Fitness Myths Part 2: "Spot Training"

Seeing posts from influencers giving tips about losing weight in certain areas of your body, like your tummy or your thighs? We all have our “problem areas” aka the spots we would LOVE to take a magic wand and remove body fat from. 

However, anyone promising you that you can lose weight from those specific areas by following their program or buying their tea or protein powder, is 100% selling you another product: nonsense. 

“Spot training” is the term used to indicate the ability to lose weight in a specific area of the body from training or dieting. And unfortunately for all of us, it is NOT REAL. 

While we might be able to control where we gain muscle on our body by training that specific muscle group, we unfortunately cannot control where we lose body fat (if we could, I’m sure a lot of us would have those six pack abs we’ve always dreamed of). 

Why doesn’t spot training work? 

When you are losing body fat it is due to being in a calorie deficit aka burning more calories than you consume. When you are in a calorie deficit, your body uses the energy stored in your fat cells all over your body- not just one specific area. 

While fitness influencers might promise you can lose weight specifically in your tummy, any weight loss is normally a loss of water weight/bloat. Aka not actual pounds lost.

Then is it impossible to lose weight in those “problem areas”? 

No! It’s still possible to lose weight in those areas so don’t give up hope. 

Following a full body training program and maintaining a calorie deficit is the best way to see overall body fat loss and body composition change. 

Trust the process and celebrate the wins. Just because your thighs don’t look the way you want them to yet, don’t fail to see the progress in other areas of your body! This is also why having multiple ways of tracking outside of the scale is important. Pictures and measurements can be very helpful in tracking progress when you don’t think you are seeing progress. 

Don’t fall for influencers promising you things that they shouldn’t be promising. Instead believe those who are presenting the message that through exercise and health eating, you can live a healthier, happier life.