WHAT IS THE HARDEST PLACE TO LOSE FAT? THE ANSWER MIGHT SURPRISE YOU…

People often ask us, “What is the hardest place to lost fat from?”

No doubt they’re expecting us to give a simple answer, something like “the belly” or “the buttocks”.

Well, I’m sad to say that there is no simple, one-size-fits-all answer. That’s just not how the human body with all its many complexities and genetic varieties work!

To understand the answer to the question, “What is the hardest place to lose fat?” we have to first take a dive into the human body and understand what fat does and how our body stories it.

What is the Hardest Place to Lose Fat? Understanding Genetics and Fat Storage/Loss

Typically, when you think of losing fat, you’ve probably got a “problem area” in mind. Maybe you’re packing a bit extra around your gut that you could do away with, or you want to eliminate the fat around your buttocks or the backs of your legs to fit better into your clothing.

In a perfect world, we would be able to target specific locations to burn fat, and we’d see results easily and with targeted precision. But that’s just not how your body works…

You see, your body is designed to store fat against periods of starvation, when there is little to no food available. This is far less common in our modern world, but remember that the human body has evolved over thousands of years—including times when the only food available was what you could hunt or forage. Had a bad day hunting? Nothing to eat for dinner! Is it the dead of winter and nothing is growing on trees or out of the ground? Nothing to keep you full!

Our bodies evolved to store extra fat against these “hard times”, so we can stay alive and functioning even on the days when we had little to no food. Fat contains more than twice as much energy as carbohydrates or protein—9 calories per gram of fat vs. 4 calories per gram of carbs or protein—so it’s the best “energy storage source”. We store fat in adipose tissue all around our bodies, wherever it’s most likely to be easily accessible.

And this is where genetics come into play!

Men typically store fat around their midsection, particularly on their belly. You’ll see a lot of men with big beer guts but still small waists and lower bodies—that’s because genetically, most males store belly fat over other types of fat.

Women, on the other hand, typically store fat in two places: around their hips/buttocks/backs of their thighs, and on the backs of their arms. 

Both men and women tend to store fat around their midsection (including the lower back and “love handles”). In the end, however, the place where you’re most likely to store fat will be determined by, yes, you guessed it, your genetics.

Your genetics will decide where to store the excess fat to make sure it’s available when you need it. For some people, genetics will make it incredibly easy to store fat—and those same genetics will make it much harder to utilize (burn) that fat. This type of people are often referred to as “endomorphs” because they’re genetically predisposed to storing more fat and having less muscle mass.

On the other hand, some people will be genetically predisposed to storing virtually no fat, and what fat they do store is typically burned fairly easily. This body type is called “ectomorph”, and they tend to be fairly lean and skinny with minimal body fat.

To key to understanding the question “What is the hardest place to lose fat?” is to take a look at your body. Where do you have the highest amount of body fat, and where do you tend to gain most easily? That is usually the answer for your specific body type and genetic design.

However, as mentioned above, there are typically five places that tend to accumulate fat easiest, and which typically are the hardest to lose fat from:

Belly – Though men are more predisposed to gaining belly fat, women often find it hard to lose existing belly fat.

Lower Back and Love Handles – These two fat storage regions are usually paired—after all, there’s not a lot of space on your lower back without adding onto your love handles. This is where the dreaded “muffin top” comes from.

Buttocks – The buttocks is naturally a fat storage deposit, particularly for women. It’s easily expandable with a high amount of adipose tissue, which makes it typically one of the easiest places to gain fat, and one of the hardest places to lose fat from.

Backs of Thighs – As the buttocks expand, a lot of the fat gets stored in the adipose tissue on the backs of the thighs, too.

Backs of Arms – The backs of the arms have a lot of storage for fat accumulation, which is intended to be available to power the upper body and arms.

These are the places where you’ll most likely struggle to lose weight from.

What is the Hardest Place to Lose Fat? Banish Body Fat with Yoga Lean

Want to get rid of that hard-to-lose fat the healthy way? That’s where Get Yoga Lean comes in handy!

Yoga Lean is a mind-and-body approach to fat loss and fitness that will change your life, and your approach to exercise. The program will help you clean up your metabolism, improve your mental health, sculpt your physique, enhance your fitness, and burn serious fat. It’s a one-size-fits-all program that will help you become the fit, healthy, happy person you want to be, rebuilding your mind and body from the ground up.

You’ll never ask the question “What is the hardest place to lose fat?” again because you’ll see the fat-loss results you want in no time!