How To Lose Weight In The Upper Back & Sides

While spot reducing doesn't work, you can reduce your overall percentage of body fat through a combination of diet and exercise. A practical goal is to create a 500 to 1,000 daily calorie deficit so you lose 1 to 2 pounds per week. Once you burn excess body fat, engage in various strengthening activities to sculpt and define your upper back and side muscles so you appear more trim. If you have medical issues, consult your doctor before implementing a weight-loss plan.

Step 1

Breathe deep. Start your morning with deep breathing and a rapid series of sun salutations to burn fat. Add activity to your daily life. Replace driving with walking or cycling whenever possible. Use the stairs. Squat deeply while cleaning or working in the garden. Do stretches while watching television or talking on the phone.

Step 2

Exercise. Incorporate aerobic activity into your weight loss program. To get the best weight loss results, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends 60 to 90 minutes of training performed five days a week. Aerobic activity spikes your heart rate and burns fat quickly. While you can't target your upper back and sides, you can burn fat where you tend to store it, including your upper body. Aerobic exercise can include dancing to fast music, climbing a stair treadmill, kickboxing, swimming laps, playing tennis, skating, race-walking or jogging.

Step 3

Build muscle with exercises that use your own body as resistance. Calisthenics such as burpees, pushups, lunges, pullups, squats, triceps dips and jumping jacks burn body fat and build muscle tissue. The denser your muscle mass, the more calories you burn to support it, a process called raising your basal metabolic rate.

Step 4

Cut 500 calories from your daily caloric intake. Skipping dessert, replacing chips with vegetables, drinking water instead of soda and eating grilled or steamed food instead of fried food add essential nutrients and burn body fat.

Step 5

Tone your upper back and side muscles. Exercises such as bench presses, pectoral presses, standing flies, pushups, pullups, triceps extensions and lat pull-downs target your upper body muscle groups. Performing these exercises can help build muscle and look leaner.