How to The truth about localized fat loss

One of the most repeated mantras that I hear from the people who come to me as a coach is that of wanting to lose fat "here" or "there" in a specific, limited, and ultimately localized way. It is a classic mantra, just like the one that says going to the gym "to maintain" when you have never been in it before. Keep what? In this article, we explain how the fat loss process works and if we can expect to lose it locally. How the physiological mechanisms that make us lose fat work Sometimes terms that are not the same are used interchangeably, such as lipolysis or fat oxidation. Lipolysis is the process that causes the "release" of fatty acids from triglycerides stored in adipose tissue or even those that circulate through the circulatory system. In other words, lipolysis does not imply "burning" fat, but rather the mobilization of it to be used. Another thing is that it ends up being used. On the other hand, the oxidation of fat is the final process. Here we can talk about "burning" fat or, rather, using it at the cellular level to produce energy. Bearing this in mind, the process could be divided into three phases: Mobilization: in this process, fatty acids are extracted from the adipocyte. These fatty acids, without going into technicalities, remain stored in the form of triglycerides. For this mobilization to take place, a reason must be given, that is, a tissue or process must demand that amount of energy. After this demand, the hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline are responsible for promoting this mobilization of fatty acids into the bloodstream. Transport: secondly, fatty acids must be transported through the circulatory system to the tissue that has demanded energy, for example, a muscle. Although the transport of fatty acids is not usually a problem, there are commercial creams that seek to improve it through a "heat effect". This can improve blood supply to some degree and facilitate transport in poorly irrigated areas, but if the first and last parts of the process fail, they are of no use. Oxidation: finally, the fatty acids reach the muscle that has demanded energy, specifically the muscle cell. The process that ultimately causes the release of energy through the fatty acid is known as beta-oxidation. If we look at everything that the process implies, we see that fatty acids and muscle are different things, which can give us clues that training a muscle group thinking that we are going to lose fat from that area is utopian. Can you lose fat locally? Physiologically speaking, localized fat loss is not possible, or at least to the extent or with the control that we would like. There is some research from 2017 and 2007 where some localized fat loss is observed in areas where contractions of the adjacent muscles had taken place. What the authors hypothesize is that muscle contractions promote lipolysis of the nearest adipose tissue but, above all, the blood supply to the area is improved and this would facilitate the access of fatty acids to the muscle cells of the muscles involved. The fact is that they are isolated studies and that they are not in line with what the rest of the scientific literature says. Localized fat loss may be possible, but in no case feasible or efficient. It's not that expectations should be low about this, it's that there shouldn't be. My recommendation is that we simply focus on training all muscle groups, regardless of whether they coincide with areas where we have more localized fat. Apart from this, apply a caloric deficit and stay active in our day-to-day.