Hips Thighs And Belly Fat Explained
Christopher D. Still, DOObesity InstituteHow trouble spots happenHow do individual trouble spots affect overall health? weightdiabetesheart diseasehigh blood pressuresleep apneacancersliver diseaseobesityweight loss
Your body mass index can help determine if you fall into a normal weight, overweight or obese category. Wondering if you should be concerned with yours?
Discover your BMI with our BMI calculatorhere.
You Haven’t Kicked The Habit
Some people who smoke are afraid to quit because they worry that theyâll gain weight. But even though smokers have a lower body mass index than nonsmokers, their bellies are bigger. Smokers gain more visceral fat, the kind that’s linked to heart disease and other chronic health conditions, than nonsmokers. So, in case you needed another reason to quit, now youâve got one.
Your Electrolytes Are Imbalanced
If you’re not drinking enough fluids during the day , or are eating too many salty foods, you might experience water retention and bloating. “A high sodium meal can cause you to store some excess water,” says Hulslander.
Another reason for this imbalance? Drinking so little water you’re dehydrated. “Dehydration, which is very common during working out, can also lead to water retention as part of our survival mechanism,” Faraj says. “Therefore, maintaining good hydration can help fight water retention caused by dehydration.”
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Body Changes At Menopause
As we age, our muscles decrease in bulk and our metabolism slows down. These changes can contribute to weight gain around the time of menopause.Other physical changes associated with menopause may include:
- skin changes, such as dryness and loss of elasticity
- vaginal dryness
These changes may affect a womans body image and self-esteem and increase her risk of depression and sexual difficulties. Taking steps to manage the symptoms of menopause can help.
Weight Gain In Midsection Types Of Fat
Your midsection has two different types of fats which increase and results in weight gain in midsection.
- Subcutaneous Fat This type of fat usually develops beneath the skin and it is less harmful and less dangerous fat.
- Visceral Fat This type of fat develops within the abdominal cavity and it is the dangerous type of fat that can cause a variety of health complications. Visceral fat usually develops around the area of intestines and other organs in your abdomen. If the amount of visceral fat increases in abdomen, it can lead to several health disorders like cardiovascular disorders, metabolic syndrome, Type 2 Diabetes and certain types of cancers. They are very difficult to lose compared to subcutaneous fat.
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Why Is My Stomach Big At The Top
Upper belly fat can be the result of your body storing water weight. Sodium consumption, dehydration, and a lack of electrolytes can cause your body to retain water. This can make your stomach and other areas of your body appear swollen. Stick to a diet low in salt while youre working to lose belly fat.
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Visceral Fat More Of A Health Concern Than Subcutaneous Fat
Though the term might sound dated, middle-age spread is a greater concern than ever. As people go through their middle years, their proportion of fat to body weight tends to increase more so in women than men. Extra pounds tend to park themselves around the midsection.
At one time, we might have accepted these changes as an inevitable fact of aging. But weve now been put on notice that as our waistlines grow, so do our health risks. Abdominal, or visceral, fat is of particular concern because its a key player in a variety of health problems much more so than subcutaneous fat, the kind you can grasp with your hand. Visceral fat, on the other hand, lies out of reach, deep within the abdominal cavity, where it pads the spaces between our abdominal organs.
Visceral fat has been linked to metabolic disturbances and increased risk for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. In women, it is also associated with breast cancer and the need for gallbladder surgery.
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Try Adding More Strength Training To Your Workouts
A daily run or spin class is great for your heart, but cardio workouts alone wont do much for your waist. You need to do a combination of weights and cardiovascular training, Sangeeta Kashyap, MD, an endocrinologist at Cleveland Clinic, tells Health. Strength training increases muscle mass, which sets your body up to burn more fat.
Muscle burns more calories than fat, and therefore you naturally burn more calories throughout the day by having more muscle, Kate Patton, RD, a registered dietitian at Cleveland Clinic, tells Health. Patton recommends 250 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise or 125 minutes of high-intensity exercise a week.
Dr. Cheskin also agrees strength training is the way to go, as it builds muscle. When you build muscle, you tend to replace fat with that muscle, he says.
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Gains In The Belly Area
This is where men tend to gain weight first. If you are male and reading this, Male or female, Iâd first look at your simple carbohydrate and sugar intake, not to mention alcohol. If those are in check, the next thing we would investigate is your cortisol levels.
If you feel that youâre already doing these dietary things, look at your cortisol levels. I chatted about that in last weekâs post, and specifically, it can be incredibly useful to actually test your cortisol levels. If thatâs something youâd like to do, get in touch with me here, at no charge.
Why does imbalanced cortisol cause belly fat? Studies show that imbalanced cortisol can make you hold on to fat, specifically around your vital organs, in the abdominal region.
