the process by which your body turns food into energy.

One of the few ways you can boost your metabolism is by increasing muscle mass. Because muscle burns calories. This makes eating protein and lifting weights extremely important in any fat-loss journey. Protein has the added benefit of burning more calories when you eat it.

Also, a calorie deficit means weight loss, not fat loss. In a calorie deficit, your body isn’t picky about whether it’s losing muscle or fat. It will lose both. That means when losing weight it’s vital you eat enough protein to save your muscle mass and protect your metabolism.

The only other way you can increase your calories out is obviously to add exercise.

Can You Target Fat Loss (Spot Reduce)

There’s a lot of debate around whether or not you can spot-reduce a particular body part. Many think by doing tons of ab workouts they’re going to shred all their belly fat. Unfortunately, this isn’t the full truth. On the bright side, though, there is a grain of truth to be found.

You see spot reduction isn’t real. During a fat loss phase your body isn’t going to pull fat from just one area. Rather, it will take fat from all over your body. So you can do 1 million crunches, but if your body fat is high you’ll never see abs.

The good news is there are some things you can do to tone certain areas. Firstly, if you want a muscle to show definition, then you must lose fat. That’s the number 1 way to look toned and have definition. Fat is stored between the skin and muscles, so by reducing body fat the muscle will show more against the skin.

Also, to get an effect similar to spot reduction, you can make your muscles bigger. Through hypertrophy, aka weight training, you can make an area look more defined. However, this will only work if your body fat is low enough. If your body fat is too high, then it doesn’t matter how many crunches you do. The abs will never show.

So you can’t spot reduce, but you can lose fat and grow your muscles. That is going to be the #1 way to get the look you want.

Strategies For Fat Loss

Now that you’ve abandoned the notion that spot reduction is real; you can focus on the things that will actually make your body look different.

Diet

Abs are made in the kitchen, so for you to get in shape you’ll need your diet to get in shape. Now you’re asking yourself: “What makes a diet healthy?” Great question! There are a couple of components that make a healthy diet:

Consists mainly of whole foods

(A whole food means it’s not far from nature, i.e. a peanut) – Eating whole foods is incredibly crucial for any diet. It’s no duh that processed foods aren’t good for you. They’re designed in a way so that you eat them endlessly. Take for example Doritos, how many of those can you eat before you are full? Now, compare that to broccoli, how much of that could you eat until you are full? The fact is processed foods are made to be addictive, and make you fat. A study even found that those who eat processed foods eat more calories than those who don’t.

The diet is sustainable

Sustainability is what differentiates a great diet and a terrible one. If you go onto a diet, such as keto, and you love carbs, then what will the result be? You’ll fail, and a failed diet is a bad one.

There’s balance

Having balance is what helps make a diet enjoyable. Yes, your diet should mainly be whole foods, but that shouldn’t keep you from enjoying a treat every now and then. You must learn to find a balance between foods that are good for you and foods that you enjoy.

Your meals should also have the right balance of macronutrients. You need to be sure you’re getting in the right ratio of proteins, fats, and carbs. As a general recommendation, a 30/30/40 split is good. This means 30% of the diet is protein, 30% is carbs, and 40% is fats. The protein is extremely important because your body can’t make it out of anything else. So to get the best fat loss and muscle growth eat plenty of protein!

Exercise

Exercise is incredibly important for good fat loss. As we mentioned earlier, it can also help you in your pursuit to spot reduce certain areas. But what types of exercises and workouts are going to help you achieve that?

If your goal is to make certain areas look better, then you obviously want to include exercises that target those areas. For example, say you want nicer arms, then you should be hitting curls and skull crushers. For the sake of spot reduction, you want to choose a rep range of anywhere from 5-20 repetitions. This is the best repetition range for muscular growth. Also, you should try and hit these parts frequently. A lot of muscle groups can be trained 2-3x a week.

Now you’re probably asking: Well what about cardio?

Cardio is not the best type of workout for spot reduction or fat loss. Cardio can actually cause you to lose muscle. Cardio means cardiovascular, so it challenges your heart and not your muscles. So, if you only do cardio you will end up looking skinny fat. By using cardio to achieve weight loss, you will end up losing both body fat and muscle mass. Therefore, cardio is not the best method when trying to spot reduce.

It’s a great idea to add cardio when you already have a strength training program in order. Otherwise, stick to the weights.

The Role of Genetics in Your Fat Loss Journey

While creating a calorie deficit and regular exercise are important for fat loss, it’s also important to understand how genetics affect your weight loss. Different people are predisposed to holding fat in certain areas. Some may hold a majority of fat in their hips, while others may hold their fat in their stomach or arms.

This means that hitting your target area may be harder. But don’t let that keep you down, because harder doesn’t mean impossible. You can still spot reduce those areas by working hard to be in a calorie deficit and continue the regular exercise. Eventually, that process will lead to muscle growth and fat loss in your problem area.

We’ve left one elephant in the room untouched: your metabolism and genetics. Contrary to popular belief, your genetics will not give you a “fast” or “slow metabolism. One study found that there is a mere 5-8% variance between people’s metabolisms.

Be ready to exercise your mind just as much as your body. A fat loss journey is hard but worth it. If you consistently work hard at these things, and keep the right mentality you will reach your destination.

Conclusion

So, while spot reduction isn’t possible there are still actionable things you can do to reach your goals. There is no shortcut. You can achieve similar results to spot reduction by eating in a calorie deficit and adding strength training to your daily routine. By doing so you will not only achieve your goal of losing that fat on your arms but everywhere as well. Your confidence will be through the roof!

You only need to get started, and you’ll be halfway there!