23 Oct Debunking the myth you can spot reduce fat in stomach

One of the biggest misconceptions when it comes to fitness is that you can do special exercises to lose fat specifically in the stomach, or other areas such as the legs or arms.
That’s just flat out wrong — you can’t spot reduce fat in a certain area of the body. It’s not possible to reduce fat cells in one part of your body and not another.
Although muscle building is site-specific, fat loss is not.
In order to lose fat in particular areas of the body you have to reduce your overall body fat percentage.
Rather than spend a half hour or more doing crunches, situps, ab-cizers, planks or other stomach exercises, it’s more important to focus on burning calories and eating healthy.
That’s how you’ll tone up your body fat overall, including your stomach.
Exercising regularly with a mix of cardio exercises on machines such as treadmills, ellipticals and exercises bikes and-or running outside, along with strength training is a big key to fat loss, but it will only really work well if you also eat correctly.
The other key is to have a diet that’s focused around eating meat, vegetables, some fruits and nuts and avoid drinking sugary drinks.
If you want to have a strong, lean looking physique be especially careful to avoid eating sugars and processed foods, such as white bread, white pasta and other “products” that are not whole foods.
Try a lifestyle based around exercising and eating whole foods for even a few weeks and you should notice a difference.
A third key is to realize that getting and staying lean and fit is a marathon, not a sprint. You have to be consistent in your approach.

At Home Fitness consultant Aaron Dorksen’s blog deals with a variety of fitness topics, ranging from workout tips, motivational ideas and feature stories on how exercise impacts people’s lives. E-mail him with comments, questions or ideas for future blogs at aaron@athomefitness.com