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How to Get Rid of Belly Fat
By Dr. Randi Fredricks, Ph.D.
Let's take a closer look at abdominal fat ... er, maybe not. How about let's take a gander at some of the misconceptions
about abdominal fat, both how your body puts it on and how to get rid of it. There seems to be a lot of
misunderstandings on this subject.
The first misconception is that you can get rid of abdominal fat by working your abdominal muscles. This is based on the
belief that fat is eliminated from a part of your body if you engage the muscles underneath that fat. It's the same idea
that you will lose fat on your arms or legs if you pump iron all day. The truth of the matter is that your body decides
where to put fat and where to remove it, and it's a system that is largely determined by your physiology and
genetics.
First of all, your body stores fat in your midsection, specifically your abdomen, hips and buttocks,
due to basic biomechanics. The midsection of your body is the best place to store extra energy because it takes less
energy to carry it around. Ancestrally, fat storage was a survival strategy, so our body could maximize energy
efficiency in the creation, storage and use of body fat.
Secondly, your body stores fat wherever you already have fat cells. For example, people who undergo liposuction to remove
fat cells from their body end up causing a redistribution of fat to other locations that are sometimes less desirable.
If a person follows an unhealthy lifestyle that results in the accumulation of excessive body fat, then they undergo
liposuction to remove that body fat from their abdomen, but they continue to pursue the same overconsumption
lifestyle that creates more body fat, then the body has to store that fat somewhere and since the fat cells have been
removed from the abdomen, it's going to put that fat somewhere else like the knees, or under the chin, or under the arms
and so on. Your body has to work with the fat cells that exist, and if you start removing certain fat cells,
you end up with fat being stored in places you might not have even thought possible.
How to Lose Excess Abdominal Fat
So now you know how we get it. Let's talk about losing abdominal fat. There's a lot of books and products that talk
about reducing abdominal fat. Some people claim that if you eat a certain food or take a particular supplement,
you'll lose abdominal fat first. Unfortunately, this isn't true. There is no food, no exercise, and no supplement
that will cause your body to remove fat in one place versus another.
If you want to reduce body fat, you need to start consuming fewer calories than you expend on a daily basis. In other
words, you need to create a calorie deficit. In time, your body will start converting fat into useable energy, and by
doing so, fat stores will begin to vanish across your body. But they won't just magically disappear from one particular
place, they gradually reduce form all over your body.
If you are a male, abdominal fat is probably the last fat that will disappear from your body. First your body will remove
fat from your face and extremities, such as your arms and legs, then it will remove fat from your upper torso, your chest,
upper thighs and buttocks, and lastly it will use the fat stored in your abdomen. There is no way that I'm aware of to
alter this fat reduction pattern used by the human body. Avoid things like the so-called "topical cutting gel" products
which are highly toxic fat solvents that should never be used by people who want to protect their health.
This means if you are really serious about reducing body fat and you want to get rid of that abdominal fat, you'll
want to use a whole-body approach. You're going to have to adopt the idea that abdominal fat is probably going to be
the last fat to go. This isn't what you wanted to hear, probably, but it's the truth.
For women, the last place you're likely to lose the fat is on the hips and buttocks.
If you've ever dieted you know, it can be extremely difficult to get rid of the last 10 lbs of extra fat.
It's virtually impossible to lose body fat if you don't engage in routine physical exercise which.
includes in that exercise. By engaging in strength training, you will end up burning fat for hours and even days after
your exercise session. It's important to note that some people who actually look thin but don't exercise can still
have dangerous hidden abdominal fat.
When it comes to abdominal fat, there's no way to eliminate that fat by itself without taking a holistic,
whole-body approach. In other words, there are no fat loss shortcuts. Even if you try to take a shortcut by
undergoing liposuction, for example, you're still going to end up storing body fat somewhere else and it
will probably look even worse than when it was on your abdomen or hips.
So if you want to get rid of body fat, do it the right way: through diet and exercise, and not through cosmetic
surgery or gimmicks that claim to eliminate fat from one specific area of your body. Fat loss takes real work.
and there are no magic pills that will do the work for you.
About the Author
Dr. Randi Fredricks, Ph.D. is a psychotherapist and author specializing in the treatment of mental health using integrative medicine and natural therapies.
She works with individuals, couples, and families at her office in San Jose, California and is the founder of All Things Well, a certified provider of
The Listening Program.
Dr. Fredricks' publications
include the landmark book
Healing & Wholeness: Complementary and Alternative Therapies for Mental Health.
No part of this article may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of
Dr. Randi Fredricks as articles often present the published results of the research of other professionals. Copyright © 2012.
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