I have a muffin top and belly fat I want to tone, but the trainer claims you can't spot reduce?
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jenna279256
Posts: 1 Member
Okay I'm very confused.
I just gave birth a few months ago and I'm back to my normal weight at 114 pounds at 5'3. My legs and arms are very thin like they've always been. And I'm at a nice healthy weight. But I have belly fat and a muffin top from pregnancy. I have consulted with a trainer in attempt to help me tone the area and get rid of it and he claims "You can't spot reduce so we'd have to work your whole body" Huh?!!! I'm at a healthy weight and my arms and legs are very thin already. This makes no sense. Why would I have to tone my whole body in order to get a toned belly and get rid of the muffin top? He also claims I'd have to eat healthy.
I calmly explained this was due to pregnancy and wasn't there pre-pregnancy. I explained that in the past, I have gotten really toned legs from running while eating Chick Fil A. So what he's saying makes no sense. If someone eats McDonald's bfast, lunch, and dinner but they do 100 squats a day, they're going to have toned legs.
I just gave birth a few months ago and I'm back to my normal weight at 114 pounds at 5'3. My legs and arms are very thin like they've always been. And I'm at a nice healthy weight. But I have belly fat and a muffin top from pregnancy. I have consulted with a trainer in attempt to help me tone the area and get rid of it and he claims "You can't spot reduce so we'd have to work your whole body" Huh?!!! I'm at a healthy weight and my arms and legs are very thin already. This makes no sense. Why would I have to tone my whole body in order to get a toned belly and get rid of the muffin top? He also claims I'd have to eat healthy.
I calmly explained this was due to pregnancy and wasn't there pre-pregnancy. I explained that in the past, I have gotten really toned legs from running while eating Chick Fil A. So what he's saying makes no sense. If someone eats McDonald's bfast, lunch, and dinner but they do 100 squats a day, they're going to have toned legs.
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Replies
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Well, he's right that you can't spot reduce. Is it possible you still have loose skin or that your body composition changed in that you have a higher bf% now than before? I would suggest a full body strength routine, but you probably don't want to hear that.24
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He’s right that you can’t spot reduce. Your confusing the individual variations everyone has in their genetics that determine where your body stores most fat.
He’s wrong that you have to eat “Healthy” to get rid of belly fat. You have to eat at a calorie deficit. Eating healthy can mean anything. Eat food that meets your minimum daily macro and micro requirements. In that sense ice cream is healthy if part of a balanced diet19 -
Be patient; it took 9 months for you to grow that beautiful baby in your body. My OB told me to give myself at least that long to get back into shape!15
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Food you're right, though good health suggests a varied diet mixing healthy stuff with treats as opposed to either 100% healthy stuff or 100% optimal choices.
Spot reduce and spot tone... he's right. However you might want to consider that not being being able to spot reduce does not mean that the solution is to reduce everywhere!
You might be better off building up your arms and legs as opposed to trying to reduce them. Also you might want to look at the uterus thread that I'm sure some kind person will link.
And you may want to consider that your tummy area may need a few more months before it has had enough of a chance to bounce back as far as it will bounce back.7 -
Most likely from your story is that you have a combo of loose skin and extra fat storage from giving birth. Female bodies tend to hang onto fat especially after pregnancy. Trainers are good but over hyped for today's ability to get fitness information. He is right, tho, you can not spot reduce fat, I've tried. My advice is to do resistance training. You will NOT get jacked unless you are taking roids. You will tone out nicely and get back to where you want.1
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We all store fat in different places. You may store less fat in your legs, so while your legs may convey a lower body fat percentage, your actual body fat percentage may be higher.
Here is some helpful information:
"Eat right. Choose a balanced diet that helps you achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Include plenty of calcium: according to another study from the University of Alabama, Birmingham, the more calcium a woman consumes, the less visceral fat she gains. Avoid products that seem to encourage belly fat deposition, including trans fats (hydrogenated vegetable oils) and fructose-sweetened foods and beverages" (https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/taking-aim-at-belly-fat).
