What does belly fat look like

Mind your mood. Middle-aged women who show more hostility and had more depressive symptoms tend to have more visceral fat — but not more subcutaneous fat. Forget the quick fix. Liposuction for cosmetic fat removal doesn't reach inside the abdominal wall. As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date of last review or update on all articles.

No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.

Successful weight loss depends largely on becoming more aware of your behaviors and starting to change them. Instead of relying on willpower, this process demands skill power. This Special Health Report, Lose Weight and Keep It Off , offers a range of solutions that have worked for many people and can be tailored to your needs.

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American Express. Apple Pay. Google Pay. Also, consider working with a registered dietitian for personalized nutrition advice. Having excess amounts of belly fat, especially the visceral type, is associated with negative health outcomes, including an increased risk of developing conditions like metabolic disease and fatty liver. Fortunately, there are many healthy ways to reduce excess belly fat, including increasing your intake of nutrient-dense foods, getting enough sleep, and moving your body more.

Remember that creating healthy, sustainable habits is much more important for your overall well-being than aiming for quick weight loss. If you need more personalized dietary advice on how to lose excess belly fat and reduce your disease risk, contact a knowledgeable registered dietitian.

Losing weight overall is the only way to lose any belly fat in a healthy way. Here are some exercises, eating habits, and lifestyle changes you can…. Excess belly fat is very unhealthy. It can drive diseases like heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Here are 11 things that can make you gain belly fat. Many people store fat in the belly, and losing fat from this area can be hard. Here are 19 effective tips to lose belly fat, based on studies. Getting good quality sleep is an important part of weight loss.

Here are a few ways sleep can help you lose weight. You may wonder how many calories you should eat if you're trying to lose weight. This article provides a calorie calculator to estimate your calorie….

Wondering how to lose 10 pounds in 1 week? This article tells you whether it's possible and advisable. How do you lose belly fat? No surprise: exercise and diet. Staying physically active throughout the day as well as scheduling time for structured exercise may be even more important than diet.

Research suggests that fat cells — particularly abdominal fat cells — are biologically active. It's appropriate to think of fat as an endocrine organ or gland, producing hormones and other substances that can profoundly affect our health. Although scientists are still deciphering the roles of individual hormones, it's becoming clear that excess body fat, especially abdominal fat, disrupts the normal balance and functioning of these hormones.

Scientists are also learning that visceral fat pumps out immune system chemicals called cytokines — for example, tumor necrosis factor and interleukin-6 — that can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. These and other biochemicals are thought to have deleterious effects on cells' sensitivity to insulin, blood pressure, and blood clotting.

One reason excess visceral fat is so harmful could be its location near the portal vein, which carries blood from the intestinal area to the liver. Substances released by visceral fat, including free fatty acids, enter the portal vein and travel to the liver, where they can influence the production of blood lipids.

Visceral fat is directly linked with higher total cholesterol and LDL bad cholesterol, lower HDL good cholesterol, and insulin resistance. Insulin resistance means that your body's muscle and liver cells don't respond adequately to normal levels of insulin, the pancreatic hormone that carries glucose into the body's cells. Glucose levels in the blood rise, heightening the risk for diabetes. Now for the good news. So what can we do about tubby tummies?

A lot, it turns out. The starting point for bringing weight under control, in general, and combating abdominal fat, in particular, is regular moderate-intensity physical activity — at least 30 minutes per day and perhaps up to 60 minutes per day to control weight and lose belly fat.