Can You Get Rid of Bingo Wings, Back Fat or Belly Fat?
Why you can’t choose exactly where fat comes off — but you can still change your shape, build muscle and feel firmer.
Clients ask me this all the time.
“How do I get rid of this bit on my back?”
“What can I do about my bingo wings?”
“How do I lose this bit around my middle?”
Usually while grabbing hold of the exact area they’d quite happily like gone.
And I completely understand the question.
If there’s one particular part of your body bothering you, of course you want to know what you can do about it.
The good news is there absolutely are things you can do to change how your body looks.
But probably not in the way all those “3 exercises to burn belly fat” posts would have you believe.
Can you choose where you lose body fat?
Not really.
You can’t reliably tell your body, “Right, I’d like the next bit of fat to come off my stomach please.”
Doing hundreds of tricep exercises won’t specifically remove the fat from the back of your arms.
Doing endless crunches won’t tell your body to take fat from your stomach.
And training your back won’t directly burn the layer of fat sitting over those muscles.
Where we tend to store body fat, and where it comes off first as we lose weight, varies from person to person.
So if somebody is promising you an exercise that specifically burns bingo wings, belly fat or back fat, I’d be very sceptical.
But this is the important bit.
Yes, you CAN change how those areas look
Not being able to choose exactly where fat comes off doesn’t mean you’re stuck with the body shape you have now.
You can build muscle.
You can reduce overall body fat if fat loss is your goal.
You can get stronger.
And over time, those things can make a very noticeable difference to the shape and appearance of your body.
This is where strength training becomes so useful.
If the backs of your arms are bothering you, we can build your shoulders, biceps and triceps.
If you want more shape through your bum and legs, we can strengthen and develop your glutes and legs.
If you feel self-conscious about your back, we can build the muscles through your back and shoulders.
And if you are also losing body fat overall, the combination of having more muscle underneath and less fat covering it can change how your body looks.
So no, I can’t promise to take fat specifically from your arms, stomach or back.
But can we work towards making your body stronger, firmer and more defined and changing its overall shape?
Absolutely.
Isn’t that what “toning up” really means?
“Toning” is a word women use with me all the time.
“I don’t want to get bulky, I just want to tone up.”
And I know exactly what they mean.
Usually they want their arms to feel firmer.
They want a little more shape through their legs and bum.
They want to feel better in their clothes.
They want to look in the mirror and see a stronger-looking body.
There isn’t a special type of toning exercise that creates that.
What we’re really talking about is developing muscle and, where appropriate, reducing overall body fat.
And that’s why endlessly trying to make yourself smaller isn’t always the answer.
If you continually diet without giving your body a reason to build and maintain muscle, you may end up lighter on the scales without necessarily getting the stronger, firmer shape you were hoping for.
Strength training gives us something else to work with.
What about belly fat in midlife?
This is probably the area I get asked about most.
And again, I wish I had one magic exercise I could give you that would specifically remove it. I don’t.
Midlife can bring a lot of changes at the same time. Activity levels may have changed. Sleep may be different. Eating habits can creep over time. We naturally need to pay more attention to maintaining muscle as we get older, and menopause can also coincide with changes in how some women experience their bodies.
There isn’t one single explanation that applies to every woman.
That’s why I’m not a fan of telling every woman that her weight gain is simply “hormones” or that she needs some special menopause belly-fat workout.
I’d much rather look at you.
What are you eating most of the time?
How much are you moving?
Are you strength training?
If you are, is that training actually progressing?
What does your normal week look like?
What could we realistically change without making fitness another full-time job?
Those questions might not sound as exciting as “burn belly fat in seven days”, but they’re much more useful.
So what should you actually focus on?
If your goal is to lose some fat and change your body shape, I wouldn’t spend all your time trying to find exercises for the individual bits you dislike.
I’d look at the bigger picture.
Start strength training and gradually progress it.
You don’t need dozens of exercises. You need a few good movements that suit you and that you can become stronger at over time.
Move regularly.
That might mean walking more, being less sedentary or simply finding realistic ways to move more during your normal week.
And if fat loss is one of your goals, look at your food without immediately assuming the answer is to eat less and less.
A sensible calorie deficit may be needed for fat loss, but what that looks like will be different from woman to woman. Your food still needs to support your health, your training and a way of eating you can actually live with.
And then give the process some time.
You cannot control exactly where the first bit of fat comes off.
But you can control whether you get stronger, whether you build muscle, whether you move more and whether your habits are moving you towards your goal.
That gives us a lot more to work with than you might think.
You might not need to lose as much weight as you think
This is another conversation I have with women quite often.
Sometimes the goal they come in with is a number on the scales.
“I need to lose a stone.”
“I want to get back to the weight I was ten years ago.”
But what they actually want is often slightly different.
They want their clothes to fit better.
They want their arms to look firmer.
They want more shape through their body.
They want to feel stronger and more confident.
And those things don’t always require chasing the smallest number you can possibly reach on the scales.
Changing your body composition by building muscle while reducing body fat can change how you look and feel even when the scales aren’t telling the whole story.
That’s why strength training plays such a big part in how I coach women.
So, can you change your body shape after 40?
Yes.
You’re not stuck.
You may not be able to choose exactly where your body loses fat first, but you can absolutely work on changing your body composition, developing muscle and becoming stronger.
And you don’t need to live in the gym or spend the rest of your life dieting to start doing it.
You need a realistic plan, the right starting point and a way of progressing it as your body changes.
Ready for some help?
If you’ve been trying to lose weight, feel firmer and change your body shape but you’re not sure whether what you’re doing is actually getting you there, this is exactly the sort of thing I help women with.
I offer Personal Online Coaching as well as Private Studio Coaching in Kent.
We’ll look at where you are now, what you actually want to change and build a realistic plan around your training, movement, nutrition and lifestyle.
You don’t need to arrive fit, confident or already knowing what you’re doing.
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