Can I spot reduce ?
Spot reduction is the idea that exercising a specific body part, such as the abdominals, causes the involved muscles to use the surrounding fat for energy. This belief is the reason why high repetition sit-ups, side bends, leg raises, and twisting movements have been practised for years as a way to remove fat from the waist.
Spot reducing might seem logical to a lot of people, but, unfortunately, it does not work that way. It would be nice if the fat cells would be taken from the areas where you have the most fat deposits. But there are no direct pathway that exist from your fat cells to your muscle cells. When fat is used for energy, it is mobilized primarily through your liver from fat cells all over your body. The mobilization process actually operates in reverse order from which you store fat. The last places you store fat are usually the first from which you lose it.
The thickest layers of fat for a man are usually located on the waist. A woman sometimes stores fat there, too, but usually the thickest layers are over the buttocks and upper thighs.
Your muscles will burn calories 24 hours a day by themselves, just by being there. Concept 10 10 will actually turn your body in an automatic fat burning machine !
And don´t forget that 1 pound of muscle takes up much less space than 1 pound of fat. So, if you lose 5 pounds of fat and gain 5 pounds of muscle, your body will look quite different, but you will still weigh the same. This also illustrates the point that you should not be obsessed with your scale, but rather with losing excess fat and gaining lean muscle tissue.