What is belly fat? Most people recognize it immediately. It’s often called a Buddha belly, a spare tire, or a muffin top. Its scientific name is visceral fat. It’s the hardest fat to eliminate. It’s also the most dangerous type of fat. It crowds the organs and affects your health. No matter what exercise you do, you can’t remove fat in just one place. It comes off the body in equal amounts. Some types of cardio are beneficial, but not necessarily the best exercise to reduce it.
The biggest dangers of belly fat are the health problems it can cause.
When you have belly fat, you’ve increased your potential for insulin resistance and inflammation by secreting a protein. Insulin resistance is a precursor to prediabetes and diabetes. Visceral fat can also increase your blood pressure and the potential for heart attack, stroke, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease. It can affect your posture by putting more weight in the front and overloading the discs to cause back problems.
High intensity interval training—HIIT—can help you lose belly fat.
Exercise will help burn fat from the entire body. Finding the exercises that burn it the most will also help burn belly fat. HIIT isn’t a specific exercise but a way of doing exercises. You alternate between high intensity and a recovery pace. You can use any type of exercise. That includes running, walking, weightlifting, and calisthenics.
Muscle-building workouts can help reduce visceral fat.
Muscle tissue requires more calories for maintenance than fat tissue does. So, the more you have, the higher your metabolism. While cardio burns a high amount of calories, it uses both fat and lean muscle tissue to extract those calories, potentially reducing the amount of muscle tissue you have so you burn fewer calories. Doing weight training and bodyweight exercises builds muscle and burns fat. Building muscle tissue and doing strength training helps tighten the muscles to make you appear slimmer and helps eliminate belly fat.
- You need more than exercise to eliminate belly fat. You need to eat the right type of food. Chips, food with trans fats, highly processed food, and those high in sugar increase belly fat. Whole foods like fruits, vegetables, and lean meat help prevent it.
- Daily exercise can help eliminate belly fat. The exercise should blend strength, endurance, balance, and flexibility training. If you include walking, make it brisk walking to maximize the benefits. Include fun things like biking or dancing.
- Hormone changes can cause the body to accumulate visceral fat. A healthy diet and regular exercise can help offset that change and balance hormones. Cortisol, a stress hormone, also contributes to belly fat.
- Cutting out sugar and replacing it with sugar substitutes may not be effective for belly fat. One study showed that people who drank diet cola developed more visceral fat than those who didn’t.
For more information, contact us today at Rising Fitness Gym