It’s a dream for almost all fitness enthusiasts to shed belly fat but, it’s also essential to know the actual reason why fat in the abdominal region or visceral fat can be dangerous before losing fat.
Distribution
Fats impact differently on your health depending on where it is stored in your body. Most fat deposited on just under the skin of different body parts like arms, chest, legs, buttocks, etc. are known as subcutaneous fat. But the fat that wraps around our internal organs is most commonly known as visceral fat which is considered as more dangerous than subcutaneous fat.
What’s dangerous about visceral fat?
Fat just doesn’t store energy; it’s a collection of living tissue capable of releasing and producing hormones that impact on other body organ functions. Studies have linked the presence of excess visceral fat to a greater risk health disorders that include high cholesterol, insulin resistance or diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure. Visceral fat releases more harmful proteins and hormones into the body that can cause low level inflammation, which is a heart disease risk factor. Accumulating this fat inside blood vessels makes it more constrict that arrest free blood flow through the vessels causing blood pressure to raise and other associated health issues.
How do you know that you have visceral fat?
You still are at potential risk of having excess visceral fat than normal even if you are skinny. One best way to measure your visceral fat level is by measuring your waist. Waist circumference (WC) is a good indicator of how much fat is accumulated around the organs deep inside the belly. To measure your waist circumference, stand and place a measuring tape just above your hipbones and measure your waist when you breathe out without compressing your belly. Women should have a waist circumference of 35 inches or less than that, whereas men should have a waist circumference of less than 40 inches.
Waist-to-hip ratio or WHR is another indicator that gives idea about accumulated visceral fat level. To have the ratio, you have to divide your waist circumference with the hip size. For men and women, the ratio should be less than 1.0 and 0.9, respectively.
How to lose visceral fat?
If you are in normal range for both WC and WHR, that’s good for you. But if you are not there or your ratios are beyond the ranges, then unfortunately you cannot forcefully reduce this visceral fat right away unless you follow healthy lifestyles.
30-60 minutes intense workout: It’s easier to shed visceral fat if you follow 30-60 minutes intense workout like running, swimming, biking, hiking and so forth each day. As you increase your workout intensity, your body will start using visceral fat as energy source.
Keep your diet well-balanced: Go for prepping diets balanced with whole grains, lean proteins, fruits and vegetables and avoid foods and drinks with added sugar.
Get plenty of sleep: Studies have linked to lack of sleep with risk factors of depositing additional fat in abdominal area. That’s why experts recommend that you take proper sleep along with workout routine and nutritious diet to prevent the onset of more health issues to take place.
