"How can I
lose my gut?"
"How do I
stop my arms from flapping in the wind?"
"How can I
get rid of this stomach fat?"
"How do I
lose just the fat on my thighs?"
These are questions
I hear regularly...the bottom-line question being
asked is "how can I lose fat from one specific
area?"
And I'm sorry to
say, the quick answer is...
"You can't."
But don't panic!
Just because you can't spot-reduce from one specific
area doesn't mean you'll never lose that fat!
It just means you have to look at things a bit
differently when it comes to fat loss.
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THAT is where
the pool I mentioned comes in.
I would love
to give credit to the person who I burgled
this analogy from (if you're reading this,
let me know!) but think of your bodyfat
stores as a pool...
When you fill
up a pool (i.e. bodyfat stores), the deep
end fills up first, right? Of course! It's
the deep end.
Well, the
same thing happens in your body. Think of
your stomach as the deep end. When you start
putting on fat, your deep end starts filling
up first.
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So you're happily
swimming along until one day you realize your
swimming pool is too full and it's time to drain
some water from the pool (i.e. lose some fat).
To spot reduce and
lose that fat from the "deep end," you'd
have to drain the deep end first. Not gonna happen.
If you can think of a way to drain just the deep
end of a pool, I'd like to know it!
This is what happens
with fat loss. The stuff you put on LAST is the
stuff that comes off FIRST. And generally speaking,
the stuff you put on FIRST (i.e. problem areas
like the gut and thighs) is the stuff that comes
off LAST (because it's the deep end of the pool).
So what's the strategy?
You're going to
have to drain more of the pool to get that deep
end down.
In fat-loss terms this means you're going to have
to lose fat from all over your body before the
stuff you REALLY want to get rid of comes off.
I know...that's
probably the LAST thing you wanted to hear but
it's the unvarnished truth.
I'm afraid doing
ten thousand crunches every morning won't get
you the ripped six-pack you're looking for. And
doing ten thousand leg-lifts (no matter how much
you feel the burn) won't pull that fat from your
thighs. It'll tighten up the muscles underneath
that fat, but you won't really SEE much of a difference.
When the body switches
on fat burning, it does so on a systemic basis.
Going to back to the pool analogy, this would
be like having multiple drains all draining water
from the pool. The water level goes down evenly
when you drain a pool, no matter how many drains
you've got or where the drains are draining from.
So when you lose
fat, even if you're exercising the heck out of
your abs by doing ten thousand crunches, you could
be pulling fat from your legs for fuel.
The REAL secret about spot reduction is that you
can't pick your spots.
Your body picks
the spots for you. Reducing ALL your spots is
the only way to spot reduce.
So now that I've
crushed your dreams about losing fat from just
your stomach or thighs, I want to tell you that
overall fat loss is not as hard as you might think!
Even small changes
in your training and eating can really make a
big difference in draining your fat pool. You
don't have to go on a crash diet or train 3 hours
a day to get results.
Eating better and
training as little as 30 minutes, 3 times a week
can get you moving in the right direction.
If you're interested
in more information on how to lose fat, have a
look at these articles:
1. How
To Lose Fat NOW - A Basic Fat-Loss Program That
You Can Put To Work Today!
2. BASIC
Nutrition - A Quick, Common-Sense Guide To What
You Should Be Eating to Stay Healthy and Get Results
Right Now
And if you want
to REALLY kick-start your fat loss be sure to
check out my book "Metabolic
Surge - Rapid Fat Loss!"
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