Philip J. Goscienski, M.D.
March 2010
Wouldn't it be nice to melt away a few inches from the __tummy/__upper arms/__thighs? (Pick one.) All the gimmicks to the contrary, losing fat from one particular part of the body isn't possible by applying exercise to that area. If you maintain consistent, moderately intense physical activity while cutting back on calorie intake you will melt away fat from all over. There's a catch: it doesn't disappear evenly. Then again, it didn't go on evenly either.
Two individuals may not lose fat simultaneously from the same places even if they follow identical diets and lifestyles. Nowhere is this more evident than what husbands and wives observe when they both decide to lose weight.
Women lament the fact that they accumulate fat on the hips and it seems to take forever to get rid of it with diet and exercise. A guy's accumulation of abdominal fat melts away more quickly. It's obvious that those two fat deposits are very different and so are the risks that they carry. Belly fat on the outside means visceral fat on the inside. Tucked behind even well-toned abdominal muscles, visceral fat is associated with a high risk of heart disease.
The subcutaneous fat that women build up on the arms, hips and legs is relatively benign. If the fat accumulation continues and waist size increases, women develop as much heart disease and diabetes as men do. For women, losing weight from the thighs takes more effort because nature designed them that way to ensure energy stores to carry them through pregnancy and a few months of breastfeeding. Sorry, but nature didn't have swimsuits in mind.
Your genes play a role, too. Some persons appear to be of normal weight but they may be accumulating invisible visceral fat. Others develop a large waist but they have disproportionately less fat on the arms and legs.
Consider spot exercise instead of spot reduction. If you include 3 or 4 different exercises for your upper arms at least two times a week those muscles will become more firm and shapely as you lose fat overall. Be sure to get advice from a professional trainer in order to avoid overuse of a muscle group, or even injury.
Proper exercise and diet will firm up your tummy, upper arms and thighs and bring you closer to the shape that you hoped for. Just be patient.
Philip J. Goscienski, M.D. is the author of Health Secrets of the Stone Age, Better Life Publishers 2005. Contact him at drphil@stoneagedoc.com.