It is fairly common for people to want to target a certain area of their body for weight loss.  I lived under this assumption for years.  I did squats and lunges in a vain attempt to shrink my hips.  Some are more concerned about the abdominal region or the upper arms.  The media comes to the rescue more often than not with special exercises and even supplements that will “target that ugly belly fat” or “lift your buttocks” or “shrink those flabby upper arms”. 

The general public has been so inundated with these ads that the truth is barely audible over the deafening noise of fitness equipment info-mercials.  They would have us believe that we can target certain areas of the body with their endless parade of spot-reduction products.  As much as I would like to tell people that they will reduce their gut by doing crunches, the truth is, I cannot and they won’t.

Doing crunches will add muscle size to your abdominals.  Doing arm exercises will add muscle size to your biceps and triceps.  Doing multiple squats will increase the muscle size of your gluteus maximus.  It will not target the fat in those particular areas.  We are genetically unique and we all carry our fat in different areas.  Well, now what?  Do we just give up on this exercise thing?

Absolutely not!  Strength training the entire body will lead to added muscle which will increase our resting metabolic rate.  Aerobic exercise will do a great job of burning fat during the time we are exercising.  Increasing intensity will burn even more fat and for a longer time after we stop the workout.  Decreasing the number of calories we consume will result in fat loss (but be careful not to go too low or you will lose muscle, too).  All of these things combined will help you to lose weight and tone-up. 

What exercise and dieting will not do is pick and choose where you lose fat.  You can pick and choose where you gain muscle, but exercising an area will not lead to fat loss in that area alone.  Your DNA has already determined where that fat will be stored and where you will lose it first.  Sorry to tell you but the only way to target fat loss or spot reduce is to choose different parents.

Products, programs and practices in the health and fitness industry:  sorting fact from fiction?

If you are noticing a pattern here then I’m doing my job.  There are too few watchdogs in the fitness and diet industry and far, far too many money hungry opportunists.

The truth is there are always going to be those who will try to sell their wares, no matter how unethical.  Sometimes, a product or program is not dangerous per se; it simply doesn’t live up to its claims.  In other words, it doesn’t work.  So how does one know?  You see a new abdominal machine on TV and it looks really convincing.  Perhaps you have friends on a new diet and they have lost a lot of weight.  How do you know it is safe?

You don’t have to take my word for it, although I would certainly give you the best advice I can.  There are plenty of resources to help you to research some of the claims that companies make regarding their products, programs or practices.  You may have to put forth a little effort, but it is really important that you do your research before opening your wallet or risking your health.

One resource is www.quackwatch.org.  This website is run by a physician who wants to expose “health-related frauds, myths, fads, fallacies and misconduct.”   The money for this site is primarily donations and it is non-profit and run mostly by volunteers.  Those who would take advantage of the public for financial gain need to be stopped.  If you are looking for information on diet scams in particular, you can go to:   http://www.dietscam.org/index.html  

As I write my Fit-it-in blog, the first thing I think about is your safety.  It is reckless and irresponsible to tell you to just go out and be active and ironically, you can’t simply Fit-it-in without first learning how.  That begins with learning how to sort fact from fiction.

http://royalwedding.yahoo.com/blogs/is-kate-on-a-controversial-diet-frances-dukan-diet-linked-to-middleton-family-1534 

It was only a matter of time before the royal wedding and the ever-decreasing dress size of Kate Middleton hit the American shores with a wave of “look like Kate” diet crazes.  Although the diet creator, P. Dukan says there is no scientific evidence that this diet will cause any health problems, he forgets to mention that NO ONE HAS DONE A STUDY ON IT YET! 

Sorry, didn’t mean to yell.  I just get a little ticked when people come up with these “sure things” and don’t give a rotten egg about your health or any unknown consequences.  So here’s the deal:  This diet eliminates everything except meat, oat bran and water for the first phase.  Then you are “allowed” to eat vegetables.  The third phase generously includes 2 slices of bread per day.  Woops, now I’m getting sarcastic.

Dr. Dukan might be right; there is no science that proves his diet will harm anyone.  What we do know is that any diet that eliminates food groups or is very low in calories is a potential health risk.  The Dukan diet, like most diets, predisposes one to yo-yo dieting and yo-yo dieting has been shown to predispose one to disease.  Yes, most Americans eat way too much, but it makes no sense to take risks to lose weight when there is so much evidence that eating more fruits and vegetables and gradually losing weight over time is healthy.

So here is your fit-it-in tip for the day:  If you care about your body, don’t waste your time or money on diet crazes that are exploiting your desperate urge to do it fast.  Let the future princess follow Dr. Dukan’s diet and then she can regain her royal fat and find another royal diet.  Let’s hope Kate doesn’t repeat the process over and over again…until she is royal blue.

Today I’m going to cover the topic of “detox diets”.  When giving health and fitness advice, I like to give the best, evidence-based science I can.  There is so much misinformation out there that I really hope you investigate the research behind some of these gimmicks before you open your wallet.  Detox diets are one of those gimmicks that people fall for, in an effort to magically transform their bodies, lose weight or live longer.  The truth is…well, let me refer you to a good article written by a registered dietitian; she says it better than I can:          http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=706&page=3

Hopefully, you will save your money and your time by following this advice.  Then when it comes to proven health and fitness recommendations, you’ll be able to fit-it-in.