There is quite a large population of people out there that believe spot reduction works (*GASP*). Yes, some if not a lot of the general public still believe that they can lose weight focused on a certain area of their body.

“I just want to lose a couple inches off my waist”

“I want to get rid of that flab on my arms”

“I need to thin out my thighs”

All of this stems from those darn info-commercials you see on TV (I seem to remember seeing them on Sunday early morning). The Thigh Master, Ab Scissor, Step Master, etc. They all promote weight loss to a specific area of the body. If you do this exercise or that exercise you’ll lose that unwanted extra weight from that body part or area of the body that your are exercising. I also think this is where the crazy idea of ‘do sit-ups to get that toned abdominal area’ originated from (GEESH).

Spot reduction is one of the greatest fitness / weight loss myths out there. It’s such a great myth that people literally ‘buy into’ it with those ridiculous machines.

It’s just a myth, nothing more. Some may believe that a certain body part loses more weight than the other due to the exercise or exercises they did, but the truth of the matter is we have no control over where we lose weight. It’s all about the whole, not the parts. Our weight loss is pre-determined by our genetics and our overall health regimen. We have as about as much control over spot reduction weight loss as we do the weather.

Weight loss is the exact reverse of weight gain when referring to your overall body and their respective areas. There are of course minute differences in men and women, age, medical history, etc, but as a whole it’s pretty predictable. We gain weight in our mid-section, then our back side & thighs, your arms and lastly your face & neck. So when losing weight it’s the exact opposite. This is why when people start to lose weight we immediately notice a difference in their face. It’s also the very reason why that ‘stubborn’ mid- section is the source of much dismay when traveling down that path of weight loss. We always think we are doing something wrong because we are not losing the weight where we want it gone the most!

Isn’t it funny, we want to eliminate weight from the very areas that take the longest to lose and the quickest to gain!

The next time you see or hear someone talk about losing weight from a specific ‘spot’ be sure to let them know about this myth.