What You Can Do:
Stop for a second and take stock of your stress using a stress inventory.
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How Do You Know You Have A Big Stomach
Weight gain is odd in that sometimes you dont realize youre putting on so much weight. The increase in ounces and pounds occurs gradually, often while you sleep. Before you know it, your clothes fit tighter, and you feel worn out, even with slight activity.
To measure your weight gain, its best to start with your waist. Use a tape measure and stretch it across your bare stomach just above your hip bone. Pull the tape so it fits snugly around your body but not so hard it pushes against your skin. As long as the tape measure is level, you should get an accurate reading.
Women with bellies measuring more than 35 inches are considered to have unhealthy amounts of visceral body fat. This leaves you at greater risk to your health.
Causes Of Upper Abdominal Weight Gain
There could be multiple reasons for putting on weight in the upper belly region. The most common causes are:
- Unhealthy eating habits
- A sedentary lifestyle with no physical exercise
- Leading a stressful lifestyle that is high on both physical and mental stress
- Advancing age with slow metabolic rate
If you want to shed your stubborn upper belly fat, you must establish realistic goals and work hard to achieve them. Spend a few hours daily working on your upper abs. When it comes to losing upper body fat, the cardinal rule is 80% diet and 20% exercise. All you need to do is focus on simple lifestyle modifications like following healthy eating habits and tweaking your sedentary lifestyle. Work toward your health and fitness goals efficiently under the guidance of a healthcare professional and a nutritionist.
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Why Do I Only Have Fat On My Stomach
If you have excess fat only on your stomach, it could be related to your diet and lifestyle or an indication of central obesity. Common reasons you may be gaining weight in your stomach include:
- Poor diet: Eating a diet high in sugar, carbs, and saturated fat but low in protein can cause you to pack on pounds around your middle. Junk food slows down your metabolism and affects your overall health.
- Sedentary lifestyle: Long hours of sitting throughout the day can lead to the accumulation of visceral and subcutaneous fat.
- Stress: Stress can lead to high cortisol levels in the body, which can affect your metabolism as well as make you reach for unhealthy foods more often.
- Sleep: Not getting enough sleep has been linked to inflammation, changes in hunger hormones, and lack of exercise, all of which can contribute to weight gain.
- Alcohol: Excessive alcohol consumption not only causes people to gain weight around their abdomen but also leads to chronic liver problems and inflammation.
Other reasons you may be gaining more fat in your stomach include:
Incorporate Exercise Into Your Daily Routine
Weight gain can result from sedentary living and eating more calories than you burn in a day. Regular exercising can contribute to weight loss and healthy weight maintenance. Its helpful to vary the type of workout you do and include both aerobic exercise and resistance training.
Before making any dietary changes or starting a weight loss program, be sure to consult with your doctor.
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Body Fat Distribution And Genetics
Unfortunately, you don’t get to choose where your body stores fat. Some people are genetically inclined to store fat in their midsection, while others may store it all over their bodies. In the same sense, you can’t decide where you lose fat either.
If you’re knowledgeable about what to expect as you age, you can help reduce your risk of putting on weight in the abdominal region.
A 2016 review concluded that transitioning into menopause is associated with weight gain and increased abdominal fat distribution. Scientists also reported that changes in weight are due to chronological aging while changes in body composition and fat distribution are due to ovarian aging.
Environmental factors play a role in how our genes respond. The human body is predisposed to store fat, not knowing when the next meal would be. Today, that biological drive may be working against usthis is called the thrifty genotype hypothesis.
People often limit their food intake in an effort to lose weight. If you’re on a low-calorie diet for too long, the body senses food scarcity and will slow down and store more fat. This is quite the opposite of what individuals limiting their caloric intake often have in mind.
Then, there’s something called “familial predisposition,” meaning the likelihood of a child becoming obese can be presumed by their family members weight.
How Do I Look In The Morning
When you wake up in the morning, take a look in the mirror. Not in a judgey way, but just to get a sense of whats going on in your body. When we wake up in a fasted state, our food has already left our stomach and is probably well into our colon, so we dont get that bloated feeling and look, says Caspero. So if you wake up with a stomach thats a good two sizes smaller than when you go to bed, something is definitely going on in your gut, she says.
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Choose Healthy Eating Over A Diet
Reducing belly fat is less about a short-term diet and more about a new approach to eating. “Reducing belly fat takes a combination approach of a low-calorie diet that is high in fiber and low in carbohydrates and sugar along with cardiovascular and weight training,” said Dr. Kashyap. “If you are willing to do the work, you can move past genetics and lose it.”
