Regional Fat Loss

Reading research on regional fat loss results in controversial reactions — beginners say “Hurray”, while more experienced individuals are not so enthusiastic about it.

At first, effectiveness on any method equals to the ability of its replication. In case nobody can’t retrace the result, the method is not acceptable. For instance, is it possible to turn into a princess right now? Theoretically, yes, ’cause there are dozens of prices all over the world. But is it realistic scenario to marry one of those princes right now? The chances are near zero — possibility to buy your own castle is much higher.

Ok, going back to our researches on regional fat loss. They are united by the focus group: untrained beginners.

In research [1] the workout was designed for the upper body and resulted in the upper body fat loss. We may conclude that local training is working. But…

In research [2] the workout was designed for the lower body (1 leg), but the fat loss was noticed in the upper body. Seems like our conclusion was wrong and regional fat loss is a myth. Moreover, in some specific literature was mentioned that the upper body can show bigger fat loss due to the allocation of adrenoreceptors.

For example, during the [3] research was increased the % of the body fat and then it was taken back to the initial level. % of total body fat remained unchanged, but the lower body was above the initial percentage. This effect perfectly illustrates the body changes after “it’s only 2-month diet”.

Furthermore, in case the regional fat loss isn’t a myth, it should be noticed in people whose one limb is more active than the other — tennis players, etc. Despite the fact that tennis players have one limp stronger than other, percentage of body fat is the same on 2 arms [3].

And once more about the ability of result retracing. The available data, says that regional weight loss is possible only for beginners during the first 12 weeks of training. Thus, even it is really possible, it means that you have never tried any physical activities and only if this condition is true, there is a small chance to lose body fat locally. On the contrary, the calorie deficit and muscle mass growth are effective even for high-level athletes.

[1] Effect of combined resistance and endurance exercise training on regional fat loss.

[2] Regional fat changes induced by localized muscle endurance resistance training.

[3] Thickness of Subcutaneous Fat and Activity of Underlying Muscles