I don’t know how many people have had this pain, many people do not look fat, but in fact, the stomach has not been able to lose, really afraid that once on the body fat scale, once on the body fat scale, health problems are exposed, high body fat percentage, visceral fat over the standard very much.
What is Visceral Fat?
Human fat is mainly divided into subcutaneous fat and visceral fat. Subcutaneous fat, the fat we can feel, is stored under the skin and can be easily pinched out from any part of the body. Visceral fat, on the other hand, is difficult to feel or pinch out on internal organs. Visceral fat is usually stored around several important organs in the abdominal cavity, such as the liver, stomach, and intestines.
Because visceral fat is mainly found in the abdominal cavity, common visceral fat obesity is also mainly abdominal type obesity, such as apple-shaped body and beer belly. If you are not fat anywhere else except your stomach, then your visceral fat must be overweight.
How Do I Know If I Have More Visceral Fat?
Generally, people just need to look thin, but a truly healthy thinness is without visceral fat because it has a huge relationship with many health problems. Therefore, you must learn to understand and determine your visceral fat levels to target and truly address your health issues. There are several ways:
- The most direct and effective method is to use a CT or MRI.
- There are professional body testing services.
- Use a body fat scale for testing.
- Measure your waist circumference.
According to the Harvard Women’s Health Watch and Harvard School of Public Health methods.
- Waist circumference for women ≥ 35 inches (about 88.9 cm)
- Waist circumference ≥ 40 inches (about 101.6 cm) for men
When the waist circumference exceeds these numbers, you are at risk for health problems due to excess internal fat. However, this method may not be as accurate.
Why is Visceral Fat High?
Some people are born with high internal fat because, for example, there are genes that make visceral fat stores high. As people age, especially women entering menopause, they are more likely to accumulate visceral fat, mainly because of changes in the levels of some hormones, such as testosterone and estrogen.
Excessive alcohol consumption can also lead to excess visceral fat, especially beer. It’s okay to drink small amounts of alcohol multiple times, but the worst thing is to drink large amounts of alcohol at once.
It has a lot to do with our unhealthy lifestyle habits. The root cause is that you consume too much high-carbon food, and do not enough exercise to burn these foods, so they are converted into fat storage.
There is a very special phenomenon:
Many people look very thin, but visceral fat is particularly high, especially among the elderly, but also young people, busy at work, irregular meals, like to eat sweets and fried snacks, unhealthy diet, lack of sleep, sedentary, basically no exercise or exercise intensity is not enough.
The fat in the body is not distributed to all parts of the body in a balanced way and is not burned in time. Although there is through dieting and eating less, the total weight can be controlled to some extent, internal fat will slowly increase, bringing great danger to health. On the contrary, many people exercise regularly, may eat less, be healthy, and look fat, but visceral fat is very little, so exercise is vital to the consumption of internal fat.
Dangers of Visceral Fat
More visceral fat is bad for your health, but a small amount is necessary to have a protective effect on internal organs. Visceral fat may be worse than subcutaneous fat because excess internal fat can lead to hormonal imbalances and inflammatory substances that can lead to an increased risk of chronic disease. These substances include:
- Fatty Liver – A person of normal weight may have a large accumulation of fat due to an unhealthy diet, which may directly trigger a fatty liver.
- Type 2 Diabetes – It secretes a protein called retinol-binding protein 4, which has been shown to increase resistance to insulin, which means an increased risk of developing diabetes.
- Cardiovascular Disease – Excess visceral fat puts a burden on the heart, leading to cardiovascular diseases, such as atherosclerotic coronary heart disease.
- Breathing Difficulties – When a person with abdominal obesity lies down, the fat compresses the lungs, making it difficult to breathe and even causing a lack of oxygen to the brain or high blood pressure.
- Cancer – According to the American Cancer Society, the incidence of colon cancer is 25 percent higher in overweight men than in normal people and can exceed 50 percent in obese men.
- Alzheimer’s Disease – Overproduction of it increases pro-inflammatory factors in the brain, leading to brain aging and dysfunction, which can lead to Alzheimer’s disease.
How to Lose It?
Good lifestyle habits are necessary to maintain good shape as well as a healthy body. Losing weight is an inevitable process, especially for those who are already in a state of obesity. Fortunately, visceral fat is still relatively easy to lose, as long as you do more exercise and change your diet and lifestyle, with every pound you lose, you’re improving.
Do more strength training and aerobic exercise
Many people’s visceral fat is caused by a lack of exercise and a sedentary lifestyle. Timely exercise not only reduces inflammation in the body, but it is also one of the best weapons in the fight against internal fat.
Try intermittent fasting
Before attempting a fast, you should most definitely cut out inflammation-promoting foods such as refined, high-carbohydrate diets like sugary drinks, alcohol, bread (cereal), and trans fats, and then try intermittent fasting or a strictly restricted diet for 6-8 hours.
In a review of studies of intermittent fasting and alternate-day fasting, people successfully lost 4-7% of their abdominal fat in 6-24 weeks. Fasting regulates human growth hormone levels, producing greater endurance through more rapid muscle repair and growth, and can also help regulate insulin levels.
Improve your own body’s hormone levels
Men with abdominal obesity may have low testosterone and high estrogen and need to increase testosterone appropriately. Generally, when testosterone rises, visceral fat drops and you have the energy and interest to exercise. Adult women also have low testosterone, which also needs to be raised.
Lower cortisol levels and release stress
Stress directly increases internal fat by triggering the adrenal glands to produce cortisol, also known as the “stress hormone. Studies show that high cortisol levels increase appetite and drive abdominal fat storage. And too much stress can lead to overeating. It is recommended that you can adjust your mood through meditation, yoga, and other stress-relieving methods.
Improve the quality of your sleep
Sleep deprivation is often one of the most overlooked causes. In a six-year study of 293 people, it was found that increasing your daily sleep from 6 hours or less to 7-8 hours resulted in about a 26% reduction in visceral fat.
Getting enough sleep helps regulate cortisol, better control your appetite, gives you more stamina, can help reduce sugar cravings, and reduces emotional eating.
Conclusion
Most people ignore the problem of visceral fat, thinking that they are healthy and thin. Once you go for a check-up and listen to your doctor, you will know the seriousness of the problem, especially for older people, those who have been inactive, and those who have been eating unhealthy, you must pay attention to this indicator in time, excess internal fat will sound the alarm for your health.