"Diet is also important. Pay attention to portion size, and emphasize complex carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables, and whole grains) and lean protein over simple carbohydrates such as white bread, refined-grain pasta, and sugary drinks. Replacing saturated fats and trans fats with polyunsaturated fats can also help"(https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/abdominal-fat-and-what-to-do-about-it).14 -
We all store fat in different places. You may store less fat in your legs, so while your legs may convey a lower body fat percentage, your actual body fat percentage may be higher.
Here is some helpful information:
"Eat right. Choose a balanced diet that helps you achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Include plenty of calcium: according to another study from the University of Alabama, Birmingham, the more calcium a woman consumes, the less visceral fat she gains. Avoid products that seem to encourage belly fat deposition, including trans fats (hydrogenated vegetable oils) and fructose-sweetened foods and beverages" (https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/taking-aim-at-belly-fat).
"Diet is also important. Pay attention to portion size, and emphasize complex carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables, and whole grains) and lean protein over simple carbohydrates such as white bread, refined-grain pasta, and sugary drinks. Replacing saturated fats and trans fats with polyunsaturated fats can also help"(https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/abdominal-fat-and-what-to-do-about-it).
Completely unnecessary advice here with restrictions. Specific Foods don’t drive where fat is stored. I assume you woo’d my post about ice cream then
Also shame on Harvard for claiming studies have shown without references to the studies. Pretty much garbage articles13 -
you're back at the same weight, but your body composition changed as a result of the pregnancy. Something like recomp where you eat your maintenance calories and then do strength training will help, like others have mentioned. Spot training not so much.8
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The same thing happened to me after having my first baby. I got to my pre-pregnancy weight and was not happy with my appearance, probably because I did no lifting at all as I lost weight.
Unfortunately you cannot spot reduce. You can train to work certain areas and once you lose bodyfat those areas can be revealed.
I would recommend you look into recomp.. eating at maintenance to change your body composition while lifting. I would highly recommend you follow a full body program, it will be most optimal. It will work your whole body and be best for your core.7 -
The same thing happened to me after having my first baby. I got to my pre-pregnancy weight and was not happy with my appearance, probably because I did no lifting at all as I lost weight.
Unfortunately you cannot spot reduce. You can train to work certain areas and once you lose bodyfat those areas can be revealed.
I would recommend you look into recomp.. eating at maintenance to change your body composition while lifting. I would highly recommend you follow a full body program, it will be most optimal. It will work your whole body and be best for your core.
Sorry to hijack this post, but I’d like to layer this into a discussion about metabolism. I hear that you can increase it slowly by adding 50-150 cals/day while lifting and getting sufficient sleep. So can recomp and metabolism go together?6 -
The same thing happened to me after having my first baby. I got to my pre-pregnancy weight and was not happy with my appearance, probably because I did no lifting at all as I lost weight.
Unfortunately you cannot spot reduce. You can train to work certain areas and once you lose bodyfat those areas can be revealed.
I would recommend you look into recomp.. eating at maintenance to change your body composition while lifting. I would highly recommend you follow a full body program, it will be most optimal. It will work your whole body and be best for your core.
Sorry to hijack this post, but I’d like to layer this into a discussion about metabolism. I hear that you can increase it slowly by adding 50-150 cals/day while lifting and getting sufficient sleep. So can recomp and metabolism go together?
You will probably get more traction if you start a new thread. I am going to be honest, I don't know a lot about reverse dieting and I haven't found a lot of concrete science behind it so maybe others can chime in. From my understanding it is used in people who have undergone severe calorie restriction for a long period of time, especially beneficial for those at a very low bodyfat% (stage lean for example) who have experienced metabolic adaptation. Slowly adding calories after a deficit, letting your body catch up to the new calorie amount (so your body works more efficiently with extra calories and does not store them automatically as fat) and adjust slowly so adding calories weekly in increments can help.
