Surprise: Everyone has some belly fat, even people with flat abs.
That is normal. But too much belly fat can affect your health in ways that other fat cannot.
Some of your fat is just under your skin. Other fat is found deeper inside, around your heart, lungs, liver, and other organs.
It’s that deeper fat – called ‘visceral’ fat – that may be the bigger problem, even for thin people.
You need some visceral fat. It provides cushioning around your organs.
But if you get too much of it, you’re more likely to develop high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, dementia and certain cancers, including breast cancer and colon cancer.
The fat doesn’t just stay there. It’s an active part of your body and makes “a lot of nasty chemicals,” says Kristen Hairston, MD, assistant professor of endocrinology and metabolism at Wake Forest School of Medicine.
When you gain excess weight, your body begins to store your fat in unusual places.
With the rise in obesity, you have people whose regular fat-storing areas are so full that the fat is deposited in the organs and around the heart, says Carol Shively, PhD, professor of pathology-comparative medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine .
The most accurate way to determine how much visceral fat you have is to have a CT scan or MRI. But there is a much easier, cheaper way to check this.
Take a measuring tape, wrap it around your waist, near your belly button, and check your circumference. Do this while standing upright and make sure the measuring tape is level.
For your health, you want your waist size to be less than 35 inches if you are a woman and less than 40 inches if you are a man.
Having a ‘pear shape’ – larger hips and thighs – is considered safer than an ‘apple shape’, which describes a wider waist.
“What we’re really pointing out with the apple versus pear,” says Hairston, “is that if you have more belly fat, it’s probably an indicator that you have more visceral fat.”
Even if you are thin, you can still have too much visceral fat.
How much you have depends partly on your genes, and partly on your lifestyle, especially how active you are.
Visceral fat loves inactivity. One study found that thin people who watched their diet but didn’t exercise were more likely to have too much visceral fat.
The key is to be active, no matter how big you are.
There are four keys to controlling belly fat: exercise, diet, sleep and stress management.
1. Exercise: Vigorous exercise removes all your fat, including visceral fat.
Get at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise at least 5 days a week. Walking counts, as long as it is brisk enough to make you sweat and breathe harder, while your heart rate is faster than normal.
To get the same results in half the time, increase your pace and do vigorous exercise, such as jogging or walking. You should do that for 20 minutes a day, 4 days a week.
Go for a jog if you’re already fit, or walk briskly at an incline on a treadmill if you’re not ready to jog yet. Vigorous workouts on stationary bikes and elliptical or rowing machines are also effective, says Duke researcher Cris Slentz, PhD.
Moderate activity — increasing your heart rate for 30 minutes at least three times a week — also helps. It slows down the amount of visceral fat you gain. But to burn visceral fat, your workouts may need to ramp up.
“Raking leaves, walking, gardening, going to Zumba, playing soccer with your kids. It doesn’t have to be in the gym,” Hairston says.
If you’re not active now, it’s a good idea to check with your health care provider before starting a new fitness program.
2. Diet: There is no magic diet for belly fat. But when you lose weight on any diet, belly fat usually goes first.
Getting enough fiber can help. Hairston’s research shows that people who eat 10 grams of soluble fiber per day – without any other dietary changes – build up less visceral fat over time than others. That’s as simple as eating two small apples, a cup of green peas, or half a cup of pinto beans.
“Even if you kept everything else the same but switched to higher-fiber breads, you might be able to maintain your weight better over time,” says Hairston.
3. Sleep: It helps to get the right amount of shut-eye. One study found that people who got 6 to 7 hours of sleep per night gained less visceral fat over 5 years than those who slept 5 or fewer hours per night or 8 or more hours per night. Sleep may not have been the only thing that mattered, but it was part of it.
4. Tension: Everyone is stressed. How you deal with it is important. The best things you can do are relax with friends and family, meditate, exercise to let off steam, and seek advice. This makes you healthier and better prepared to make good choices for yourself.
“If you could only afford the time to do any of these things,” says Shively, “exercise probably has the most immediate benefits, because it causes both obesity and stress.”
