Maybe They Should Have Done the Math First...

This appeared on the sidebar of my Facebook page a couple of times today: "Jennifer Lopez lost 32 lbs. of belly fat in just 1 month by following these 2 simple diet secrets."  Usually I don't even pay any attention to those things, but since it came up at least twice, somehow it stuck in my head.  Then I started doing the math...

I looked up some stats on good ol' J-Lo.  She claims to be 5'6" and 120 pounds.  So let's say she was 160 pounds.  Now the "average" female is 25-31% body fat.  If your body fat percentage is higher than 32%, you are considered overweight (depending on which chart you read).  I've never considered Jennifer Lopez overweight, but let's go with 30%.  (I would sooner think she fits in the "fitness" category, which is under 25%, but we'll be "generous" here.)  30% of 160 is 48 lbs.  This means that she would have had 48 pounds of fat spread out over her entire body.  And at least 32 pound of that was belly fat?  I'm sorry, but I've seen her figure - her fat is NOT focused around her belly.  So now she has 16 pounds of body fat at 128 pounds.  That would put her at 12.5% body fat, which would mean all she had was essential fat.  (Even a female athlete should have at least 13% body fat.)  I've seen pictures, and she looks much healthier than that.

Now if they wrote, "Jennifer Lopez gave birth to twins and between the day they were born and one month after, she lost 32 lbs. from her abdominal area" well, I might believe that.  After all, you lose about 20 pounds just giving birth to one child - within a few hours.  So if you want to do what she did, go get pregnant with twins.

Oh, and by the way, if you want to lose 32 lbs. of body fat, it will take you at least 4 months, and it won't all be from your belly.  But don't worry - you likely don't have 32 lbs. to lose there anyway.