Are you currently in a deficit? If you are slowly add calories and find your maintenance. Your weight will jump a bit due to the increased calorie amount and water weight... go slowly and track your weight and take it slowly.6 -
We all store fat in different places. You may store less fat in your legs, so while your legs may convey a lower body fat percentage, your actual body fat percentage may be higher.
Here is some helpful information:
"Eat right. Choose a balanced diet that helps you achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Include plenty of calcium: according to another study from the University of Alabama, Birmingham, the more calcium a woman consumes, the less visceral fat she gains. Avoid products that seem to encourage belly fat deposition, including trans fats (hydrogenated vegetable oils) and fructose-sweetened foods and beverages" (https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/taking-aim-at-belly-fat).
"Diet is also important. Pay attention to portion size, and emphasize complex carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables, and whole grains) and lean protein over simple carbohydrates such as white bread, refined-grain pasta, and sugary drinks. Replacing saturated fats and trans fats with polyunsaturated fats can also help"(https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/abdominal-fat-and-what-to-do-about-it).
Completely unnecessary advice here with restrictions. Specific Foods don’t drive where fat is stored. I assume you woo’d my post about ice cream then
Also shame on Harvard for claiming studies have shown without references to the studies. Pretty much garbage articles
It's Harvard Heath, not some Instagram "influencer" I'm pretty sure they can back up their statements.
11 -
We all store fat in different places. You may store less fat in your legs, so while your legs may convey a lower body fat percentage, your actual body fat percentage may be higher.
Here is some helpful information:
"Eat right. Choose a balanced diet that helps you achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Include plenty of calcium: according to another study from the University of Alabama, Birmingham, the more calcium a woman consumes, the less visceral fat she gains. Avoid products that seem to encourage belly fat deposition, including trans fats (hydrogenated vegetable oils) and fructose-sweetened foods and beverages" (https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/taking-aim-at-belly-fat).
"Diet is also important. Pay attention to portion size, and emphasize complex carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables, and whole grains) and lean protein over simple carbohydrates such as white bread, refined-grain pasta, and sugary drinks. Replacing saturated fats and trans fats with polyunsaturated fats can also help"(https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/abdominal-fat-and-what-to-do-about-it).
Seems like the restrictions are only there as a means to promote overall body fat loss for people who dont calorie count. Those foods are easy to overeat, hence why they would say to simply avoid them when trying to lose weight. However, if someone is counting calories there is zero reason to avoid those foods so long as they can maintain a calorie deficit while eating them.3 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »We all store fat in different places. You may store less fat in your legs, so while your legs may convey a lower body fat percentage, your actual body fat percentage may be higher.
Here is some helpful information:
"Eat right. Choose a balanced diet that helps you achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Include plenty of calcium: according to another study from the University of Alabama, Birmingham, the more calcium a woman consumes, the less visceral fat she gains. Avoid products that seem to encourage belly fat deposition, including trans fats (hydrogenated vegetable oils) and fructose-sweetened foods and beverages" (https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/taking-aim-at-belly-fat).
"Diet is also important. Pay attention to portion size, and emphasize complex carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables, and whole grains) and lean protein over simple carbohydrates such as white bread, refined-grain pasta, and sugary drinks. Replacing saturated fats and trans fats with polyunsaturated fats can also help"(https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/abdominal-fat-and-what-to-do-about-it).
Completely unnecessary advice here with restrictions. Specific Foods don’t drive where fat is stored. I assume you woo’d my post about ice cream then
Also shame on Harvard for claiming studies have shown without references to the studies. Pretty much garbage articles
It's Harvard Heath, not some Instagram "influencer" I'm pretty sure they can back up their statements.
