Reducing upper body weight

No. You cannot lose fat in just one part of your body.

I have heard the above reply before, but when I started losing weight, I did a great deal of elliptical work and though I noticed the fat loss in my legs immediately, it took much more work to lose weight in my upper body. I really recommend doing cardio followed by cable work to tone you upper body.

Cheers,
David

There are of course exceptions to how each loses weight, but generally for men you lose from the extremities, inward... the midsection being the last. That's nature's survival instinct working against your goal.

How do you know it's not because the body typically cuts fat from your legs first?

Belly/Visceral fat is very tough to get rid of, and I personally think it has just as much to do with diet as it does with physical activity.

This.

It is all about the diet. Get your diet in control and you will lose the weight.

In general I don't think thats true, although it will be variable across individuals.

In general, it is true for males, and it has some variability person to person.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9257410
The effects of diet- and exercise-induced weight loss on visceral adipose tissue (VAT) distribution in both men and women have been reviewed. In general, current knowledge is based on studies that have assessed the influence of diet alone on VAT in obese women. For every kilogram of diet-induced weight loss, the corresponding reduction in VAT expressed in absolute terms is approximately 3 to 4 cm2, and in relative terms is approximately 2 to 3%. Thus, a diet-induced weight loss of approximately 12 kg corresponds to a 30 to 35% reduction in VAT. Two studies that consider the effects of exercise per se on VAT report conflicting results. There appears to be a resistance to VAT reduction in obese women, whereas exercise-induced weight loss is associated with significant reductions in VAT in men. It was also reported that in obese men, reductions in VAT induced by the combination of diet and exercise are not different from those observed in response to diet alone. It is unclear whether the results of these studies reflect a biological truth or are confounded by methodological problems associated with the control of energy intake and expenditure in free-living patients. Evidence suggests that changes in waist circumference and sagittal diameter are well correlated with corresponding changes in VAT. A 1 cm reduction in waist circumference corresponds to a 5 cm2 (4%) reduction in VAT area at the L3 level. Data on the separate effects of diet- and exercise-induced weight loss on VAT from well controlled studies are required to advance current knowledge with respect to the effects of diet and exercise on the adipose tissue depot that conveys the greatest health risk.


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18180786
BACKGROUND: Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) is associated with greater obesity-related metabolic disturbance. Many studies have reported preferential loss of VAT with weight loss. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review looks for factors associated with preferential loss of VAT relative to subcutaneous abdominal fat (SAT) during weight loss. DESIGN: Medline and Embase were searched for imaging-based measurements of VAT and subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue (SAT) before and after weight loss interventions. We examine for factors that influences the percentage change in VAT versus SAT (%deltaV/%deltaS) with weight loss. Linear regression analyses were performed on the complete data set and on subgroups of studies. Factors examined included percentage weight loss, degree of caloric restriction, exercise, initial body mass index (BMI), gender, time of follow-up and baseline VAT/SAT. RESULTS: There were 61 studies with a total of 98 cohort time points extracted. Percentage weight loss was the only variable that influenced %deltaV/%deltaS (r=-0.29, P=0.005). Modest weight loss generated preferential loss of VAT, but with greater weight loss this effect was attenuated. The method of weight loss was not an influence with one exception. Very-low-calorie diets (VLCDs) provided exceptional short-term (<4 weeks) preferential VAT loss. But this effect was lost by 12-14 weeks. CONCLUSIONS: Visceral adipose tissue is lost preferentially with modest weight loss, but the effect is attenuated with greater weight loss. Acute caloric restriction, using VLCD, produces early preferential loss of VAT. These observations may help to explain the metabolic benefits of modest weight loss.

The first study is idiotic (differenting between exercise-induced weight loss and diet-induced weight loss is pretty much impossible with their modalities), and the second one adds weight to what db_ggmm said. Are you agreeing or disagreeing with him?

I don't think Visceral fat is that tough to get rid of in general. If your a male and losing weight chances are some of it is going to be visceral fat.

To begin with, visceral fat and android obesity are two different subjects. What's really being discussed -- android obesity -- is called such for a reason: it's typical of men to carry weight around their midsections. Its occurence is mainly anthropometrical and hormonal. As the preferred site of adipose tissue in men, it's going to be the last area men lose weight in. Cf. gynoid obesity in females.

I agree with that, it's just more of a problem of preferential storage (more fat is stored viscerally in males), rather then one of preferential loss (it's not resistant to loss).



Edit: I don't think the midsection is the last area to lose weight (fat), it's just the last area to become truly lean (because there is more fat preferentially stored and thus more to lose in the area).