By Sahil Handa. Sahil is a student at Harvard University as well as a health and fitness aficionado.
Fact or myth: you can target your belly for fat loss?
The idea that you can lose fat from your stomach and nowhere else was popularized by fitness trainers. Specifically, programs such as P90x spread the idea that exercising your abdominal muscles (with sit-ups, crunches, leg raises, planks etc.) will lead your body to burn fat from these areas of the body.
In order to examine this claim, it’s important to understand how fat loss works. The fat inside our fat cells exists as triglycerides, which must be broken down into glycerol and fatty acids in order to be used for energy. This suggests that fat can be drawn from any part of the body during exercise, not simply the muscle that is being primarily recruited for the activity.
The evidence seems to support this idea. In one study seeking to test the spot reduction hypothesis, scientists analyzed the left and right arms of tennis players to see how their levels of fat compared. Although the active arm had more muscle, there was no difference in the fat mass on each arm.[1] Similarly, in several interventional studies (the kind of study that involves adjusting a variable as opposed to simply observing variables,) experimenters have seen that fat volume changes are not different between trained and untrained bodyparts.[2] While some data have shown to suggest otherwise, these results are rare and tend to suggest that it is possible to target lower body or upper body fat loss, not specifically belly fat loss.[3]
So, what do these results tell us? In short, they tell us that it’s not worth attempting to spot reduce fat from our stomachs. Rather, if you want to lose belly fat, you need to lose fat from all over your body.
So, How Do You Lose Fat?
Losing fat is a matter of physics. The bottom line is that you need to create a caloric deficit, which means you want to consume fewer calories than you’re expending (using up). No matter how many healthy super foods you eat and no matter how many squats you do, you will not lose weight if you are not in a caloric deficit.
Either doing more exercise or eating less food will work for pure weight loss. Exercise is better for your health (because of the associated cardiovascular benefits and increased likelihood that you’ll be consuming enough vitamins and minerals by not reducing your calories as drastically), and doing BOTH will be the best and easiest method to lose weight fastest.
You have to keep tricking your body, forcing it to reach into your fat stores for energy. How do you do this? Incrementally decrease calories whilst slowly increasing the amount of exercise you do. It’s really that simple. You don’t need to ingest a protein shake 10 minutes after your workout and you don’t need to eliminate all ice cream from your diet. You simply have to increase activity and decrease food over time.[4]
What Does This Look Like?
As a general rule, your body wants to keep hold of its fat. It’s your last line of defense (final source of energy) if you are starving on a desert island, so your body wants it to stick around. Therefore, if you starve yourself or start going on 10 hour runs hoping to lose weight, you will lose it at the beginning (mostly water, some fat, some muscle), and then your body will force itself to adjust to the new amount of energy it is having to use up. You will not consistently lose weight if you keep your diet and exercise levels the same over time, no matter how “healthy,” “active,” or “restricted” those levels might be.
Rather, as I already stated, the best way to lose fat is to ensure that you were in a caloric deficit (expending more calories than you are consuming.) To work out your maintenance caloric intake (so you know how many calories you would need to eat to maintain your weight) you can use an online TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) calculator.[5] From there, a sensible caloric deficit is to eat roughly 300-400 calories below your maintenance level per day, which means you should lose weight at a rate of about 1-1.5lb per week. If you begin to feel extremely fatigued, your performance dramatically drops, or you are extremely hungry, reduce your caloric deficit. Focus on filling the majority of your diet with high fibre, high protein, nutritious foods, because these have a higher satiety level (they keep you fuller for longer.[6]) Drink enough water, ease yourself into an exercise routine, and get adequate sleep.[7] Give yourself the license to be flexible; one cheat meal here and there or a few drinks with friends won’t set you back!
Bear in mind that your calculated TDEE will not be complete accurate, so the best way to ensure results is to track your weight daily for a few weeks (bear in mind that it will fluctuate greatly depending on the time of day you weigh yourself, how much salt +fibre you ate, and how much water you consumed). See whether you are losing or gaining weight over time with your current caloric intake and exercise level, and then adjust as necessary. Make incremental changes as you continue to see results, because, as I already mentioned, your body will get used to its current level of food. This is why it’s best to make small changes over time; it means that you won’t plateau and hit a wall in your weight loss journey.
Severe calorie restriction is not smart; a sensible caloric deficit is about 300–500 calories per day, which means you should lose weight at a rate of about 1lb-2lb per week (3500 calories per pound). This adds up over time. Creating a larger deficit than this is likely to leave you moody, angry, and not fun to be around. It will also mean you are forcing yourself to continue increasing your exercise level and decreasing your food intake once homeostasis kicks in and your body gets used to the conditions you have forced upon it (this is referred to in more detail above). It’s not smart, because any short-term results will be replaced by long term frustration. Having said that, if you are extremely overweight, you can afford to use a slightly greater caloric deficit at the beginning of your weight loss journey.
How Should You Split Up Your Calories?
The ratio of carbs, protein and fats in your diet matters. Yes, you need to be in a caloric deficit to lose weight. However, hormones play a role in fat loss and all calories are not created equal.
- Your body uses more energy digesting protein than it does carbs or fats (this also means proteins, like foods with more fibre, are likely to keep you fuller for longer.[8])
- Carbs and Proteins have 4 calories per gram, Fats have 9 calories per gram
- This does not mean you should not eat any fat. Fats are important for hormonal and bodily functions, and if you drop them entirely then you will experience reduced sex drive, mental performance etc.
