So today I was watching the Live With Regis Lee and Kelly Ripa Lee and Kathy Lee Ripa show.

It’s apparently fitness week or fitness month or something like that over there. I know this because they seem to be having some sort of staff fitness challenge going on where something like a dozen Live With Regis Lee And Kelly Lee Ripa staff members are taking part in a bunch of different types of exercise in an attempt to lose the most weight by a certain point (I think that point is 6 days away).

Today, and I assume every day throughout this weight loss challenge thing, they set aside a certain amount of time during the show to share with us, the viewers, some of these wonderful exercise methods and other super fantastic diet and fitness tips.

On today’s show, all of the these staff members were lined up in 2 rows with Kelly Ripa in the front row leading them through a variety of exercises. She would basically demonstrate each exercise, and then explain what that exercise “does.”

I honestly wasn’t paying much attention until they reached one specific exercise. In fact, it was right before that point, actually. Kelly Ripa, in all of her fitness instructor glory, says something along the lines of…

“This next one is great for trimming your love handles.”

As she says that, a little caption appears on the screen confirming that the following exercises are indeed for “trimming your love handles.”

Did you hear that, viewers? Kelly Ripa is apparently about to prove that spot reduction, which is nothing more than a silly fitness myth (or in some cases a lie told to help sell useless products), is in fact possible.

Holy crap, let me set my DVR!

I mean, if she is really going to show us an exercise that will “trim our love handles,” it can only mean that spot reduction, the idea that you can target specific areas of fat on your body, is actually possible. This would be a major scientific breakthrough, and amazingly, it’s not happening in some lab or even some fitness facility. No, it’s all happening live right here on the Regis Lee and Kelly Lee Ripa show. Boy am I lucky I tuned in today!

What she proceeded to do was some kind of leg lift/ab/oblique exercise, which may very well work the abdominal muscles hidden under your love handles, but won’t do a thing about your love handles themselves. See, exercises work muscles. That’s it. Exercises will make muscles stronger/bigger. Specific muscles can be targeted just fine. Fat is another story… a completely opposite story. Specific areas of fat (such as your love handles) can not be targeted by certain exercises. Exercises for a specific body part will do absolutely nothing to the fat that is on that body part.

So then, how do you “trim your love handles?” By losing fat, period. I already explain how to do that in The Ultimate Weight Loss Guide. As your body gradually loses fat, it will eventually start to come from the area you want it to the most, such as your love handles. At this point, you will officially be “trimming your love handles” the only way it is actually possible to do so.

Spot reduction, no matter what Kelly Ripa tells you, is still not possible and it never will be. Unfortunately though, everyone watching this nonsense now thinks it is.

Which means that instead of creating a caloric deficit (as outlined in The Ultimate Weight Loss Guide), these people think all they really need to do to “trim their love handles” are some ab exercises. After all, that’s what Kelly Ripa told them, and Kelly Ripa is on TV, and you’d think it would be impossible for horrible information to make it onto TV, right?

Which brings me to my 2 conclusions:

  1. The Live With Kathy Lee And Kelly Lee And Regis Lee Show should be added to your increasingly long list of places to NOT get your diet and fitness information from. I’m sure it’s a fine place to get your celebrity interviews, though. Diet and fitness info… not so much.
  2. Kelly Ripa… you’re an idiot.