First, there is no such thing about spot reduction weight loss. A lot of people aren’t happy with a certain area of their body and start a diet or exercise program or buy an exercise machine to target that area for weight loss. How often have you heard that by working certain muscles the fat surrounding those muscles will be the first to disappear? This is completely false. Cedric Bryant, chief exercise physiologist for the American Council on Exercise, says this about spot reduction: “This is a myth, pure and simple. No matter how much exercise you do for a specific region of the body, it’s physiologically impossible to lose body fat in a targeted area. Fat is lost or gained throughout the entire the body. But the last area where people tend to lose it from is the areas where they gain it first. So for most men, the abdominal region is the most difficult area to trim, while in women, the hips, buttocks, and thighs are the trouble spots.” So if you’ve got some extra flab on your stomach, don’t go thinking that doing 100 sit-ups a day is going to make that fat go away.

Second, stay away from the weight loss pills. There’s a difference between losing weight and being healthy. Two things can happen if you take these pills- nothing and/or diarrhea. A lot of weight loss pills make it so your small intestine doesn’t absorb fat as well as normal. So, if you take the pills and remain on a high fat diet, that extra fat is going to make your stool very, very soft and thin, making you feel very bloated and have diarrhea. Remember, having a low amount of fat on your body is only a part of being fit. These pills don’t build muscle, cardiovascular endurance, or flexibility, which are the three keys of fitness.

Third, healthy fat loss for those who aren’t extremely obese is one pound per week. REMEMBER that!!! 1 LB. PER WEEK!!! Don’t freak out if you don’t lose 10-15 pounds the first month. That’s normal and healthy. A classic marketing point of an extreme weight loss diet is “lose 15-20 pounds the first two weeks!” This is a myth. If you lose too much fat too soon your body will think it is getting starved and start breaking down lean body tissue and storing as much energy as possible when it is given nutrients. As the great Tony Horton, creator of P90X says, “Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was your body.” If it took you ten years to be 50 pounds overweight, then it might take a couple years to get it off. But, if you’re diligent with a good diet and exercise program for just a year, one year, you’ll lose over 50 pounds. That’s awesome, and really a year is not that much time. Don’t get caught up in the quick fix with extreme fast weight loss.

So once you’ve lost the pounds, what are you going to do to keep them off? Answer: just keep doing what you did to get the pounds off. It’s a lifestyle change, yes, but you feel better, are stronger, can run faster, jump higher, eat more, sleep better, and the list goes on. Why stop doing what you’ve been doing? Just keep going at it! Ultimately weight loss takes time, dedication, and mental toughness.

To sum things up here are my extreme weight loss tips:

1. There’s no such things as spot reduction
2. Stay away from the weight loss pills.
3. Healthy fat loss for those who aren’t extremely obese is 1 lb. per week
4. Finally, weight loss and maintaining weight isn’t just about dieting- you’ve gotta have exercise as an adjunct.