Are you willing to lose that Belly yet?

You don’t ask for a sedentary lifestyle, but years at a desk and thousands of hours spent couch-surfing have caught up with you. You've got a belly! Sure, other parts of your body have a little excessive puff, but isn't your stomach capturing your attention along with everyone else’s?

There's an apple shape problem going on here. You get teased about having a beer belly even through you don't drink, or occasionally someone asks when you're due to deliver. This is embarrassing, I know. You know this game has to end.  When you choose to diet, it goes at a snail's pace, in fact sometimes you actually gain even while eating a lighter, healthier diet. Here are some common excuses I here among the gazillion others who refuse to give dieting a try. 

I work all day and don’t have time to exercise!

I’ve had kids.

It’s too much effort!

I don’t have the energy after a long day.

My spouse loves me the way I am.

God loves me the way I am.

I love to eat!

I just want to relax on the weekend.

Old injuries are stopping me from being too active.

I’m too tired!

I’m too old!

I don’t have a gym membership.

I’m just built this way.

If one or more of these common excuses sound like you, then you’re not alone. The truth is, everyone can and does make excuses. Do you want to finally take positive action to change your life?! 

If you do, here is the first question to ask: How will I know if I am over-weight or obese even?  Body Mass Index (BMI), is a common measure of body fat based on height and weight. A BMI measure of 30 or greater is considered obese, patient is overweight if it’s measured BMI is between 25-29.9.  A BMI of 18.5-24.9 is normal and 18.5 is underweight.  So do you want to take a minute and figure what your BMI tells you about your body fat?  You know you can calculate your BMI yourself? You simply divide your weight in kg by your height in m².  Do it now!

There is also a measure of waist circumference, which is an important player in obesity-related diseases.  A waist circumference of more than 40 inches in men and more than 35 inches in women indicates an increased risk of obesity-related diseases in person who have a BMI of 25-35. 

Here are some known facts about “belly” fat…

Our body is made up of two types of fat: subcutaneous fat and visceral fat. Visceral fat is the fat that is inside the body that surrounds the abdominal organs. It is very hard to detect and is affected by genetics, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity. 

Visceral fat makes people more susceptible to heart disease, diabetes and hypertension.  This “intra-abdominal fat” is also linked to high cholesterol, high triglycerides, high insulin, high blood pressure and other health related risks. 

Women who store fat in their stomachs have higher estrogen levels. Breast cancer is linked to excess production of estrogen in the female body. There is now a known link between stomach fat and breast cancer. 

At the same time, diabetes risk is increased due to increased insulin production which increases blood sugar levels which then puts more stress on the pancrease to produce even more insulin. As the pancrease is worn down, diabetes then begins to develop (see the youtube link to understand this whole concept better).

If the sugar is too high, the released insulin from your pancreas converts that extra sugar to a type of fat called triglyceride. Insulin drives triglycerides into the fat cells in your belly (That is why diabetic patients gain weight as soon as we put them on insulin shots). So having high triglycerides and a fat belly are signs of high blood insulin levels, and high blood levels of insulin constrict arteries to cause heart attacks. Insulin also acts on the brain to make you eat more and on your liver to manufacture more fat, and on the fat cells in your belly to store that fat.

The liver removes insulin from the bloodstream, but insulin causes fat to be deposited in the liver which prevents the liver from removing insulin from the bloodstream. People with fat bellies store too much fat in their livers, which prevents the livers from removing insulin, so insulin levels rise higher and higher to cause heart attacks, more abdominal obesity and eventually diabetes. 

Fat cells in your belly are different from those on your hips. The blood that flows from belly fat goes directly to your liver, whereas the blood that flows from your hips goes into your general circulation. The livers of those who store fat in their bellies are blocked from removing insulin by the extra fat and therefore do not remove insulin from the bloodstream as effectively as the livers of people who store fat primarily in their hips. People who store fat primarily in their bellies have higher blood insulin and sugar levels, which raise levels of the bad LDL cholesterol that causes heart attacks, and lower levels of the good HDL cholesterol that prevents heart attacks.

The only way to reduce a fat belly is to lose weight overall, and any type of exercise will help you to lose weight. If you store fat primarily in your belly, you should also restrict refined carbohydrates: foods made with flour, white rice, milled corn or added sugars.