Where Does Losing Weight Go

If you’re wondering “Where do you lose weight first?” it’s probably because there’s a part of your body you want to change fast.

And if you look online for answers, you’ll usually find something to the effect of, “The best way to tone up your [problem area] is this or that exercise, supplement, superfood, and so forth.”

That is, if you know how to eat and exercise properly, you will lose fat each and every day. That said, there aren’t clearly defined stages of fat loss that allow you to forecast exactly where you’ll lose fat first.

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In other words, the best way to burn belly fat isn’t doing more crunches; no amount of exercises to lose thigh fat will give you the legs you want; and no superfoods or supplements will automagically disapparate tone or tighten certain parts of your body.

Luckily, there are some general patterns to fat loss that can give you an indication of how and when you’ll lose fat, mainly depending on your body fat percentage, sex, and genetics.

Table of ContentsWhere Do Women Lose Weight First?Arms & ShouldersBackHips & ThighsWhere Do Men Lose Weight First?Arms & ShouldersStomachLegsWhy Is Stubborn Fat so Stubborn?What Affects Where You Lose Weight First?Body fat percentageSexGeneticsCan Exercise or Diet Help You Lose Weight in Certain Areas?What’s the Best Way to Lose Weight Fast

When You're Losing Weight, Where Does The Fat Go?

Most women store very little fat in their arms and shoulders, which is why these areas are the first to get leaner when ladies lose weight. As your body fat levels drop, you’ll start to see veins in your forearms become more prominent and muscle definition in your upper arms and shoulders.

Thus, as they get leaner, the shoulder blades and the muscles that run vertically along either side of the spine (the erector spinae ) become significantly more visible. Depending on how much fat a woman needs to lose, they’ll often be able to see all edges of their shoulder blades and a clearly defined “valley” directly above the spine (especially in the lower back). 

This is because the hip and thigh region is the first place women gain fat when their weight increases, and it’s where they store a disproportionately large amount of their total body fat.

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What’s more, once they get lean, most women find that a small amount of stubborn fat clings to their hips and thighs (and only disappears once they get to 20% body fat or below).

The good news is the hips and thighs are one of the first places to slim down when women start to lose weight, which is why you’ll probably find your pants start to fit better as soon as you lose a few pounds.

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Like women, men tend to store very little fat in their arms or shoulders, which is why these areas become vascular and defined before any other body part as you lose weight (many men have veiny forearms even when they’re quite overweight). As you lose weight, you’ll notice your forearms, biceps, and triceps will become more defined, and you’ll begin to see more separation between your shoulders and upper arms.

One the one hand, it’s the first place most men accumulate fat as they gain weight and the first place they lose it when they lose weight (easy come, easy go). On the other hand, something weird happens as men get very lean. 

Once most get down to about 10-to-15% body fat, belly fat becomes very, very stubborn. Suddenly, you’re measuring progress in millimeters instead of inches (more on why this is in a moment).

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As you lose stomach fat, you’ll notice that your stomach looks flatter from the side, a faint outline of your abs becomes visible, and your pants will become much looser.

Unlike women, men tend not to store much fat in their legs. Thus, as your body composition changes for the better, your thighs will be one of the first areas to lean out. You’ll quickly begin to see some separation between your quadriceps muscles and notice that your thighs don’t rub against one another as much while walking.

At bottom, stubborn fat is stubborn because it’s stuck in your fat cells and doesn’t want to come out and be burned for energy.

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While some fat cells disgorge their stored energy readily (a process is referred to as fat mobilization ), other areas are more stingy, or “stubborn.”

These molecules travel through your blood and “attach” to receptors on fat cells, and then trigger the release of the fat stored within the cells to be burned for energy. You can think of catecholamines like little letters your body sends to your fat cells with instructions to dump their cargo, ASAP. 

Fat cells have two types of receptors for catecholamines: alpha- and beta- receptors. You can think of alpha-receptors as bitter, cantankerous mailmen who throw your body’s “letters” in the trash, and beta-receptors as the sweet secretaries that rush your missive through to the cell. 

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Fat that disappears quickly, like the stuff covering your arms and shoulders, has more beta-receptors than alpha-receptors. And stubborn fat, like the stuff covering the butt and thighs of women and the stomach and lower back of men, has more alpha-receptors than beta-receptors. 

You may have noticed that fat in areas like your butt, hips, and thighs (for women) or stomach, low-back, and butt (for men) is slightly colder to the touch than fat in other areas of your body like the arms or chest. This is simply because there’s less blood flowing through the areas.

So we have a double-whammy of fat loss hindrance here: reduced blood flow so that only a small number of catecholamines make it to your fat cells and lots of alpha-receptors that prevent those catecholamines from increasing fat mobilization.

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The good news is that all fat quails in the face of a prolonged calorie deficit. As long as you eat and train correctly, stubborn fat will disappear—it’ll just take longer than fat in other areas.  

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If you’re very overweight (25+% body fat in men and 30+% in women), you’re going to have a lot of body fat stored around the organs in your abdomen such as your liver and intestines, also known as visceral fat . 

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This is known as visceral fat , and it’s associated with an increased risk of various diseases including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, insulin resistance, and dyslipidemia. While having large amounts of subcutaneous fat (the kind found underneath your skin) is also bad for your health , visceral fat is particularly problematic. 

Beyond this, you’re likely to lose fat fastest from wherever you happen to store it most. For example, if you have a particularly large midsection, that’s probably what will shrink first.

Research shows that men tend to lose fat more quickly from around their waist, whereas women typically lose fat more quickly from the hips and the top of the thighs.

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What’s more, research also shows that men tend to lose fat slightly quicker than women in general. Men also tend to maintain muscle more easily than women do during calorie restriction, which is important for maintaining a healthy metabolic rate and body composition .

Genetics play a role in how quickly you lose (or gain) weight in different parts of your body, but they’re not as important as many people think.

While some people believe all the calories they eat “go straight to their thighs” or “make a beeline for their belly, ” the reality is that the only way to gain body fat in any area of your body is to eat more calories than you burn (known as eating in a calorie surplus ).

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This is the immutable mechanism of fat storage. It can’t be altered by taking supplements, eating superfoods, doing special exercises, or following a fancy “DNA Diet ” that’s supposedly tailored to your unique genetic profile. 

It doesn’t matter whether you (think you) have “good” or “bad” genetics—fat stores can’t be increased without the provision of excess energy (calories).

That said, genetics can influence the way your body stores fat and how fat looks on your body. This becomes particularly apparent when people are either very lean or very overweight. 

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For example, some people have noticeable face fat even when the rest of their body is lean, and many women will still have some cellulite (fat) on their butt and thighs despite having visible abs.  

Likewise, some people with very large amounts of body fat will have disproportionately large buttocks, thighs, or back fat, which is also partly due to genetics. 

Remember, though, that the only reason this fat is there in the first place isn’t due to genetics—it’s due to a calorie surplus. 

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