Spot reduction, is that actually possible?
"target your belly fat" "get a smaller waist with these exercises" "get rid of those annoying love handles!" We've heard them all at some point but, how possible is to actually target a specific spot in your body?
Here, we'll talk about the idea and "science" behind spot reduction! There are many health and fitness influencers who have supported the idea of spot reducing fat towards their audience.
What is Spot reduction?
Spot reduction is a popular myth that there are certain exercises that can reduce fat, namely the fat around your abdominal midsection. This includes the fat around your abs and your obliques, aka the "love handles".
Okay... but what is so bad about it?
Well, there's a lot of bad news.
There is very little to no scientific evidence that spot reduction is an effective method for reducing fat, or if it's even a thing at all. One study looked into the popular idea, stating if there are certain exercises or movements that can target adipose tissue spots, essentially ridding body fat. Out of many analysis and research reviews, the authors concluded that localized muscle training had little to effect on the adipose tissue spots (Ramirez-Campillo et al., 2022).
This means that any influencer that has advertised exercises that can localize or "torch the stubborn belly fat", is essentially wrong. There are no specific exercises that will directly remove the fat you have around your midsection, such as crunches or sit-ups. Now, does that mean you should stop doing those exercises? No, of course not! It's not that you should avoid these exercises, you should implement them while also doing other things too!
Well, what can I do instead?
For starters, having a good balanced diet and maintaining nutrition can help reduce your overall body fat. One study has found that in an 8-week study regarding dietary intervention for obese patients, their bodyweight reduced to 4.8%, with their fat content being 7.4% lower (Ghannadiasl, F. , 2019). This is evidence that having a good dietary intervention, such as a meal plan or accepting healthier food alternatives, can remove the unwanted belly fat. By also pairing this with daily physical activity, you can expect to lose weight and burn fat than falling for spot reduction overall!
Reference:
Ramirez-Campillo, R., Andrade, D. C., Clemente, F. M., Afonso, J., Pérez-Castilla, A., & Gentil, P. (2022). A proposed model to test the hypothesis of exercise-induced localized fat reduction (spot reduction), including a systematic review with meta-analysis. Human Movement, 23(3), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.5114/hm.2022.110373
Ghannadiasl, F. (2019). The effectiveness of 8 weeks individualized balanced low calorie diet on measures of central obesity and body composition. Nutrition and Food Science, 49(2), 213-220. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/NFS-06-2018-0155
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