You can not target areas of fat. To lose say - belly fat - you need to do an over all cardio - burning more calories than your put into your body - or reducing the number of calories you eat. On top of your 4 miles a week on a treadmill - you might want too add walking to your daily routine. EXAMPLES: 1. Park further from store/office doors - those extra steps are more exercise. 2. Take the stairs instead of the lift/elevator. 3 Add a walk around the block after supper. little bits of exercise added to your daily routine will help you to burn more calories over all. Strength training is a whole new subject - there are thousands of books on the subject. Your best bet is to go to the library and start checking them out, read a few, take lots of notes. You will find that they will introduce you to the world of diets and nutrition as well. I lifted for years - build lots of nice muscle but never could get my 6 pack to 'pop'. going to the doctor I find that my body fat percentage was well with in the healthy percentages. A little discussion and I discovered that due to my choice of parents I was 'cursed' to have a layer of fat over my muscle. What I am saying is that genetics plays a huge roll at to what you can and can not achieve when it comes to your body. BODY TYPE plays a roll in your fitness routine. Its also known as Somatotype: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatotype to get you started. All of these things play a roll - add to that gender, age and even racial considerations in some cases.

Well, one idea is that muscle burns 90% more calories than fat. If you build your muscle around that area(ball exercises are great for that), it should help you overall. Believe me, it's amazing what the exercise ball can do to make you feel more energized and toned.