Can I Specifically Lose Belly Fat?
A method from the USA is now also coming to us: Biosignature. This method is designed to enable targeted abdominal weight loss. But is that also recommendable?
She holds on stubbornly, the small roll over the jeans waistband. Wouldn’t it be great to train her away with a few crunches? Unfortunately, it doesn’t work, as experts patiently explain to us: because the body always burns fat everywhere, never in one place. But there is supposedly hope: more and more fitness trainers are swearing by the so-called Biosignature method to specifically target individual body parts.
It was invented by the Canadian training expert Charles Poliquin, who spent more than 20 years comparing blood counts and hormone levels of his clients with different body folds. He noticed that an increase in body fat at certain points was always accompanied by hormone levels that were out of control. “We measure the skin folds at twelve different points, each part of the body representing a hormone: a thick triceps fold, for example, for too little testosterone,” explains Hamburg-based personal trainer Marcus Müller, who has been working with Biosignature for three years.
Body fat decreased by 4.7 percent within two months
“Via software we then receive values that provide information about a possible hormonal imbalance. According to Poliquin, hormonal disorders prevent many people from losing weight – despite training. In the case of a 29-year-old customer of Müller’s, for example, a total of 28 percent body fat was determined from the composition of the various measured values, such as a 29-millimeter skin fold on the back of the thigh and 25 millimeters on the stomach, and from this a ranking of the problem zones and imbalances.
“In women, the abdomen and thighs are usually at the top – a sign of increased cortisol levels and excessive estrogen levels,” says Müller. Partially these are caused by stress and the consumption of finished products from plastic packing or of hormonally processed food such as meat from mass breeding.
From the results and an analysis of the living conditions, the trainers then draw up an individual plan: nutritional recommendations, dietary supplements, relaxation and strength training to bring the hormone level back into balance and thus reduce body fat in the problem areas. For Müller’s customer, body fat fell by 4.7 percent within two months, and the skin fold on the back of the thigh was 18 millimeters instead of 29.
Sounds promising!
But: The method is not scientifically proven. Experts say that too little is known about the effect of hormones in the body. “So far there is no study that empirically proves the effect of Biosignature,” says Professor Dr. Ingo Froböse from the German Sport University Cologne.
For Stuttgart coach Moritz Matzen, who charges 450 euros for ten hours including body tests, Biosignature is not just about fighting problem zones, but about changing lifestyle and identifying the connections between nutrition, environmental toxins, stress and fat storage.
And this is exactly where scientific findings come into play, says Matzen, because there are meaningful studies: for example on cortisol, which is released more strongly under stress, stores fat mainly on the abdomen and can promote type II diabetes.
Ultimately, everyone must know for themselves how much they are investing in their figure. “If you have a competent trainer, you can’t go wrong with Biosignature,” says Froböse. “Whether it is also of any use is another question.”