We have actual doctors out here telling you not to vaccinate your kids or that fasts cure cancer. So no I won’t take some Harvard guy for their word. It’s lazy and bad journalism. Certainly not posts someone should link to prove a point that experienced dieters know is false13 -
OP - strikes me that your trainer is right - can't spot reduce and exercising your whole body is key to looking leaner and fitter - provided your calorie intake is right! A full body exercise routine won't make your slim legs skinnier - it may help the rest of you look as toned as you want it to. I have heard the term skinny fat on these boards often, where people have reached a healthy weight, may have slim limbs but still fell soft and untoned. I have also seen many people use resistance exercise and weight training to give them the toned body they want. Read back through the threads on here and you will find some good advice -
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Theoldguy1 wrote: »We all store fat in different places. You may store less fat in your legs, so while your legs may convey a lower body fat percentage, your actual body fat percentage may be higher.
Here is some helpful information:
"Eat right. Choose a balanced diet that helps you achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Include plenty of calcium: according to another study from the University of Alabama, Birmingham, the more calcium a woman consumes, the less visceral fat she gains. Avoid products that seem to encourage belly fat deposition, including trans fats (hydrogenated vegetable oils) and fructose-sweetened foods and beverages" (https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/taking-aim-at-belly-fat).
"Diet is also important. Pay attention to portion size, and emphasize complex carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables, and whole grains) and lean protein over simple carbohydrates such as white bread, refined-grain pasta, and sugary drinks. Replacing saturated fats and trans fats with polyunsaturated fats can also help"(https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/abdominal-fat-and-what-to-do-about-it).
Completely unnecessary advice here with restrictions. Specific Foods don’t drive where fat is stored. I assume you woo’d my post about ice cream then
Also shame on Harvard for claiming studies have shown without references to the studies. Pretty much garbage articles
It's Harvard Heath, not some Instagram "influencer" I'm pretty sure they can back up their statements.
We have actual doctors out here telling you not to vaccinate your kids or that fasts cure cancer. So no I won’t take some Harvard guy for their word. It’s lazy and bad journalism. Certainly not posts someone should link to prove a point that experienced dieters know is false
Doctors telling people not to vaccinate are the insignificant few.
Harvard is one of the most respected medical schools in the world. They are not going to post advice on their site that is contrary to thoughts that are generally accepted in the medical community.
Just me, but I'm following Harvard Med's advice vs "experience dieters".11 -
The same thing happened to me after having my first baby. I got to my pre-pregnancy weight and was not happy with my appearance, probably because I did no lifting at all as I lost weight.
Unfortunately you cannot spot reduce. You can train to work certain areas and once you lose bodyfat those areas can be revealed.
I would recommend you look into recomp.. eating at maintenance to change your body composition while lifting. I would highly recommend you follow a full body program, it will be most optimal. It will work your whole body and be best for your core.
Sorry to hijack this post, but I’d like to layer this into a discussion about metabolism. I hear that you can increase it slowly by adding 50-150 cals/day while lifting and getting sufficient sleep. So can recomp and metabolism go together?
You will probably get more traction if you start a new thread. I am going to be honest, I don't know a lot about reverse dieting and I haven't found a lot of concrete science behind it so maybe others can chime in. From my understanding it is used in people who have undergone severe calorie restriction for a long period of time, especially beneficial for those at a very low bodyfat% (stage lean for example) who have experienced metabolic adaptation. Slowly adding calories after a deficit, letting your body catch up to the new calorie amount (so your body works more efficiently with extra calories and does not store them automatically as fat) and adjust slowly so adding calories weekly in increments can help.
Are you currently in a deficit? If you are slowly add calories and find your maintenance. Your weight will jump a bit due to the increased calorie amount and water weight... go slowly and track your weight and take it slowly.
i can weigh in on this because when i started working with the nutrition folks i've been with for 3 years now i was averaging 1400 cal a day while training for an ironman (probably not my best decision ever).
since then they have increased my calories slowly up to an average of 2800 a day (using a TDEE method) and i've stayed weight stable - increases are typically every 2 weeks and only 60-100 cal (a lot of it depends on the feedback i've been giving my coach on how i feel during workouts, how my sleep has been, general mood etc)5 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »We all store fat in different places. You may store less fat in your legs, so while your legs may convey a lower body fat percentage, your actual body fat percentage may be higher.
