Whether you call it belly fat, middle-age spread, or that tire around your waistline, the fat that you carry in your belly may be more dangerous than the fat elsewhere on your body. Doctors call this belly fat visceral fat, and it is different from the fat you can pinch with your fingers. Visceral belly fat is located inside your belly, deep in with your abdominal organs, which is why it pushes out your waistline.
"Waistline circumference is an important indicator of cardiovascular disease risk, regardless of whether you are overweight,” says Lanah J. Brennan, RD, CDE (certified diabetes educator), a nutrition expert who runs Reactive Nutrition, LLC, a nutrition and diet center in Lafayette, La. “Men with a waistline greater than 40 inches and women with a waistline greater than 35 inches are at higher risk for disease."
Why Belly Fat Is Dangerous
Here are some of the health hazards that have been associated with visceral belly fat:
- Type 2 diabetes
- High cholesterol
- High blood pressure
- Heart disease
- Breast cancer
The reasons for the increased dangers of visceral fat as opposed to subcutaneous (under the skin) fat are not completely clear. But it is known that this type of fat produces chemicals called cytokines and other substances that affect insulin sensitivity, blood clotting, and the risk of cardiovascular disease. In addition, deep belly fat is very close to a large abdominal vein called the portal vein. When fatty acids from visceral fat enter this vein, they travel directly to the liver and can have a negative effect on cholesterol levels.
Winning the War Against Belly Fat
Brennan says if you want to lose weight, you need to diet and exercise. The reason: "When we lose weight, we lose both fat and some muscle mass along with water,” she says. Since muscle burns more calories, we want to maintain as much of it as possible and even add to it. “This is why it is important to incorporate both diet and exercise in any weight-loss attempt,” Brennan stresses.
Belly fat, Brennan explains, responds better to diet and exercise than does the subcutaneous fat that you can pinch. That’s good news since losing that belly fat is more important than just losing pounds.
How can you tell if your strategy is working? Your clothes will let you know. "When losing weight with diet and exercise, some individuals may feel their pants fitting more loosely, but get frustrated with the slow results on the scale,” says Brennan. To stay motivated and truly appreciate your diet success, think of your progressively looser fitting pants as a better indicator of real inches lost — this is a more direct measurement of fat loss than what you might see on the scale.
Follow these diet and exercise tips to lose belly fat and reach a healthy weight:
- Exercise every day for 30 to 60 minutes.
- Include strength training to build up your abdominal muscles.
- Cut back on portion sizes.
- Build your diet around fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
- Choose more lean protein and less white bread, white pasta, and sugary drinks.
- Eliminate saturated fats and trans fats, and make the majority of fats in your diet polyunsaturated fats.
The Right Way to Measure Your Waistline
Follow these steps to measure your shrinking waistline. First, says Brennan, find your upper hipbone. Then, place a soft measuring tape around your body at the same level of the highest point of your hipbone. Make sure that the tape is parallel to the floor and that it is snug, but not compressing your skin. Breathe normally and check the measurement. “To chart your progress, measure your waist circumference every two to four weeks," Brennan says.
In the United States, 66 percent of adults are considered to be obese or overweight. We all need to get to or maintain a healthy weight, but research is finding that where we carry that extra weight is important. A fruit analogy is often used to describe the two most common body shapes: “Apples” carry their extra weight mostly around the middle, while “pears” carry it a bit lower, around the hips and thighs. If you are an apple instead of a pear, this means your extra weight is mainly belly fat — and you may have even more reason to get going with your diet and exercise program.