Many people are looking for ways to lose fat and slim and contour their body. Specific areas of the body may make it more difficult to shed fat, such as the abdomen and love handles. While diet and exercise are excellent ways to reduce overall body fat, some areas of fat may be especially stubborn or unresponsive to traditional forms of fat loss.
What Is Spot Reducing Fat?
Exercising regularly can help you lose fat and lead a healthy lifestyle. Some fitness enthusiasts claim they can teach students how to spot reduce fat, the process of targeting specific areas of fat to lose. Unfortunately, this is not how fat loss works. To effectively lose fat, you need to focus on full-body fat reduction. Full-body fat loss can help target stubborn areas of fat while also slimming down all areas of the body that are storing excess fat.
6 Alternatives to Spot Reducing Fat
There are numerous alternatives to spot reduction that can help you lose excess fat. While spot toning can help strengthen specific muscle groups, evidence-based exercises and methods can help you lose fat over the entire body. Engaging the full body when exercising can help burn calories and shed excess fat. There are also non-invasive cosmetic procedures, such as non-invasive lasers, to treat fat and contour the body.
1. Full-Body Exercise
Because general fat loss is recommended over spot reduction, it is important to exercise the entire body. Whole-body exercises can burn more calories and help reduce fat when paired with a proper diet. While targeted strength training can effectively tone a specific area of the body, fat reduction does not work the same way. General fat loss is an effective way to lose stubborn fat and achieve a slimmer appearance.
Working out your full body in one routine can lower exercise time commitments, improve muscle recovery rates and is ideal for losing body fat. Full-body exercises are also ideal for those looking to work out at home, as many full-body activities do not require much equipment.
2. Spot Toning Workouts
While you cannot choose exactly where your body loses fat, you can choose which muscles you tone and strengthen. Spot toning is when you strengthen a specific muscle or muscle group. For example, some people may want to slim their arms, so they tone their biceps and triceps. Spot toning can help improve the appearance of the body by burning calories and strengthening the physique.
Spot toning is an effective way to control the size and toning of various muscle groups. When combined with full-body exercises, spot toning can be an effective way to treat stubborn fat. When spot toning, working out your other muscle groups is essential to avoid overworking one muscle group or creating a muscular imbalance.
3. Cardiovascular Exercise
Cardio workouts are excellent exercises because they use large muscle groups and burn many calories. Cardio may also be an effective way to burn stubborn abdominal fat. Incorporating regular cardio workouts into a workout routine can help strengthen the heart and blood vessels, lower blood pressure and cholesterol, improve oxygen flow throughout the body and reduce your risk for various diseases.
Research shows fat loss of even 5% to 10% of your total body weight can improve your overall health and lower blood sugars, cholesterol and pressure. Fortunately, there are many fun and exciting ways to get your cardio in. Choosing a cardio exercise you enjoy can help you stick to your exercise plan and lose weight. Some of the most popular cardio workouts include hiking, running, dancing, swimming, biking and walking.
4. High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
HIIT is a type of exercise that involves short periods of intense cardiovascular exercise or activity followed by a cooldown period. A study has shown that interval training led to 28.5% greater reductions in total fat mass than moderate-intensity continuous training. HIIT is considered one of the most effective and efficient ways to reduce body fat and lead a healthy lifestyle.
Many exercises can be incorporated into a HIIT routine, including running, jump roping, biking and more. One of the main benefits of HIIT is that it can help burn a large number of calories in a short period of time. Additionally, your metabolic rate is higher for hours after HIIT exercise.
5. Combination Exercise Plans
Cardiovascular exercises and strength training each provide unique benefits and help to lose weight and tone the body. While some may focus solely on cardio or strength training, combination plans incorporating both types of workouts are often the most beneficial and can help people lose weight while toning muscle groups.
Mixing cardio workouts with strength training can help you lose weight, improve overall fitness levels and develop more efficient muscles. While cardio exercises burn more calories during a workout, strength training can elevate your metabolism longer after a workout. Combination exercise plans can help you lose fat while toning muscles effectively.
6. Non-Invasive Fat Loss Lasers
Non-invasive fat loss laser treatments are an effective way to lose fat from the waistline, hips, thighs, back and more. Unlike traditional weight-loss surgeries, non-invasive fat loss laser treatments do not require incisions and extensive surgery or lead to a long recovery period, scarring and uncomfortable side effects. Non-surgical fat loss treatments require no downtime and have no side effects. Benefits of non-invasive fat loss laser treatments include:
- Effective fat loss treatment: Non-surgical fat loss lasers are an effective body contouring treatment that can shrink excess fat cells.
- FDA-cleared: FDA-cleared non-invasive fat loss lasers are a safe, effective and reliable way to slim the body and lose stubborn fat.
- Results in as little as two weeks: Non-invasive fat loss treatments can show fat loss results in as little as two weeks.
- No downtime: Because non-invasive laser treatments do not require incisions or an invasive procedure, there is no downtime associated with laser fat treatments. Following a non-invasive fat loss laser treatment, patients can return to their daily activities immediately.
- No swelling, bruising or freezing: Another benefit of non-invasive fat loss laser treatments is that there are no side effects after treatment. Patients will not have to deal with swelling, bruising or freezing, which are typically associated with weight-loss surgeries and treatments.
Zerona Z6 Non-Invasive Fat Loss Laser
Zerona Z6 is an FDA-cleared non-invasive fat loss laser that can aid in overall body circumference reduction. Zerona treatments are a unique fat loss treatment that can target and emulsify fat rather than destroy the fat cells. We strive to help patients lose stubborn fat from the abdomen, love handles, waistline, thighs and more. Zerona treatments are effective and have undergone extensive double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials.
To get started with Zerona laser treatments, find a provider near you or contact us online today.
Last Updated on December 2, 2021 by Zerona Main