Where Does Weight Loss Occur First?

Find out where does weight loss occur first according to experts advice: from internal organs to arms & legs.

Where Does Weight Loss Occur First?

For some people, the initial visible change may be in the waistline. Others may observe changes in their breasts or face first. Where you gain or lose weight first is likely to vary as you age. Both middle-aged men and postmenopausal women tend to accumulate fat around their midsections.

Generally, weight loss is an internal process. You will first shed the hard fat that surrounds your organs, such as the liver and kidneys, and then you will start to lose soft fat such as waist and thigh fat. Fat loss around organs makes you slimmer and stronger.

Losing weight

occurs first in the area where you most recently gained it.

For instance, if your breasts have enlarged and become heavier, you may notice that this area diminishes in the initial few weeks of slimming down. If your belly expands quickly when you gain weight, this area is likely to thin out first when you make a concerted effort to reduce food intake and get more exercise. Generally, weight loss is more noticeable at first in areas where there is little fat, such as collarbones. Most women store very little fat on their arms and shoulders, so these areas are the first to lose weight when women slim down.

As body fat levels decrease, you'll start to see the veins on your forearms become more prominent and muscle definition of your upper arms and shoulders. The first place where men usually lose weight is in the belly, while women tend to lose weight everywhere, but hold on to the weight in the thighs and hips, Dr. Philadelphia-based nutritionist Janet Brill, PhD, RD, theorizes that where fat melts first in the body is totally different for everyone, and you can lose weight since the last time you gained it. In the meantime, if the weight goes directly to your breasts as it does with many women, you'll probably notice that it also comes out of your chest first.

We all gain and lose weight a little differently, some places gain weight or lose weight before others. For that reason, many women say that the fat around their hips, buttocks and thighs stays firm during the first few weeks of a weight loss regimen, while the back, calves, and even the face begin to lose weight much earlier. Targeted fat loss, or “spot reduction” is the idea that you can burn fat preferentially in a certain area of your body by eating “special foods” or doing fat loss exercises that train that specific area. With age, these hormone levels decline, which is one of the reasons why both sexes tend to gain more weight around their midsections as they age. If your weight continues to increase, you simply continue to deposit fat all over your body, including your face and even your hands.

Charles Passler, nutritionist for models such as Bella Hadid, says that an estrogen imbalance can create the inability to lose weight and, on the contrary, the ability to gain it very easily. The same study found that people with obesity tend to lose weight first in the arms and legs regardless of gender. The hips and buttocks are also an area where it is usually most difficult for women to lose weight; they could stubbornly stay in place as the number on the scale decreases. However, when it comes to losing weight it's not so much about your body's natural shape as it is about genetics, how hormones work and your metabolism says Dr. Macronutrients that can help you lose fat and retain (or gain) muscle tissue preventing muscle loss that often occurs during weight loss.

The truth is as much as you think you might be targeting certain areas to lose weight with so-called exercises to remove belly fat or buttocks and thighs studies have found that you can't necessarily control where fat loss occurs.