Dear Donovan,

I am 26 years old and five feet nine inches in height. I weigh 220 pounds. My problem is that whenever I gain weight, it is either in my belly part or my arms (from my shoulder to my elbow). That's where all the weight goes. My hands are thick although I tried working out at least half hour in the mornings, and try to eat right. It seems nothing is working.

It is a fact that most persons tend to gain and lose weight in certain areas. The good thing is that usually the area where they put on weight first is most often the area that you tend to lose it from first as well.

Your overall look is going to be determined by both genetic and environmental factors. So some persons will naturally have thicker/bigger arms or legs than others. Weight lifters can also develop thicker arms by doing weight training. So your overall look is a function of nature and nurture, although we do see distinctive features running in families.

It is important not to allow your stomach region to become too large as the size of the stomach region is usually a good indicator of some lifestyle disorders such as diabetes. At all costs, keep the stomach region down, especially if you have diabetes running in your family.

I noticed that you have two main concerns which are your arms and your stomach. You will need to start a good weight loss programme. For starters, try and lose at least 20 pounds. As a part of your weight loss programme you can do a detox plan which is very important to remove undigested food and sometimes fat from the stomach.

It is important to note that after doing a detox programme, you will need to change your eating lifestyle so you can keep your system clean. Here is a simple juice diet that you can do for two days which will help to detoxify your body and kickstart your weight loss plan. Make sure it's not done for two consecutive days.

On waking, drink one glass of water

Breakfast:

Drink 12 ounces of green juice (callaloo, string bean, cucumber, green sweet pepper etc)

Mid-morning:

Drink 12 ounces of green juice again.

Lunch:

Drink 12 ounces of carrot juice.

Mid-afternoon:

Drink one glass of carrot juice again.

Dinner:

Drink one glass of coconut water.

With detoxification, your stomach will be a little flatter and softer, with lots of skin. Given the loose skin, you will need to tone the stomach muscles to have a great look. Going forward you will have to maintain a healthy lifestyle or the stomach will come right back.

When you lose weight overall, you will also lose fat from your arms, so there is the tendency for your arms to get a little soft. This is good, but try not to lift too many heavy weights as your arms have a tendency to get big by doing so. Allow your arms to become soft for now, and later, after you have completed your weight loss, do some toning of your arms, using light weights.