So, I googled, ‘types of belly fat.”
What did I get?
I got images of people with alcohol belly, liver belly, hormonal belly, mommy belly, and a slew of others.
There are only 2 types of belly fat, and I will tell you what they are and how to lose them.
The only 2 types of belly fat
If you are looking at your belly and wondering what type of belly fat you have, you can stop staring because there are only 2 types of belly fat.
Don’t believe what the internet tells you. Whatever you read before this, throw it out of the window.
Residing in your stomach, you have 2 kinds of fat, visceral and subcutaneous fat.
Subcutaneous fat is the one you can pinch, poke, and make all sorts of shapes.
The other, visceral fat, is the one that can cause a whole lot of problems and eventually may lead to death.
Subcutaneous fat
Subcutaneous fat is found just underneath the skin and serves as a buffer and stores energy. Subcutaneous fat is a good indication of total body fat.
Subcutaneous fat produces molecules that are beneficial to our health. It creates the hormone leptin, which can hold off your ravenous appetite and burns stored fat.
Adiponectin is another hormone that is created by the subcutaneous fat. This Adiponectin hormone helps regulate sugar and fat, helping with diabetes.
This type of fat can be beneficial and is not as dangerous as the one I will discuss below. Although, as you accumulate more subcutaneous fat, it may hinder your way of life.
[source: Role of Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue in the Pathogenesis of Insulin Resistance]
Visceral fat
Visceral fat is the evil fat; it can kill you.
Visceral fat is found deep down in your belly. It attaches to your organs and releases toxins that can lead to diseases and cancer.
Similar to subcutaneous fat, visceral fat produces molecules. However, these molecules can be harmful to your health.
Visceral fat makes cytokines, which can cause inflammation, a factor for chronic conditions such as heart disease.
Visceral also increases insulin resistance by producing retinol-binding protein (RBP4).
Without being all too Sciency, visceral fat is bad, very bad.
[source: The clinical importance of visceral adiposity: a critical review of methods for visceral adipose tissue analysis]
How to get rid of these types of belly fat
Okay, no matter what type of belly “shape” you have. Whether it’s alcohol belly, hormonal belly, or liver belly, you need to lose the visceral fat.
Don’t worry about the subcutaneous fat, for now. Its time will come. Although, when you lose visceral fat, you are effectively losing subcutaneous fat as well. It just takes a little bit longer to get rid of subcutaneous fat.
Implement the following to start getting rid of your visceral fat:
- Don’t sleep too much, not too little, just right.
- Exercise and go hard.
- Eat healthily.
You do any one of these steps, and you can slowly lose your visceral fat. Do all of the steps, and you will lose visceral fat fast and look amazingly sexy.
Don’t sleep too much, not too little, just right.
Sleep plays a vital role in our health. When we sleep, our body has more resources in fixing our system. It acts as a reboot button like the one on your PC. It works more than just a reboot, though.
A study found that sleeping less than 6 hours and sleeping more than 9 hours can make you gain more visceral fat. While sleeping 7 to 8 hours showed a significantly less visceral fat gain.
There was no clear explanation as to why sleeping longer makes you gain more visceral fat compared to sleeping 7 to 8 hours.
[source: Change in sleep duration and visceral fat accumulation over 6 years in adults.]
Exercise and go hard
Any form of exercise can make you lose visceral fat. However, according to Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, high-intensity workout is more effective at reducing both subcutaneous and visceral fat.
[source: Effect of exercise training intensity on abdominal visceral fat and body composition]
When you are just starting, don’t go too hard. Your body is still getting used to the new duress you are putting it through.
Once you do get fitter, don’t get comfortable. Push yourself and go harder.
You may only be able to walk at the start, but soon enough, if you keep grinding and showing up, you will get healthier, fitter and more energetic.
If you want it, don’t stay complacent, always push yourself.
Find out which exercises can burn your belly fat by clicking on the related articles below:
Eat healthily
Eating healthy should be a given, but here’s why you should do so.
Other than living a longer life, lower risk of diseases, and cancers, you can also lose weight when you eat a well-balanced diet.
You see, eating less fat, less sugar can improve your chances of losing weight. Why?
Well, sugar is addictive, and fat is calorie-dense.
I know the first thing about sugar addiction. One of my major problems is sugar; I can’t have enough of it.
In an attempt to stop eating sweets, I had a lightbulb moment. If I can get so full from the main, perhaps I won’t have room for dessert. I was so wrong.
No matter how full I get from main meals, I always can pack on a whole serving of sweets.
No joke, I could eat a whole chicken with rice and have my 2 slices of cheesecake too.
I’m so glad I learned to stop my sugar cravings.
You can too, with this simple trick.
Types of belly fat – the short version
So you have 2 types of belly fat, one is subcutaneous, and the other is visceral fat.
The only type you should be concerned about is visceral fat.
Visceral fat can kill you if you don’t do something about it today.
Over time, this visceral fat will cripple you and reduce your quality of life.
You’d be glad to know that you can burn visceral fat with moderate activities such as walking and jogging.
You’d be even happier to know that pushing a little bit more will burn a significant amount of both visceral fat and subcutaneous fat.
Additionally, you should consider eating healthy together with exercise.
Lastly, get the right amount of sleep.
Between 7 and 8 hours of sleep is the magic number. Any more or less will be counter-intuitive.