What The Location Of Your Weight Gain Means
Perhaps you feel like youâre eating well already, but for some reason are still gaining weight or have gained weight recently. Alternatively, maybe you are a âyo-yoâer, who is down 10 lbs one month and back up two months later.
When a client comes to me to lose weight, one of the first questions I ask is, âWhere have you put on weight?â The location can be very telling of the root cause, so today, weâll be chatting about what the location of your weight gain can mean, and what some steps are that you can take.
Before we get into it, I want to clarify that a fluctuation of a few pounds or so is nothing to worry about! It happens to all of us and can be as simple as hydration or time of the month. Iâm talking about 8,9,10+ lbs of weight gain that youâre really having a hard time getting rid of. If you have put on weight significantly, chances are you also arenât feeling your best as your energy and digestion might have been impacted to!
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Youre Not Eating Enough Earlier In The Day
While you dont need to eat first thing in the morning if youre not hungry, if you eat too little during the day, you may end up overeating at night, says Young. You didnt realize how hungry you were, and once you eat dinner, you may end up nibbling nonstop till bedtime. A no-no for your weight loss efforts.
The solution: Give your body a healthy boost of energy at the start of the day with one of these 91+ Best Healthy Breakfast Recipes.
Stress Management For Stomach Weight Gain
Your belly fat may also come from stress. Losing a job, worrying about finances or taking care of an aging parent can send your levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, through the roof. Fat cells are especially receptive to cortisol, and your stomach area has more of these cells than any other part of your body. Elevated cortisol levels can directly contribute to abdominal weight gain, especially if you respond to stress by eating unhealthy “comfort” foods like baked goods. Employ stress management techniques like yoga, deep breathing, walking, listening to music or coloring to help get you through patches of stress that may be fueling weight gain in your stomach.
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Your Food Is Always On Display
Our homes are filled with hidden eating traps, and simply being aware of something as simple as the size of a bowl can influence how much you eat. For example, a study conducted at Googles New York office found that placing M& Ms in opaque containers as opposed to glass ones and giving healthier snacks more prominent shelf space curbed candy consumption by 3.1 million calories in just seven weeks. So what does that mean for your weight? The lesson here is clear: Clear junk food off your countertops to start losing weight and to make better choices.
Eat This, Not That! Fix: Bottom line: Its easier to change your environment than to change your mind. Employ simple strategies like removing junk food from your line of sight to keep belly fat off your frame.
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Menopause Weight Gain In Stomach
Menopausal stomach weight gain is common. As people age, it becomes easier to gain weight, and extra weight usually gathers around the hips and waist in women.
Weight gain around the abdomen can be dangerous for a woman’s health because it puts more stress on the area, and being overweight or obese increases a person’s likelihood of developing several different diseases and conditions, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure. However, a woman can take certain measures to control weight gain as she goes through menopause.
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Add More Fruits Veggies And Whole Grains To Your Diet
“Refined grains like white bread, crackers, and chips, as well as refined sugars in sweetened drinks and desserts, increase inflammation in our bodies,” said Patton. “Belly fat is associated with inflammation, so eating too many processed foods will hinder your ability to lose belly fat.” Natural foods like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are full of antioxidants, which have anti-inflammatory properties and may therefore actually prevent belly fat, Patton says.
/5if Only Your Stomach Is Bulgy
The first thing to determine if you have gained weight is to examine your belly visually. Can you see bulges in other parts of the body or is it only around the middle portion of the body? If it is widespread then you should start exercising to lose weight. But if it is localised then you are just gassy and you need to take appropriate measures for some relief.
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Is It My Time Of The Month
Oh, yes, good ol Flo. Throughout the menstrual cycle, changes in female sex hormones, especially estrogen and progesterone, can result in serious water retention. The fluid can spread around the body, but seems to affect your tummy most of all, says Lisa M. Davis, Ph.D., chief nutrition officer of Terras Kitchen, a meal delivery service.
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Work All Of The Muscles In Your Bodynot Just Your Abs
Doing crunches every morning and every night? It’s time to switch it up! When you’re down to your final inches of belly fat, countless crunches won’t necessarily help you reveal a six-pack. “You can’t spot reduce,” said Jill. In other words, you can’t tell your body where to lose fatâeven if you exercise your abs every day, that doesn’t always make ’em flatter.
Instead, Jill suggests doing functional exercises that use the muscles of your entire coreâabdominals, back, pelvic, obliquesâas well as other body parts. “These exercises use more muscles, so there is a higher rate of calorie burn while you are doing them,” said Jill. Planks are her favorite functional exerciseâthey activate not just your core muscles but also your arm, leg, and butt muscles. Add some movement to the plank, with shoulder taps or leg lifts, and you up the ante even more.
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