questions about losing lower body fat and toning

[Wilbur]

i am a college student trying to lose weight, mostly back fat, hips, butt and thighs... and get toned. i work out every day and have been for a few months. my abs and arms are showing a little bit of improvement, but the areas im more concerned about are not. my thighs and butt have some cellulite and im not sure how to get rid of it, but ive heard that its like impossible. any help or advice that anyone can offer would be great. thankyou so much

[laulau418]

There is no such thing as spot reduction - so in all honesty -
the places that need to lose the most fat - will probably be the last places and the hardest places to lose it from.

You need to focus on a clean diet, weight training and cardio.
Once you reduce your bodyfat - you will eventually see changes everywhere.

Hope that helps a little -

[Par Deus]

Sadly, cellulite seems to be primarily a lack of androgen, which results in differential connective tissue structure and glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content vs. males, in the layer between adipose and the dermis -- the end result being that adipose tissues bulges up into the dermis, between the perpendicular connective tissue that females possess (vs. parellel structure possesed by males).

This difference shows up under the microscope, even in women without visible cellulite.

There is also a study showing higher water content in the dermis and epidermis, with femals (again, mediated by GAG's)

Dropping bodyfat will take pressure off of the connective tissue, which will help the appearance, but it does not do anything about the underlying structural differences.

[imperfectly_lou]

As the above poster said, there is no such thing as sport reduction. However, if you eat clean and focus on an intensive strength training and cardio program, you will get results, it just takes time!

[pandee]

I agree with the fact that you cannot spot reduce. Just concentrate on overall body fat loss and you will see results. I have experienced this myself. I train very hard and for a while wasn't seeing enough results. Then all of the sudden I really began to look very tight and cut. I think my increase in cardio helped as well as doing HIIT.

[Par Deus]

Actually, you can spot reduce -- chemically.

Women and men do not store body fat in different regions by magic.

There are biochemical and receptor differences that cause this - -address those, and you can address the aesthetics.

Lower body, in women, is mediated by alpha2 receptors -- yohimbine blocks alpha 2 receptors.

Visceral fat (beer belly's and roid-gut), particularly in men, is mediated by cortisol and androgens (more specifically, 5-alpha reductase).

But, the chemical means certainly are not magic either -- still need exercise and a calorie deficit.

[Laurie]

Basically, it is a matter of just having patience if you are seeing some improvement now. Just as the others said, diet and working out with fairly heavy weights will get you there.

Some areas will be harder to lose than others.....at least from my experience. I do not have heavy legs, thighs nor butt.....genetics there. But I do have a "stomach" that is compounded by having two ceasareans 20/17 years ago. Both ways. It took over 30 years to build that stomach as big as it is......it will not go down in just a few months. But it is going down. Went from a size 48 (back in September 2002) to a size 38 jeans in the waist but my stomach still has a "pooch" from those operations as well as remaining fat and loose skin.

It will eventually go away....for the most part. I have time.

[cdmuscle]

Since we are women, we hold most of our "child-bearing" fat in the hip and leg areas. Unfortunately, this also means that it is the last to go. You will lose fat from the head down, that's why people may say "gee... you're losing weight" even when it's only been about 10 pounds and only in the upper body!

I agree with all above, keep going and it will come off!