Can You Really Target Belly Fat? (Science Explained)

[@BonytoBeastly]

Woot. Great video, man! It's weird how spot reduction is always so focused on the fat OVER the abs, which doesn't work very well, and doesn't seem to matter very much. You'd think the focus would be on spot-reducing visceral fat, which does seem to work quite well (with good lifestyle, diet, and exercise) and can have a profound impact on health.

[@szotakandrei]

That's not spot reduction, that's just fat loss....

[@BonytoBeastly]

@@szotakandrei If you're intentionally trying to lose proportionally more of it in one spot (underneath your abs), wouldn't that count as spot reduction?

[@BigBADSTUFF69]

@@BonytoBeastly no, spot reduction is the idea that you can do things besides diet to reduce fat in certain areas. It's not just dieting it's a fad thing.

[@BonytoBeastly]

@@BigBADSTUFF69 That's what I mean. Exercise affects visceral fat loss. You can preferentially target visceral fat by doing exercise/being more active.

[@BigBADSTUFF69]

@@BonytoBeastly I get that I'm just saying that's not what people mean by spot reduction. People just care about abs. Obviously the real method is what you are describing, diet and exercise.

[@FitOneswithVarun]

Great content Pak

[@gamerkyle14]

Why the two cameras abd bouncing around its driving me nuts 🤣 great video as always

[@flatwall4569]

Me too, although creative, they’d better kept one

[@MegaBentus]

Awesome vid!

[@AndusDominae]

I don't think I've ever seen anything on the science side of things, but I've definitely heard loads from bodybuilders and models. I'd be interested in finding out more about how strengthening and improving endurance of the transverse abdominis. The claim is, by doing vacuums, or by having a waist trainer on all day (some say just wearing it, some say it makes it so uncomfortable to relax the gut it makes you suck it in constantly) will reduce your waist size in general. I can see how it 'might' work. a) if the TA is stronger and fitter, and especially if you're used to unconsciously tensing all day, you might slightly hold in your gut while feeling relaxed. b) I'm not sure how much extra energy you're burning, but if you're tensing all day it's bound to be a few hundred calories, so if you don't increase intake you're shifting the balance towards weight loss. c) if performing an actual vacuum, I think it's very likely having a stronger and fitter TA is going to improve your ability, especially if you're practicing vacuums because there's technique involved too.

[@MTGandP]

For Brobakken et al. (2023) they found that the difference in trunk fat loss was statistically significant, but they didn't account for the fact that the experimental group lost more fat overall. I don't know the correct way to do the significance test (it involves a difference of ratios) but a correct test would find a less significant result (possibly p > 0.05, I'm not sure).

[@Yupppi]

The first study made me think how there was no information on what usual loss of body fat is and comparison in another part of body. Like I'd be really interested if the whole body's fat was decreasing and if the belly fat decreased more than usual when other fat storages didn't. But then again it was a study from 1965. What you brought up about statistical significance is interesting if we would apply it broadly. How much of the training, nutrition and other practices we would keep doing, or we'd deem rather open to choice, if we only cared about clearly noticeable differences. Not observable but noticeable. How loose on the spectrum would we be about "just go to the gym and eat somewhat reasonably"? At least I've noticed a strong trend (not in just training and nutrition) that there's a lot of optimisation based on the most minor findings and methodologies based in that, and that drips out from the top of the professional world (where you want to make sure you're not by accident leaving anything on the table, even if you can't know it's on the table up for grabs at all). And people have started fretting over and experiencing fear of missing out on things that aren't potentially there or that wouldn't make any difference to them. And spending money on chasing that stress. And not just rather scam gadgets like abtronics, but good stuff too where the belief is on minor scientifically possible findings, or influencing the methods.

[@BASEDROBBERSPONGE234]

I saw another video from jeremy either, another youtuber, i would like to see some of the sources of info you found.

[@AlphaLionTrillionaire]

To save you guys 22 minutes: no, not really.

[@strongerbyscience]

Nice try undercover agent from Big BellyFat™️ 😏

[@AlphaLionTrillionaire]

@@strongerbyscience you VILL have belly fat and you vill be happy, such is Ze Plan

[@Coachahmadreza]

👿

[@Yupppi]

I think the whole 22 minutes point was that we already have an idea that it doesn't really work, let's go through the evidence. And gain information, possibly even knowledge.

[@AlphaLionTrillionaire]

@@strongerbyscience you VILL have belly fat and you'll be happy. Resistance is futile

[@EvanZamir]

You can't target fat but you can apply progressive overload to make your abs pop more at higher body fat levels.

[@strongerbyscience]

Kind of! As we mention in the episode, there does potentially seem to be SOME spot reduction in beginners. Short of that, growing your abs is your only way to make only that muscle pop more, IMO -Milo

[@pathologicaldoubt]

Yo where’s the other two guys

[@strongerbyscience]

Check out other videos lol! Videos/shorts are a solo show (minus peer review), but podcasts remain a three-host deal.

[@DILFDylF]

Shhh they're sleepin', you're gonna wake 'em!

[@turnippatrol4607]

Never understood the appeal of this notion. Why would I want to "spot reduce" one area at the expense of all other areas?

[@EvanZamir]

If you don’t understand then you probably haven’t been fat.

[@DogginsFroggins]

You don't understand wanting abs? Are you an alien?

[@laurenh1928]

I’m guessing you are not a woman?

[@turnippatrol4607]

@@EvanZamir Well if you're fat, isn't your goal to get leaner EVERYWHERE? It would look bizarre to preferentially lean out in one body part/area while the rest of the body remains just as fat

[@dfcx1]

Because visceral fat is generally thought to be more unhealthy than subcutaneous fat.

[@TheBhannah]

Let’s try to be current please !

[@strongerbyscience]

The video and podcast were both inspired by the 2023 paper titled “Abdominal aerobic endurance exercise reveals spot reduction exists: A randomized controlled trial” (last paper to be “analyzed” on the video). Given that this paper did receive some attention on social media, we thought it would be cool to go over the literature on spot reduction and see if it’s really as big of a myth as we thought. That said, we promise no more spot reduction content for at least a few years 😆

[@kh89182]

For the algorithm

[@neandrewthal]

I know SBS is evolving and going through changes....and I know that is a business that needs to be able to justify its existence. But the clickbait video format really turns me off. To be fair the 9 hour audio sessions turned me off too so it's not like I want the opposite. I miss the Podcast with Eric.

[@strongerbyscience]

It’s important to note that although the thumbnail may be a bit on the clickbait side of things, I’d argue that the title is pretty accurate for the topic being addressed in the video (spot reduction). Additionally, I’d also argue that a 20+ minute video going over the literature in support of spot reduction is the opposite of mass appeal / clickbait 😅😅😅 Nonetheless, I appreciate the feedback -Pak

[@thynaruto]

The title and thumbnail are not click bait tho? The content is also super in depth and related to the discussion of spot fat reduction.

[@BigBADSTUFF69]

how is it clickbait? it's a video about the topic in the headline?

[@georgesxuereb]

@@thynaruto yeah, and I'm not sure what bouncing around he is referring to... On the other hand, I'm really digging this ADDITIONAL content.

[@NattyMuscleDude]

tldr, no

[@nevencuk]

I'm on 9:56, can anybody save me 12 minutes of my life and tell me the conclusion of the video?

[@strongerbyscience]

20:09 - Summary & practical takeaways