Why You Store Fat Here, And How To ACTUALLY Lose It

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Why does stubborn fat disappear quickly from some areas but refuse to budge from others? In this video, I share how to lose belly fat and other frustrating problem zones, including how to get rid of belly fat around your sides, what to do about lower belly fat, and even how to lose side belly fat that hangs on longest. I rank five of the most stubborn fat-storage areas from easiest to hardest to lose, using real DXA scans, research, and transformations to show why each area behaves differently — and the training and diet strategies that can help.

LINK TO THE PAST DIET VIDEO MANSON AND MELODY FOLLOWED:

First is visceral fat. This is the deep fat stored around your organs — and unlike the stubborn fat you can see, it can be surprisingly high even in people who look lean or muscular.

A 2023 review of 84 randomized trials found vigorous aerobic exercise and HIIT ranked among the most effective exercise approaches for reducing visceral fat. Resistance training alone helped, but combining lifting with cardio ranked much higher. Still, the single most reliable driver of visceral-fat loss is a calorie deficit. Simply cutting back on sugary and high-fat foods while adding cardio may be enough to start.

Next is face fat at 3/10. Sometimes a “fatter” face isn’t more fat; it’s water retention. Cutting back on takeout and processed foods can reduce that water retention quickly. For actual face fat, your face is often one of the first places you’ll notice progress while dieting. Manson did it without initially counting calories by eating more whole, home-prepared foods and replacing calorie-containing drinks like bubble tea and lattes with calorie-free options.

Upper-body fat gets a 6/10. After analyzing more than 100 DXA scans from people we’ve worked with, I noticed women’s arm body-fat percentage averaged about 3.1 percentage points above their total body-fat percentage, while men’s arms averaged about 4.2 percentage points below theirs. For men, more upper-body fat seemed to collect around the chest.

But losing fat isn’t the only way to improve these areas. Building the muscles underneath can make them look firmer and more defined. For the back of the arms, overhead extensions can help build the triceps long head. For the chest, incline dumbbell presses and machine flyes with a slight forward lean can help build the upper chest. Combine that with a calorie deficit, one fist-sized serving of lean protein at each meal, and around 8,000–10,000 steps per day.

Love handles are much tougher: 8.5/10. One reason may involve the balance of alpha- and beta-receptors in fat cells. Research found deeper visceral fat had close to a 50/50 split, while subcutaneous fat had roughly 60% of the more resistant receptors and 40% of the more permissive ones.

You can’t spot-reduce love handles, so how to lose side belly fat really comes down to lowering your overall body fat while building a stronger V-taper to make them look smaller. Lateral raises for your shoulders and pull-ups for your upper back can create the appearance of a narrower waist. To actually lose the fat, you still need to reduce overall body fat. You typically won’t notice much progress until below around 20% body fat for men and 30% for women. At this stage, tracking calories becomes much more useful. A rough starting estimate is body weight in pounds × 10–13 calories.

Finally, lower-belly fat gets a 10/10. For many men, lower belly fat is the very last area to lean out. Luke still had lower-belly fat at around 15% body fat despite visible upper and middle abs, and most men who don’t genetically store less fat there may need to reach roughly 10–12% body fat for the area to really lean out.

The leaner you become, the fewer calories your body naturally burns, so maintaining the same deficit can require eating a little less, moving more, or adding cardio. But pushing too aggressively can increase the risk of losing muscle. A useful upper limit at this stage is body weight in pounds × 0.007 for weekly weight loss.

And before chasing that final pocket of lower-belly fat, ask whether getting that lean is actually worth it for you. Even around 10% body fat, there can still be a little lower-belly fat left to obsess over.

Disclaimers: Jeremy Ethier is not a doctor, physical therapist, or a medical professional. Always consult a physician before starting any exercise program. Use of this information is strictly at your own risk. Jeremy Ethier will not assume any liability for direct or indirect losses or damages that may result from the use of information contained in this video including but not limited to economic loss, injury, illness or death.

0:00 – 3:40 VISCERAL FAT
3:41 – 5:36 FACE FAT
5:37 – 8:23 UPPER BODY FAT
8:24 – 10:50 LOVE HANDLES
10:51 – 13:18 LOWER BELLY

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