It's not a coincidence that belly fat is the #1 problem for so many overweight people. There are physiological processes taking place in the body that causes more fat storage around the belly and making it harder to burn off. Belly fat consists of 3 different types of fat. The first type is called superficial subcutaneous belly fat, which is the visual fat covering your stomach that you're able to see and pinch. The second type is called visceral belly fat which lies under the abdominal muscles surrounding your organs and you're not able to see. The third type of fat is called deep subcutaneous belly fat which is a hybrid of superficial and visceral. In this article we will focus primarily on visceral and superficial and subcutaneous belly fat.
Superficial subcutaneous belly fat is much harder to burn because it has less blood flow, more responsive to insulin and cortisol and has more alpha receptors than beta receptors. Beta receptors are responsible for the expansion of blood vessels and body fat lipolysis while alpha receptors are responsible for the contraction of blood vessels and the termination of body fat lipolysis. Body fat lipolysis is the process of metabolizing fat and turning it into energy to be burned for fuel. Visceral belly fat has a higher blood flow, has more beta receptors than alpha receptors and is less sensitive to insulin which is how the body transfers excess fat to fat cells.
Diets don't work
Research has proven that dieting is not the best way to get rid of belly fat. In most cases only about 5% of dieters who lose belly fat from dieting can keep the fat off forever. In most cases, people who lose weight with diets eventually gain the weight back plus more than they originally lost. There are a number of reasons for this, but it mostly boils down to stress and the lack of understanding of how the body responds to calorie intake.
We already know that an excess of calories will trigger the body to store more body fat, but what you may not be aware of is that a lack of calorie intake can trigger the body not to burn calories. Dieting also imposes stress on the body which can trigger higher densities of cortisol in the body which interacts with insulin and triggers targeted fat storage directly to your belly. It may not be possible to target fat loss from your belly, but it’s easy to target fat storage on your belly. The best way to create a balanced calorie deficit not going to extreme highs or lows not resulting in body fat rebounding. It can’t be a diet, it must be a maintainable nutrition plan and way of life.
Hormones and belly fat.
The most talked about hormones when it comes to belly fat is insulin and cortisol. The primary purpose of insulin is to prevent fatty acid lipolysis and to deliver nutrients and energy to all cells of the body, including fat cells. Cortisol on the other hand is solely responsible for increasing levels of LPL (lipoprotein lipase) and HSL (hormone sensitive lipase). LPL is responsible for transferring fat to fat cells to be stored as future energy while HSL is responsible for transferring fat from fat cells to be burned and used as energy in working muscles. Cortisol does not act alone but is more of a social hormone working together with insulin to cause excess fat storage in the belly.
The simplest way to think of these two hormones is to think of insulin as the sugar and starch hormone and to think of cortisol as the stress hormone. Poor dieting, poor sleeping habits and poor time management are just a few of a long list of problems that can cause stress. Eating too many starchy foods, simple carbohydrates and foods that are highly palatable boost insulin levels in the bloodstream. When insulin and cortisol work as a team the result is more belly fat.
An irregular balance of hormones can affect men and women differently. This is a subject that will be discussed in more detail in future articles. For example, estrogen and progesterone are abundant hormones in women and have highly effective anti-insulin and anti-cortisol affects around the belly. This is why younger women typically keep an hour glass shaped figure when they’re young and loose that figure after menopause and go through hormonal chances. Men on the other hand typically accumulate fat around the belly with no age exceptions. Testosterone is an abundant hormone in men and is highly effective in decreasing the activity of LPL and increasing the density of fat burning beta receptors. On the other hand, testosterone hinders the effectiveness of estrogen. This mostly explains why women with too much testosterone have more belly fat and men with more testosterone have less.
Meal Frequency and Belly Fat
When it comes to nutrition, the best way to fight belly fat is to eat small meals often. When reducing calories, don’t overdo it or you could suffer negative side effects that promote belly fat storage, such as an increase in cortisol levels. Reducing carbohydrates and increasing protein intake has proven very affective as long as your macronutrient ratios don’t fall out of balance. Eating smaller meals often controls insulin spikes and drops in the blood stream and reduces chances of excess fat storage.
There are so many things that can be done to manage stress and help reduce cortisol. Sex is a great reliever of stress, but other stress relievers are a long hot shower, laughter, tai-chi, restorative yoga and full body massages. A lack of sleep can have a catastrophic impact on your weight and belly from stress, because a lack of sleep causes stress and stress causes a lack of sleep. It’s an awful domino effect of stress you want to avoid at all costs. The best way to manage stress is to do everything possible to get a good night's sleep without the use of sleep-inducing drugs. I have dedicated an informative and highly detailed article on the many benefits of sleep and how to get a good night's sleep.
Exercises That Fight Belly Fat
All exercises will burn calories and reduce insulin levels, especially high intensity exercise. Spot fat removal is impossible so you must do exercises that burn the high number of calories. Any exercise that you enjoy makes you work up a sweat and you can do conveniently and consistently are the best exercises for burning belly fat. They reduce stress which reduce cortisol and in addition to burning calories. Abdominal exercises are not the best exercises for burning belly fat. They don’t burn as many calories as dancing, jogging, cycling and other energy demanding exercises. High intensity interval training is very affective and becoming more and more popular but it’s not for everyone and you must already be in good shape to maintain it. Any exercise that you personally enjoy is what’ll have the biggest affect.
Comments
