Suppose you look at the 10 people closest to you, you will see that everyone has a different build and stores their fat in a different way . One has more on the stomach, the other has rounder buttocks, love handles, fat storage on the arms… Unfortunately, you cannot influence where you store your fat. 

However, this has been repeatedly investigated . What researchers discovered is that there are different forms of fat cells that each respond differently to, for example, stress due to a kcal deficit (negative energy balance). It turned out that one fat cell releases its energy more easily than the other. 

Simply put, there are the alpha-2 receptor dominant fat cells and the beta-2 receptor dominant fat cells. And these are not distributed evenly over the body, but each in its own place. For example, the alpha-2 dominant fat cells mainly on the abdomen and arms and the beta-2 dominant fat cells mainly on the buttocks and hips. 

This can differ per person. The researchers also saw a difference between men and women when it comes to variation. In men it is often the same, usually the abdomen. There is a greater diversity among women here. 

If you want to lose weight or shape up, you will do two things. You will eat less to create a negative energy balance and you will exercise more. In both cases you will use energy from the fat cell. Your body does this by producing the hormone adrenaline, which ensures that the fat can be "taken" out of the cell. When adrenaline activates the alpha 2 receptors, little happens. When the adrenaline activates the beta 2 cells, the fat is released.

And therein lies the problem. The beta-2 cells are less sensitive to the adrenaline that the fat wants to “free”. Usually these cells are more on the buttocks , legs and hips in women and it takes longer before you lose weight there.

So you can't really literally speak of stubborn fat, but we often experience it that way. they are the places where it takes longer to lose weight. 

It is also often said that this can be recognized by the fact that it is "cold" fat. For example, feel the difference between your legs and your stomach. This would be because the beta cells (let's just call them for the sake of convenience) are less well perfused. However, the researchers are not yet in agreement about whether this is actually the case.

From the above paragraph, many marketers have started to exploit this phenomenon. It is said that you can stimulate the fat cell by wearing special bands that give off heat or infrared. I used to work with the slimbelly, do we remember that? A band around your waist that gave pressure so that you would lose more fat around the abdomen during exercise, later came the slim back & legs, which did this on the hip area. 

All fables. But it worked for a certain group. you had to come and train 3 times a week on a cardio machine. 45 minutes at a time. For most people this was completely new, they went from zero to three times a week and in this way already had a negative energy balance. As a result, they lost fat, even in their “problem area”.

For example, when you train a certain muscle group very specifically, for example the arms, there is more “stress” in that place, causing adrenaline to be released. If that is actually the case, it may be that those fat cells in that area are being used more at that moment and there is a greater chance that the fat can also leave the cells. However, if this energy is not needed, because there is no negative energy balance, the fat is simply stored again around the same area.

I've dropped the word a few times now, but that negative energy balance is really the most important thing if you want to lose (local) fat. Because as long as you don't eat less than you consume, your body will really have zero reason to use the fat and use it as energy. 

So very simply put: eat less, move more. That is actually the best solution to lose fat. 

When will you notice?

When you look in the mirror, you often see what you don't like. Very rarely do we see a huge difference in fat storage, think of a six pack , but pants size 42 or more. If this is the case, it is often lipedema . For example, people usually have fuller legs and a flatter stomach, which still contains fat. The focus is then on the legs because you would prefer to have less. 

The only solution to this is to accept that you have to continue with that negative energy balance for longer. Because as long as the other areas still have fat to burn, this will be addressed first, simply because the fat can be released more easily. Our body always chooses the path of least resistance, remember that. 

Usually you will only experience real problems if you as a man fall below 10% and if women are below 16% until that time, the weight loss will be steady, but gradual. 

I bet you already knew the answer when you started this blog. But it is indeed not possible to lose fat locally. 

Does that mean you have to accept that you have too much fat in a certain place? No. Because as long as you don't have a too high fat percentage, this will not be the case anytime soon. 

Usually the imbalance lies in the fact that the fat percentage is quickly too high. Nowadays we are increasingly going to a size 38/40 than a 36/38. That doesn't have to be a bad thing, but then it is the result. 

12 week weight loss program

Would you like to lower your fat percentage and thereby optimize your figure? Do you finally want those abs you train so hard for to become more visible? Then it is best to follow the weight loss program . The focus is on burning fat, by means of that negative energy balance and training the entire body. Supplemented by specifically training those muscle groups that you find important and that you would like to see more of.