Here is some helpful information:
"Eat right. Choose a balanced diet that helps you achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Include plenty of calcium: according to another study from the University of Alabama, Birmingham, the more calcium a woman consumes, the less visceral fat she gains. Avoid products that seem to encourage belly fat deposition, including trans fats (hydrogenated vegetable oils) and fructose-sweetened foods and beverages" (https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/taking-aim-at-belly-fat).
"Diet is also important. Pay attention to portion size, and emphasize complex carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables, and whole grains) and lean protein over simple carbohydrates such as white bread, refined-grain pasta, and sugary drinks. Replacing saturated fats and trans fats with polyunsaturated fats can also help"(https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/abdominal-fat-and-what-to-do-about-it).
Completely unnecessary advice here with restrictions. Specific Foods don’t drive where fat is stored. I assume you woo’d my post about ice cream then
Also shame on Harvard for claiming studies have shown without references to the studies. Pretty much garbage articles
It's Harvard Heath, not some Instagram "influencer" I'm pretty sure they can back up their statements.
We have actual doctors out here telling you not to vaccinate your kids or that fasts cure cancer. So no I won’t take some Harvard guy for their word. It’s lazy and bad journalism. Certainly not posts someone should link to prove a point that experienced dieters know is false
Doctors telling people not to vaccinate are the insignificant few.
Harvard is one of the most respected medical schools in the world. They are not going to post advice on their site that is contrary to thoughts that are generally accepted in the medical community.
Just me, but I'm following Harvard Med's advice vs "experience dieters".
You do you. No studies I have read establish evidence that specific foods will be stored as fat in specific areas of the body. Harvard could have linked that nonsense and maybe changed my mind. But they didn’t5 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »We all store fat in different places. You may store less fat in your legs, so while your legs may convey a lower body fat percentage, your actual body fat percentage may be higher.
Here is some helpful information:
"Eat right. Choose a balanced diet that helps you achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Include plenty of calcium: according to another study from the University of Alabama, Birmingham, the more calcium a woman consumes, the less visceral fat she gains. Avoid products that seem to encourage belly fat deposition, including trans fats (hydrogenated vegetable oils) and fructose-sweetened foods and beverages" (https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/taking-aim-at-belly-fat).
"Diet is also important. Pay attention to portion size, and emphasize complex carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables, and whole grains) and lean protein over simple carbohydrates such as white bread, refined-grain pasta, and sugary drinks. Replacing saturated fats and trans fats with polyunsaturated fats can also help"(https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/abdominal-fat-and-what-to-do-about-it).
Completely unnecessary advice here with restrictions. Specific Foods don’t drive where fat is stored. I assume you woo’d my post about ice cream then
Also shame on Harvard for claiming studies have shown without references to the studies. Pretty much garbage articles
It's Harvard Heath, not some Instagram "influencer" I'm pretty sure they can back up their statements.
We have actual doctors out here telling you not to vaccinate your kids or that fasts cure cancer. So no I won’t take some Harvard guy for their word. It’s lazy and bad journalism. Certainly not posts someone should link to prove a point that experienced dieters know is false
Doctors telling people not to vaccinate are the insignificant few.
Harvard is one of the most respected medical schools in the world. They are not going to post advice on their site that is contrary to thoughts that are generally accepted in the medical community.
Just me, but I'm following Harvard Med's advice vs "experience dieters".
It's the Harvard Health BLOG--has nothing to do with the medical school, it's just a newsletter written by their PR department like any number of other posts out there in the interwebz. We have half a dozen similar publications at the medical school I work at.
Go to faculty pages, department pages and peer-reviewed journals if you're interested in Harvard's actual medical research. Not a clickbait blog that doesn't even refer back to or cite existing research actually being done at Harvard.14 -
Misread - deleted response2
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