[AbiDrew85]

Hi Violetka! According to research, it IS possible to spot reduce. It is just important to know that, as with most tricky things, it will take quite some time of persistence.

Now depending on YOUR body type (bananas/rectangles, typically, and the lower abdomen for hourglass shapes, as this is where these shapes lose and gain weight FIRST), losing over-all body fat will work for you. But if you are a pear, for example, this will not work for you because, as you lose fat off your waist, you will also lose it mostly off your butt and legs, and this defeats the point of spot reduction, doesn't it? So, if you are a banana/rectangle or an hourglass, you can lose fat first off of your lower-abdomen or torso by decreasing your caloric intake and increasing your caloric output (this is optional), as well as eating 5-7 times a day in smaller portions. Try to cut out of your diet added sugars, refined grains, processed foods, saturated fats (there is an on-going debate about this one, though) and eat more fiber, unsaturated fats, protein, and whole grains. There is more that I wrote on targeting belly fat on the second post of this thread: http://www.breastnexus.com/showthread.php?tid=15530&highlight=dips. and read about the stomach vacuum exercise on post #13, and 35-37 of this thread, and about spot fat reduction on post #38 (especially the link to the article I attached). The author of that article offers a simple-to-follow plan to spot reduce on the waist. I personally stick to all the diet tips mentioned above, and I take 2,000-3,000mg of CLA a day. I may do the spot reduction method sometime in the future, but for now I am going to start up an experimental waist-tucking (to bring the waist in more from the sides: aka the obliques) exercising routine, and you are more than welcome to try that along with me as well. I will be posting it soon!

I hope you find this helpful in some way!

Indeed. The ONLY optional nutrient is any carb other than fiber. YOU NEED some fat. YOU NEED lots of protein.

The problem with avoiding saturated fats is that it's often a very major fat in animal sources... And you need a small amount of animal fats. The GOOD omega 3's are only found in animal fat. ALA can be gotten from plant fat, but you only convert up to somewhere around 10% of that to EPA or DHA. And it's EPA and DHA that your body needs. So if your goal is to lose weight, you NEED animal fats. Otherwise you'll need to eat ridiculous amounts of plant fats to compensate for that horrible conversion rate.

But yes. You do want to avoid as much saturated fat as you can while still meeting your requirements for omega 6 and omega 3. Saturated fat serves no major purpose in our body besides a source of energy and raw materials to manufacture certain enzymes. If you get enough omega 3 and omega 6 from dietary sources you will get plenty of saturated.

Most of your fat intake should be omega 6 though, and those are found mainly in plants. So you should ALSO eat fatty plants...

Yes. Humans are OBLIGATE omnivores. Just like cats are obligate carnivores. Cats can't produce ANY of their required nutrients from lesser plant based sources, they have to eat already synthesized ones from another animal.

We were designed by nature to be omnivores. I know all the vegans are going to yell at me for that, but it's the reality. They aren't healthy being vegan. It's still their choice though...

Our bodies require a minimum of around 50 grams of protein and 10 grams of fat each day. Of that around a quarter of it needs to be animal source.