Want to know how to lose those bat wings? Here are the top three ways to reduce the size of your arms without going under the knife.
#3: Exercise
We’ll say it until we’re blue: there’s no evidence that you can spot reduce fat in specific body areas through exercise. So if you want to lose arm fat with this method, you need to choose a routine designed to burn calories and lose weight overall. Let’s be real: very few of us are storing fat in our arms and nowhere else. Most women store fat in their lower body, while most men store fat in their midsection. Choose exercises that burn the most calories: high intensity interval training is highly recommended if you want to burn the most calories in the smallest amount of time.
In general, you’re looking for exercises that work your whole body – burpees, jump squats – anything that gets your heart rate up.
Now, if you want to tone the muscles in your arms, then you might want to try triceps extensions, bicep curls, push-ups, pull-ups, dips, rows, and overhead presses – all of these will strengthen and tone your arms and upper body, and you’ll burn calories while doing it! But you’re not going to lose more fat on your arms with arm-specific exercises. So you need to know what your goals are – whether you want to tone your arms, lose fat, or both.
Don’t expect to see results from just one trip to the gym, or even two weeks. Losing fat through exercise alone can take about 6 months before you notice a visible difference in the mirror.
#2: Reduce Calories
When you lose fat through exercise, it’s because the energy expenditure from exercising puts you into a calorie deficit. There are a lot of benefits to exercise, but it’s a pretty roundabout way of losing fat in your arms (despite what all those Instagram models selling their fitness plans may say).
You can take a much more direct approach to losing arm fat by simply cutting back on your daily calorie intake.
If you want to reduce the size of your arms, you need to eat less calories than your body needs, which will force your body to tap into those fat stores for energy. Many people gain weight due to their eating choices, go on a diet, lose the weight, and go right back to the habits that caused them to gain weight in the first place. If you want to avoid yo-yo dieting, you need to find a healthy lifestyle that works for you, so that you don’t put that weight back on after your diet. But remember, reducing arm fat (or any fat) is all about calorie reduction. Committing to healthier eating habits without also reducing your overall calorie intake won’t cause you to lose the weight, although it may prevent you from gaining any more.
Like exercise, calorie reduction will cause you to lose weight fairly evenly; there’s no way to target your arms specifically. How long a calorie reduction diet takes to affect the size of your arms will depend on how much you cut calories. Some diets can see results in as little as three months, others may take longer. It all depends on how much of a calorie deficit you can maintain – while still functioning and maintaining good nutrition.
#1: Arm CoolSculpting
Diet and exercise are effective when done right and offer many other health benefits. But neither of these methods will allow you to lose fat in targeted areas.
That’s why the most effective way to lose fat in your arms is still CoolSculpting.
CoolSculpting isn’t a weight loss solution; it’s a body sculpting solution. So if you really don’t want to lose that butt or those thighs, but you do want to slim down your arms, CoolSculpting is going to make that happen – that’s not something diet and exercise can do. Compared to surgical procedures, CoolSculpting is quick and easy. You’ll be able to return to work immediately after the treatment, with zero down time.
CoolSculpting your arms usually only takes 35 minutes – that’s a lot faster than months of diet of exercise. Because CoolSculpting freezes fat cells, it relies on your body’s natural processes to eliminate those dead cells over time. You can start to see results from CoolSculpting as early as 30 days, with final results at 120 days (four months).
View more arms before and after photos.