CVPV

I exercise Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I do 20 minutes of weight training and 40 minutes of cardiovascular. My body fat is 22 percent, and my average calorie intake is 1,700 calories per day.

I am 5 feet 3 inches tall, and I weigh 128 pounds! My upper body is trim (skinny arms; I can see my rib cage), I think all the weight is in my hips and thighs. I have saddlebags with a little cellulite and desperately want to get rid of them. What can I do?

Answer:

First of all, it is very common for some people to appear to store all of their excess fat in certain areas, such as their hips and thighs. The main reason fat is deposited there is because of heredity.

Unfortunately, you cannot perform specific exercises to isolate the fat loss in these areas. Spot reducing is not possible. The best way to reduce body fat in these stubborn areas is to burn the fat away by using it for energy — either through an increase in your caloric expenditure via exercise or through a decrease in your caloric intake via a well-balanced diet (or a combination of the two).

In your case, adding one more session per week of cardiovascular exercise would result in approximately an additional 400-calorie expenditure per week or 6 pounds of fat over the course of a year. This fat loss would be significantly apparent in your high storage areas – such as the “saddlebags.”