Belly fat impacts more than appearance, increasing risks for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke, but mindful eating and regular exercise offer effective solutions.
Belly fat might look like just a matter of appearance or how your clothes feel on you, but science shows it can harm your health in serious ways. The bright side is that you can mitigate most of these dangers by focusing on burning belly fat and adopting a healthier lifestyle.
As women grow older, they often see changes in how their bodies store fat. Many women notice their waistline expanding after menopause. During this time, fat starts to accumulate more around the abdomen, which can lead to increased belly fat.
Why Belly Fat Builds Up
Managing body weight revolves around four main things:
- How many calories do you eat every day?
- How many calories does your body burn each day?
- How your body changes as you age.
- Whether your genetics make you more likely to gain weight.
If people consume more calories than their bodies use through movement or exercise, they often gain weight around their belly. This mismatch in your energy balance tends to cause fat to gather and makes it harder to shed extra pounds.
The way people age has a significant impact on how their bodies change over time. As they get older, they lose muscle if they don’t stay active. Losing muscle reduces the body’s ability to burn calories, making it harder to maintain a healthy weight and lose fat.
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Women often notice they gain more fat around their stomachs with age, even if their overall weight stays the same. This tends to occur due to lower estrogen levels, which play a role in how fat is distributed throughout the body. When this hormone drops, fat tends to collect more around the middle.
Genetics also have a significant impact on a person’s ability to manage their weight and where fat accumulates on their body.
Learning About the Layers of Stomach Fat
Belly fat comes in two main types. The first is subcutaneous fat, which is the fat you can feel when you pinch the skin around your stomach. The second is visceral fat, which is located deep in your belly, wrapping itself around organs such as your liver and intestines. Researchers have found a strong connection between excessive visceral fat and numerous major health problems.
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Belly fat isn’t just about what you see or feel under your skin. Visceral fat, which lies deeper inside your abdomen, is the more dangerous kind. Both types of fat, known as adipose tissue, affect your body, but visceral fat stands out because of where it’s stored and how it behaves in your system.
Scientists have connected having too much visceral fat, or belly fat in general, to various health issues, including:
- High blood pressure.
- Unusual levels of fats in the blood, called lipids.
- Issues with sleep.
- Heart-related conditions and greater chances of heart disease.
- Problems with insulin and type 2 diabetes.
- Different types of cancer.
- Higher chances of stroke.
- Liver-related problems.
- A rise in the overall risk of death.
- Metabolic syndrome, which includes conditions that raise the chances of long-term illness.
Looking at Waist Size
To check if your belly fat could harm your health, measure your waist size.
Stand with your feet apart at shoulder-width and use a measuring tape to wrap around your bare stomach just above your hip bones. Make sure the tape rests flat against your skin without pressing in or leaving marks. Keep the tape even all the way around. Breathe out normally and take the measurement while staying relaxed, without tightening your stomach muscles.
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To assess risks, a waist size over 35 inches (89 centimetres) for women suggests unhealthy levels of belly fat and higher health dangers. Generally, larger waist sizes often indicate more significant health concerns. Waist size is a useful tool for measuring risk, but it works best when paired with other factors, such as body mass index (BMI), to provide a comprehensive picture of health risks.
Cutting Down Belly Fat: Tips That Work
Crunches and core exercises help make your abs stronger and more defined, but they won’t remove belly fat by themselves. The good news is that visceral fat often decreases with lifestyle changes that lower your total body fat. Try these methods to shed belly fat and boost your health:
Choose Healthier Foods
Stick to these eating habits to slim down and reduce belly fat:
- Eat more fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains from plants.
- Pick lean proteins like fish or low-fat dairy products.
- Cut back on processed meats and foods high in saturated fats such as red meat and full-fat dairy.
- Include moderate amounts of healthy fats like those in fish, nuts, and certain plant oils. These can help support heart health.
- Eat more foods with soluble fiber to lower how much fat builds up in your midsection.
- Cut back on processed foods, trans fats, and extra sugars, which may lead to more belly fat.
Watch Your Portions
Even healthy meals can add up in calories. Serve yourself smaller portions at home. When eating out, think about splitting a dish or saving some for later. This can help create the calorie deficit needed to lose fat.
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Swap Out Sugary Drinks
Choose water or unsweetened drinks instead of sugary ones. Drinking green tea may help reduce belly fat due to its antioxidant content.
Stay Active
The Department of Health and Human Services recommends that healthy adults aim to exercise for 150 minutes of moderate activities, such as brisk walking, or 75 minutes of intense exercises, like running, every week. They also suggest adding strength training at least twice a week. To meet specific fitness or weight loss goals, people might need to increase their exercise time beyond this.
Studies show that high-intensity interval training and resistance training are effective in reducing belly fat. Sticking to a mix of moderate exercises, intense workouts, and strength training can play a big role in cutting belly fat and boosting overall health.
Think About Lifestyle Habits
Beyond eating well and staying active, making other changes in your daily life can help you get rid of belly fat:
- Lower stress to avoid storing more fat in your belly. Chronic stress can exacerbate the condition.
- Get good sleep since not sleeping enough is tied to gaining weight and more belly fat.
- Try out intermittent fasting, which might work to reduce belly fat if done the right way.
- Add probiotics to what you eat. They may help reduce belly fat and maintain gut health.
Losing belly fat takes effort and patience. To achieve lasting results and prevent weight gain, aim for steady progress rather than chasing quick fixes. Building a plan that incorporates healthy eating and staying active can help you burn belly fat and maintain your overall health.
You may want to consult with healthcare experts to receive personalised advice and support as you work on managing your weight. They can assist you in creating achievable fitness goals, check for any hidden health issues, and monitor health signs like inflammation that may be linked to excess belly fat.
Adopting these significant lifestyle changes helps reduce belly fat and decreases the risk of diseases associated with abdominal obesity. Keep in mind that losing belly fat is not just about how you look, but also about feeling healthier and living better.
Source:
Mayo Clinic. (July 28, 2023). Belly fat in women: Taking — and keeping — it off. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/womens-health/in-depth/belly-fat/art-20045809
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