- Experiment and find a ratio that is suitable for you.I go with roughly 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight, 0.4 grams of fat per pound of bodyweight, and fill up the rest with carbs. That’s what I prefer; you might not. If you are looking to keep hold of your muscle as you lose fat, then I’d keep protein levels fairly high; at least 0.75g/lb of bodyweight.
- You do not need to track these amounts. Will it help you achieve optimal results?Can you still make progress eating roughly enough protein, filling the rest of your calories up with fats/carbs and keeping in a caloric deficit? Absolutely.
Your fitness and weight loss does not need to define your life. If you have managed to find a quantity of food and level of exercise that you enjoy which is resulting in you losing weight, keep doing the same thing until results begin to stall and then adjust accordingly. (increase exercise intensity/duration, slightly decrease caloric intake). You do not need to track every last grain of rice (or any, for that matter) if you do not want perfectly optimal results. If you are just looking to make decent progress, use this information and make informed judgments. That means drinking more water to keep you fuller and help reduce the number of calories you consume, scaling back your eating throughout the day when you know you are going to be consuming a lot of food or drinking at night (alcohol is 7 kcals per gram and does not do you much good nutritionally), and bearing in mind that your body loses and gains weight over weeks, not hours.
Maybe track what you’re eating for a few days and see what sensible changes you can make so that you stay in a caloric deficit the majority of the time. It might not be perfect, but by being in a deficit more days than being in a surplus you will still lose weight and may be able to stay a little more sane.[9]
Now for some extra tips if you want to know how to be lose weight in the healthiest and most enjoyable way possible:
Important fat loss myths debunked
- Working your abdominal region and strengthening those muscles over time will not be especially helpful in burning fat in that region.[10] However, doing so can be useful in giving your stomach the appearance of being leaner. This is because, just like any other muscle, your abdominal muscles can be built. When your abs are more muscular, the will be visible at a higher level of belly fat than they would otherwise.
- One large meal will not make you fat, and avoiding one meal will not make you slim
- Vitamins, minerals and fiber matter. You do not want to lose weight eating just McDonalds, firstly because that would wreak havoc on your hormone levels (which contribute to whether you lose fat or muscle), and secondly for the sake of your health and well-being.
- Meal timing does not make a noticeable difference to weight loss.[11] Find a meal timing schedule that works for you; it could be 2 meals a day, 4 meals a day or 8 meals a day. It could be a massive breakfast or a huge dinner before bed.[12]
- You can eat carbs after 6pm- your body does not magically just stop function and metabolizing food when you sleep. If that was the case, you would probably die.
- Brown rice, brown pasta, sweet potatoes and brown bread are not necessarily “better” for weight loss than their white counterparts. They contain more fibre, which can keep you fuller for longer and therefore help you to eat less throughout the day. However, if you are already eating enough fiber through your vegetable/fruit intake and want to eat some white pasta, they will not harm you.
- A single food will not make you fat.If you want to feel good throughout the process, I recommend eating “healthy” foods as much as possible. You know which ones I mean; vegetables, fruit, lean proteins, starchy carbs. However, you can fit ice cream, chocolate and cookies into your diet; fit them into your daily caloric intake and live your life the way you want.
- Bingeing (and making up for it by eating nothing the next day) is not your friend. If you know you’ve eaten slightly too much and gone over your intake, just stop; eating 50 more biscuits will make the tiny negative effect over-eating would have had far worse; just accept it, realize you’re human, think about how far you’ve come and get back on track the next day. Develop a positive relationship with food.
The best advice I can give you is to experiment and make incremental changes. Be aware of what you are taking into your body and try to find a way to get stronger (whether that’s with weights, yoga, or any other preferred form of exercise). Weight loss is not a one size fits all approach. Maybe you like the paleo diet, maybe you prefer to cut carbs (Atkins or keto diet – these are not the same thing) as it helps you feel satisfied on lower calories. Maybe you decided to fast 16 hours (intermittent fasting) because it gives you the room to consume larger meals in your 8-hour eating window. Try weights. Try Pilates. Try yoga. Try running. Always make sure that you are stretching yourself week by week, not making perfectly linear progress but becoming stronger (and eating progressively less) over the long term. Go slow, experiment, track your progress, and stay patient. The results you are looking for will come.
Works Cited
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/5552114
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17596787
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23222084
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28497942
https://tdeecalculator.net/
https://nutritiondata.self.com/topics/fullness-factor
https://examine.com/nutrition/how-important-is-sleep/
https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/63/2/164/4650492
https://examine.com/nutrition/what-should-i-eat-for-weight-loss/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21804427
https://examine.com/nutrition/do-i-need-to-eat-six-times-a-day-to-keep-my-metabolism-high/
https://www.foodforfitness.co.uk/meal-timing-myths/
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/5552114
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17596787
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23222084
[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28497942
[5] https://tdeecalculator.net/
[6] https://nutritiondata.self.com/topics/fullness-factor
[7] https://examine.com/nutrition/how-important-is-sleep/
[8] https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/63/2/164/4650492
[9] https://examine.com/nutrition/what-should-i-eat-for-weight-loss/
[10] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21804427
[11] https://examine.com/nutrition/do-i-need-to-eat-six-times-a-day-to-keep-my-metabolism-high/
[12] https://www.foodforfitness.co.uk/meal-timing-myths/
