We’ve all seen the commercials. “Wanna lose that gut?” Or “Ready to shape up those buns?” And this is usually followed by some new video, or diet pill, or perhaps some gadget with a zany name like “The Ab Blaster 4000!” or “The Muffin Top Mangler.” (Which would be a great pro wrestling name.)
And these products may actually work. But they all are still sorta lying to you. Let me explain: The thing we are all yearning for is the same. We want our trouble spots to go away. Maybe it’s your belly. Maybe it’s your thighs. Maybe it’s your “muffin top.” (For those who don’t know this term, my kids told me it’s when the fat is coming out of the tops of people’s pants ‘like a busted can of biscuits’).
And we want a plan, exercise, video, etc. that targets THAT. This is called “spot reduction.” We want to lose weight, but only in this one particular area. Here’s the bad news, y’all. You can put “spot reduction” in the same pile as unicorns, leprechauns, and umpires with 20/20 vision. It simply does NOT exist.
Countless studies have been conducted on specific exercises and their effect on the fat surrounding that specific area. (There are literally THOUSANDS of studies on sit-ups and ab work) There simply is NO specific “burning” of the fat in that area.
It turns out, God programmed your genes to signal specific areas you gain and lose fat. Ever hear someone say “These (insert awesome food here) go straight to my hips!” Whereas, you may be thinking “Not me. Those go to my butt.” You may be programmed to gain fat deposits quickly in certain areas whilst other’s trouble area may be different. Well, the opposite is also true. We all LOSE fat in certain areas quicker than others. And these areas are different for everyone! Why is this? No one knows. That’s a question for your Maker someday.
To be clear, you CAN tone muscles in a certain area. Doing 1,000 crunches a day will do wonders for your abdominal muscles. And yes, you will certainly feel a “burn” as you work those muscles to soreness (a buildup of lactic acid). But this is in no way “burning” of the belly fat specifically.
Rather, fat reduction simply comes from eating better and exercising in general. Sweat. Get your heart rate up. Rev that metabolism up. And quit putting Little Debbie’s kids thru college.
Sorry for the bad news. I’m not trying to discourage you from exercising! Still do. You WILL burn fat. You WILL lose weight from this and eating less calories. But I just want you to be armed with two pieces of truth: 1) You can’t lose weight in targeted spots and 2) You can’t exercise away a bad diet.
Otherwise, if I could pick where I wanted to lose, when I left Taco Bell I’d be zooming to the gym to do some reps on the “Fat Face Machine.”
Yours in Health and Christ,
Dr. Kirk “The Muffin Top Mangler”
