Visceral Fat and Weight Loss: A Complex Relationship

Visceral fat, stored around internal organs, poses significant health risks, including heart disease and diabetes. Effective weight loss through diet and exercise can help reduce visceral fat, but it requires consistent effort and a healthy lifestyle.
Visceral Fat

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Visceral fat is the hidden fat of our body invisible to the naked eye and it is different from the subcutaneous fat that lies beneath the skin.

What is Visceral Fat?

Visceral fat, stored deep within the abdominal cavity around vital organs like the liver, pancreas, and intestines, is often called “active fat” due to its significant and potentially harmful impact on hormone function. An excess of visceral fat is linked to a higher risk of health issues, such as type 2 diabetes.

Visceral fat, hidden deep within the body, often goes unnoticed as it can’t always be seen or pinched, though it may show up as a larger waistline. This type of fat releases harmful chemicals that increase inflammation, leading to serious health issues. Reducing visceral fat is essential for improving overall health and demands a more targeted approach than typical weight loss methods.

How Does Visceral Fat Affect Your Health?

Visceral fat poses serious health risks, particularly increasing the likelihood of cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes. It produces harmful chemicals that raise blood pressure and cholesterol levels, while also contributing to the hardening of arteries, which can lead to atherosclerosis, heart attacks, and strokes. Additionally, visceral fat plays a key role in insulin resistance, as its proximity to vital organs like the liver disrupts metabolic functions, forcing the pancreas to produce more insulin. This often results in type 2 diabetes. Reducing visceral fat can improve insulin sensitivity and reduce the strain on the cardiovascular system, lowering the risk of these conditions.

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Relationship Between Weight Loss and Visceral Fat

The relationship between weight loss and visceral fat is a challenging one. Losing visceral fat isn’t as simple as just cutting calories or increasing exercise. Although weight loss does lead to an overall reduction in body fat, visceral fat tends to be more stubborn and may remain even as the scale shows progress. This is because visceral fat is more biologically active, and the body often burns subcutaneous fat first.

This  does not mean that exercise does not reduce visceral fat. You just need to be alerted that the exercise you are doing reduces the proportion of visceral fat in your body along with the weight loss that it is showing.

Moreover, the more visceral fat someone carries, the more resistant it becomes to conventional weight loss strategies. This can make the process of reducing visceral fat particularly frustrating, even for those who are diligently following a diet and exercise plan.

How to prevent fat being stored in the Organs

By limiting the intake of processed foods, fast foods, refined sugars, transfat, one can avoid accumulating visceral fat.  Alongside, the result will be better if one takes in plenty of fruits, vegetables, wholegrain and protein.

According to Harvard University, diet and exercise have been shown to be more effective in reducing visceral fat than the fat around the hips and thighs. So, even if your clothing size isn’t changing as quickly as you’d like, don’t be discouraged—your efforts could be yielding important, unseen health benefits within your body.

Several recommendations have been recognized as helpful in lowering visceral fat levels. These include engaging in regular physical activity, following a healthy, balanced diet, getting sufficient sleep, managing stress, limiting alcohol consumption, and quitting smoking.

Interestingly, these lifestyle changes are also the key recommendations for reducing the risk and impact of type 2 diabetes. So, by following these practices, you’re not only working towards a healthier body composition but also improving your overall health.1

Conclusion

Visceral fat poses significant health risks, but it can be reduced with the right strategies. Understanding its role in your body and why it’s so challenging to lose is the first step toward better health. Combining a balanced diet with targeted exercise can help you not only lose weight but also focus on eliminating dangerous visceral fat, improving your overall well-being.

  1. https://www.diabetes.co.uk/body/visceral-fat.html ↩︎

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Dr. Tulip

Dr. Tulip is an advanced laparoscopic and Bariatric surgeon practicing in Bangalore at TODS- Dr. Tulips Obesity and Diabetes Surgery Centre

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