# Fat burning rates
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-burning-rates/139044
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 27, 2002, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-burning-rates/139044 "2002-11-27T05:17:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@firagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/firagon)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2002, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-burning-rates/139044/1 "2002-11-27T05:17:27Z")
When you exercise, does fat burn faster from some areas of the body than others?
Conversely, does fat build up faster in certain areas of the body than in others?
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### Author:  [@D\_Frag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Frag)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2002, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-burning-rates/139044/2 "2002-11-27T05:57:00Z")
Yes to both of those questions, but both are related to genetics, rather than what part of the body you are exercising. If you exercise your stomach, your stomach will not reduce its fat levels any faster than if you exercised your arms. You may get a visual improvement in your stomach area from firming the underlying muscle, but you haven’t burned extra fat from that area.
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### Author:  [@firagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/firagon)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2002, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-burning-rates/139044/3 "2002-11-27T17:48:18Z")
So, more fat would burn from areas that it builds up fast?
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### Author:  [@Rug\_Burn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rug_Burn)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2002, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-burning-rates/139044/4 "2002-11-27T18:06:50Z")
I absolutely hate the way this is portrayed by all those stinking infomercials. They try and sell you on the idea that a stomach crunch machine will burn fat around the stomach.
You will basially lose fat in the reverse order that you gained it. Men will tend to lose the pot belly and women the hips and thighs. This doesn’t mean you will only lose fat in these areas; but they will be the most noticable loses. Think of your body like a tree trunk with rings around it, but larger bands around the problem areas. As you lose weight and fat, you are losing complete bands over all of your body but a larger portion from the hips or stomach.
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### Author:  [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2002, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-burning-rates/139044/5 "2002-11-27T20:09:17Z")
Your shape will stay the say relative to other body parts.
If you gain weight on your ass, more will come off your ass in total weight, but the proportion of your ass to you legs stays the same.
Each body part will continue to exist as a certain percentage of your body until body fat levels drop to less than 13-15%. Only then will one area have an such and excess of fat to tap into and actually become a smaller percentage of your body make-up as you continue to burn body fat.