Do you want to learn more about the fatty bits on your belly and how to lose it? Like bacteria, our body stores good and bad fats. Visceral fat is bad fat and what you want out of your system.
Below is a guide on how to lose visceral fat. We also talk about what things you need to avoid if you don’t want to gain belly fats. Stick around till the end for a basic diet plan to help you lose visceral fat.
What Is Visceral Fat?
Your body stores different types of fat around your core area. The first type is the triglycerides, which is the fat that circulates in your blood. The second type is the subcutaneous fats, which is the protective fatty layer under your skin’s surface.
Finally, we have visceral fat which is also referred to as abdominal fat or belly fat. Visceral fat is a type of body fat that goes into your abdominal cavity. Often, it gets stored around vital internal organs like the liver and intestines as a layer of protection.
It’s normal to have a small amount of belly fat stored in your abdominal area. However, this becomes dangerous when you have excess belly fat. Note that excess visceral fat is unhealthy even when a person has a normal weight.
What Makes You Gain Visceral Fat?
There are many causes of a flabby stomach, including sugar-heavy foods and drinks. Some of the most notorious examples are cakes, frozen yogurt, soda, and even unsweetened 100% fruit juice. If you eat low-protein diets, you can also gain belly fat in the long term.
If you’re a workaholic or addicted to something, sleep is one of the easiest things to sacrifice. However, this is one of the most dangerous decisions you can make. Not getting enough sleep makes you gain weight, and thus, belly fat.
Do you often get stressed by day-to-day situations? Cortisol, the stress hormone, is what helps you under pressure to survive. However, having too much can trigger weight gain in the abdominal region.
Menopause, genetics, and alcohol are other factors that contribute to gaining visceral fat. You should also watch for trans fats from packaged foods. A sedentary or inactive lifestyle is a big health risk that also causes belly fat gain.
Measuring Your Belly Fat
As we mentioned before, having visceral fat stored in your body is normal to a level. However, if your amount of belly fat goes beyond a certain range or level, it becomes unhealthy. The healthy amount of visceral to have is under level 1 to 12.
If you go past 13 and exceed until 59, you need to start losing it. If you’ve got visceral fat at high levels, you’re likely already considered obese. Reports say that almost 40% of all adults over 20 in the US are obese.
Now, how do you find out how much visceral fat you have in your body? Medical tech like MRI and CT scans make it possible to measure how much belly fat you have.
However, MRI and CT scans are expensive. Another way to know if you’ve got too much belly fat is with the tape measure. All you need to do is measure your torso at the level of your belly button.
The typical waist circumference for women is 35 inches or larger. In men, the typical circumference is 40 inches. However, it’s also important to consider your body type and size.
Health Problems Linked With Having Excess Fat
Carrying excess visceral fat puts you in a very dangerous situation. It opens you to health risks like heart attacks, heart disease, and raised blood pressure. You also become likely to experience a stroke.
High levels of visceral fat also cause increased insulin resistance. This can lead to glucose intolerance and/or type 2 diabetes.
Having excess belly fats may cause breast cancer and colorectal cancer. In the elderly, high levels of visceral fats may cause Alzheimer’s disease.
If you want to avoid the dangers visceral fat can lead to you, change your lifestyle.
How to Lose Visceral Fat
If you want to lose visceral fat, the key is self-discipline and consistency.
Start by putting together a belly fat diet to follow. Adjusting into your diet early will help you in the long run. Below, we wrote down a guide for how you can change your diet.
The next thing you need to do is to start doing physical activities. A 30-minute jog in the morning is a great way to start the day. It sets your mind up and energizes your body for the day ahead.
If you’re unable to go for a daily morning jog, make time in the evening. The important thing is you get vigorous activity for at least 75 minutes a week. If you want to do moderate activities like brisk walking, set aside 150 minutes in your week.
Diets That Help You Lose Belly Fat
The first things you need to take out of your diet are trans fats and saturated fats. Trans fats are often from processed foods. It’s a result of partial hydrogenation which is a method of preserving processed foods.
Saturated fats come from animal sources of food. This includes red meat, full-fat dairy products, and poultry. Thus, try to avoid butter, coconut oil, stick margarine, beef fat, and pork fat.
Eat foods rich in Omega-3 fatty acids like salmon, tuna, herring, mackerel, and sardines. You can also find this healthy fat in soybean oil, flaxseed, nuts, and seeds like chia seeds. You should also look into foods with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids.
It’s also important to limit your sugar intake. Instead, consume fruits and vegetables. Start eating lean proteins like eggs, lean ground beef, and pork loin.
Replace your diet of simple carbohydrates with complex carbohydrates. Avoid baked treats, fruit juice concentrates, and breakfast cereals. Instead, eat whole grains, fiber-rich fruits and vegetables, and beans.
Be Healthier, Be Happier
That’s it for our guide on how to lose visceral fat.
Remember to always find motivation and inspiration when you’re trying to lose fat. On that note, body positivity is a great thing to stand by. However, body positivity is only logical when you’re supporting a healthy body and lifestyle.
Of course, losing fat is only the start of healthy living. If you liked what you read and you want more health guides, how about checking out our other posts too?
I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!
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