spiffy_spaceman@lemmy.world 9 months ago
No. You cannot target areas to lean out. This also holds for exercise: doing sit-ups will not burn the fat off your abs. The fat will also not necessarily come off evenly. Sometimes it does, sometimes the saddlebags stay until the bitter end even when your ribs are clearly visible. Genetics does play a role, but it can be dealt with.
(I’m a trainer and physiologist and helping people to lose fat is something I do.)
It’s so confusing when the OP puts opposite questions in their title and their post.
I just read the title, then saw your comment, and was confused why you said “No” then explained how the answer is “yes”. Then I read the post to see OP mixed things up, lol
so they do whatever?
The only way to target belly fat is with estrogen pills
What does that mean?
Estrogen causes distribution of fat to move from visceral to subcutaneous. That’s the reason “beer bellies” are usually seen on men, and why women usually have a “softer” or curvier physique. For overweight trans people, fat distribution can be a source of dysphoria. A lot of trans women are upset to have big bellies, and a lot of trans men are upset to be curvy. Hormones will change a person’s fat distribution in a couple of years. The matter of where under the skin subcutaneous fat settles, though, isn’t changeable by hormones.
Interesting. Is there a specific estrogen that causes that? I know that I used to get Arimidex (an aromatase inhibitor) from my doctor along with my weekly testosterone cypionate shot to block the aromatization into estradiol.
I know that excess estradiol levels can do other weird things in men too, like gynecomastia.
Plenty of women put on belly fat too though. Most of us aren’t the hourglass type. I do understand what you are saying though.
angrystego@lemmy.world 9 months ago
It’s true that doing sit-ups won’t help you target your belly fat, but it does make your abdominal muscles stronger and more able to keep your belly from protruding, so in effect it can make your belly look much flatter even without losing the fat.
spiffy_spaceman@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Agree: for most people, the beer gut is more pronounced because of the laxity of the front abs (also causing a hyper extended spine which causes back pain), it’s not all just fat. So, proper training and strengthening of the abs will help pull those things back in line, but won’t do much for burning off fat.
RedAggroBest@lemmy.world 9 months ago
I’m a massage therapist for context. If I had a dollar for every client I’ve had that I wish I could tell “Your back would feel better if you had any strength in your abs and something more than a hanj hill ass” I’d be able to afford a very long vacation