Bulky Upper Body

Question
I'm 6' tall, have a long lower body and short waist. When I was overweight all my life. When I turned 21, I decided I was going to lose 50 lbs and ended up losing 60 over an 8 month period and loved the way I looked. 6 years later, I've managed to keep 40-45 off. The problem is that I tend to gain weight in my upper body. I dance about 3 hours a week and also do taichi and some resistance training. I focus a lot on keeping my core muscles strong through yoga and bench work. My question is if there is anything I can do nutritionally to minimize fat that I carry in my midsection? My legs and arms are in great shape, but my stomach and back are nowhere near where I'd like them to be. Thanks!

Answer
Hi Megan,

Congratulations on your successful weight loss and, more importantly, on keeping it off. You are among only 5% of Americans who are able to do so.

I hear questions such as this on a daily basis, both from our clients and from people standing in the grocery line with me who want to know what exercises I do for such a  搕oned?back. Unfortunately, spot reduction works only in the laundry room, -  there is simply no such thing as localized fat loss.

You will need to reduce your over all bodyfat with nutrition and cardiovascular work to reduce your overall body fat and get the stomach and back that you are looking for.   Although you dance 3 hours a week, it will greatly depend upon what type of dancing, how long and how hard as to whether or not it is actual cardiovascular. (burning fat) Obviously, you are burning calories but you may not be effectively burning fat.

The first thing that you need to do figure out what your body needs to take in to lose fat (it is not about dieting or "eating well" it is about eating the appropriate amounts of the appropriate foods. Don't worry, I will make it easy for  you to do both. You will have the look you want in no time

- Here is a Base Metabolic Rate Calculator to figure out what you need to lose fat effectively. Add 15% take into account and subtract 500 from that total number to get a pretty good idea of what you need to take in to burn fat
http://www.mypersonalfitnesscoach.com/FTRMRcalc.html

Don't worry, I am not going to expect you to count calories, it is a pain in the neck and we all have better things to do with our lives !!  Here is a link to the new USRDA guidelines and some information about serving sizes and portions. It will tell you how much you need from each group each day to stay in your calorie range. No counting calories needed but you may want to invest in a measuring cup and some measuring spoons :)  

http://www.mypersonalfitnesscoach.com/InfoServingsizesandPortions.html

LASTLY, you may want to log your food for a month to become aware of what you are eating

That having been said here are the facts regarding 搒pot reducing, toning and 揻irming?

1.Body areas which are not 搕oned?simply contain excess body fat.

2.Physiologically, muscle is always firm

3.Our bodies are genetically preprogrammed to carry a certain amount in a particular body area.

4. The area of the body that first notices a decrease in body fat will vary from person to person ?it is genetically pre - determined

5.In order to lose fat from your body an energy 揹eficit?must occur (ie?you must burn more calories than you consume

6.It is impossible to 揻irm?fat , nor can you 搕one?muscle

7.No one can predict which area of their body will lose fat first

8. Eventually you WILL experience fat loss in the more difficult areas.

Keep me updated on your progress and feel free to e mail me with any further questions  

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