Losing Visceral Fat: Is "Spot Training" Possible?

[junglebeast]

I've heard that "spot training" does not work because fat is lost evenly throughout the body.

However, apparently there are different types of fat reserves,

"Visceral fat, also known as organ fat or intra-abdominal fat, is located inside the peritoneal cavity, packed in between internal organs and torso, as opposed to subcutaneous fat which is found underneath the skin, and intramuscular fat which is found interspersed in skeletal muscle. "

Clearly some people have different ratios of obesity with regard to visceral fat or subcutaneous fat. Naturally it seems that the body must have a slightly different process of creating visceral fat vs subcutaneous fat and I'm curious what the difference is between these processes, and if certain lifestyle changes/diet/habit can be made to affect the loss of visceral vs subcutaneous fat...effectively allowing for "spot training" because visceral fat is located primarily in the abdomen

 

[SilverwingDJ]

I'm not sure what effect diet has on the location and ratio of different fat types, but I presume that your body composition is more likely to be determined by your genetic makeup and that your genes would probably have the biggest influence.

I don't believe that fat is lost evenly throughout your body; you loose the subcutaneous fat before you lose the fat which pads your organs, and the reverse happens when you gain weight. "Spot training" does not work purely becuase you are burning calories and using up your general subcutaneous fat store, as opposed to the fat store of one particular area.

 

[Proton Soup]

no, visceral fat is the first to go. yes, spot training does not work. bodyfat distribution is mostly determined by your hormones.

if you really want to know about bodyfat, go search out Lyle McDonald's forum. he's about the biggest fat nerd out there.

 

[Xnn]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/e...ez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

CONTEXT: There is debate over the independent and combined effects of dieting and increased physical activity on improving metabolic risk factors (body composition and fat distribution). OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to conduct a randomized, controlled trial (CALERIE) to test the effect of a 25% energy deficit by diet alone or diet plus exercise for 6 months on body composition and fat distribution. DESIGN: This was a randomized, controlled trial. SETTING: The study was conducted at an institutional research center. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-five of 36 overweight but otherwise healthy participants (16 males, 19 females) completed the study. INTERVENTION: Participants were randomized to either control (healthy weight maintenance diet, n = 11), caloric restriction (CR; 25% reduction in energy intake, n = 12), or caloric restriction plus exercise (CR+EX; 12.5% reduction in energy intake + 12.5% increase in exercise energy expenditure, n = 12) for 6 months. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Changes in body composition by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry and changes in abdominal fat distribution by multislice computed tomography were measured. Results: The calculated energy deficit across the intervention was not different between CR and CR+EX. Participants lost approximately 10% of body weight (CR: - 8.3 +/- 0.8, CR+EX: - 8.1 +/- 0.8 kg, P = 1.00), approximately 24% of fat mass (CR: - 5.8 +/- 0.6, CR+EX: - 6.4 +/- 0.6 kg, P = 0.99), and 27% of abdominal visceral fat (CR: 0.9 +/- 0.2, CR+EX: 0.8 +/- 0.2 kg, P = 1.00). Both whole-body and abdominal fat distribution were not altered by the intervention. CONCLUSION: Exercise plays an equivalent role to CR in terms of energy balance; however, it can also improve aerobic fitness, which has other important cardiovascular and metabolic implications.

 

[Proton Soup]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/e...ez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

that's interesting. also in the article:

Participants in the CR+EX group self-selected their level of exercise intensity throughout the study because we believed compliance to the intervention would be enhanced with this strategy. Exercise intensity has been shown to influence body composition and cardiovascular and other metabolic outcomes in a dose-response manner (25, 32). Studies of exercise-induced weight loss suggest that high intensity exercise (65–80% maximal oxygen uptake) leads to greater improvements in visceral fat loss, insulin sensitivity, and lipoprotein profiles than moderate (40–55% maximal oxygen uptake) or low intensities. It might be argued that our approach may underestimate the role of exercise in the CR+EX intervention. Alternatively it could be argued that differences in body composition changes between these kinds of treatments are dependent on the resultant energy expenditure and energy deficit created by higher intensity exercise, rather than the exercise intensity itself (33, 34).

so it seems that intensity is the key here, which i did not remember.