My wedding dress came in. 
My Mom and I picked it up from the Alfred Angelo store this past Sunday (12/13). It is soooo beautiful! I absolutely love it. Here’s the issue though; it fits, but not perfectly/fully. It doesn’t zip up the last inch or so, but not by a lot. I truly believe that maybe Mom and the sales clerk were being too pansy with the dress, but I’d rather not hurt my dress, so it doesn’t matter. I’m too fat. My dress is a bit too small. The culprit? Back fat! When my Mom and the sales clerk were trying to zip up the dress the rest of the way, my back fat was getting all bunched together, and wouldn’t allow them to zip it up! Curse you, back fat! You’re going down!
Okay, so who agrees that back fat is the most unforgiving, worst place to have fat?? I’m starting to think that my thighs can be fatty and have as much cellulite as they want to, I just don’t want to deal with back fat ever again. Well, I take that back, I’d rather not have fatty, cellulite ridden thighs, but when it comes to the immediate problem at hand, I’d rather have less back fat. Unfortunately, after doing some research online concerning how to rid my body of back fat (or at least enough in order for my dress to zip up for my wedding), I have come to the conclusion that back fat is the hardest fatty area to tone. And you know what? I’ve actually seen really skinny women with back fat before, so I guess maybe it is true! Oy vey! Of course the one thing standing between me and my wedding dress would be the hardest part of the body to tone. I did find some gems for battling against back fat, and I will let you know if any of them end up working for me.
On ezinearticles.com, John Davenport suggests the following for getting rid of that pesky back fat:
“To get rid of back fat is the wish of many people. We all know how sexy a healthy, firm, toned back looks, and how a fatty back can detract from your appearance. When it comes to getting the back of your dreams, you need to do 2 things simultaneously: lose back fat and tone the back muscles. Both of these together will ensure that you have a beautiful back.
Even though spot reducing fat is difficult, doing back strength exercises will tone your muscles and provide you with a firm looking back. These exercises need to be part of your overall process to reduce back fat which includes strength exercises, cardiovascular activity, and a proper diet.
3 Exercises to Get Rid of Back Fat
1. The bent over-row – In this exercise you take a dumbbell, go over to a horizontal bench, place the dumbbell on the floor to one side of the bench, kneel with one leg on the bench and support yourself with your corresponding hand. Your other leg should be straight and on the floor slightly to the rear. Grasp the dumbbell with your free hand from the floor and pull it towards your lower ribs. Return the dumbbell towards the floor until your arms is stretched. Change arms and repeat.
2. Seated row – This is an exercise you can do at the gym. You sit at the rowing machine with your chest against the pad. Grab both levers of the rowing machine and pull them back until you feel that your elbows have passed your torso. Hold and let the level go slowly back to the starting position.
3. Bent over row with a barbell – Stand with your knees slightly bet. Bend over with a straight back and grab a barbell with both hands. Pull the barbell with both hands until it touches your waist. Lower the barbell slowly downwards until both of your arms are extended. Repeat this 10-15 times.
Doing these 3 exercises to get rid of back fat is a great way to tone your back muscles. Make sure to fit them into your regular routine and you will see improvement in your upper body shape in general and back in particular.”
This webpage - I believe by John Davenport as well – discusses how in order to minimize back fat (instead of just working on toning the back), overall fat in the body needs to be reduced (i.e., normal diet/exercise). It’s still really good information, and mentions cardio workouts that help reduce back fat.
http://www.worldofdiets.com/get-rid-of-back-fat/
Finally, here are some more back fat banishing exercises thanks to Prevention. These involve the use of an exercise ball.
I will try some of these out, and if anything gives me good results, I’ll sing its praises in a future blog.
My wedding dress WILL fit perfectly.
- 200lb Princess