Losing Lower Ab Fat

by CAROL
(DAMON TX )

QUESTION: I have most of my weight in my lower abs and in my abs in general. Is it true that no amount of training one certain spot on your body will make you lose weight in that spot?

ANSWER: Carol, you're not alone having excess weight located in your lower abs. It's a very common problem. Unfortunately, it is true that training a certain area will not make you lose weight in that area. What you're describing is called "Spot Reducing". It is one of the biggest Ab myths and it has been used to sell a lot of Ab products on infomercials over the years. You can read about more ab myths on my Ab Workout Basics page.

The way to lose ab fat is the same way you lose fat in any area: consuming fewer calories than you're burning. It's not complicated, but unfortunately it's not easy. Doing that will cause you to lose fat from all over your body, with the majority coming from the areas that have the most to lose.

The best way to lose fat is to eat a healthy, low calorie diet, do cardio training (with interval training being the best), and do strength training. Interval training will burn the most calories, along with giving you the best "after burn"....the amount of calories you burn up to 24 hours after working out. Strength training will also result in a good "after burn", along with building fat-burning lean muscle.

It's also a good idea to do ab training 3x a week as part of your strength training workouts. Even though you won't be burning the fat in your lower abs, you'll firm and tone the ab muscles under the fat. That will help flatten your belly. Check out the Best Core Exercises and Stomach Flattening Exercises for some good ab exercises. Definitely include the Plank as part of your workout. It's one of the best core exercises and will strengthen and flatten your abs better than almost any ab exercise.

Hope that helps

Good Luck

Bill