Stubborn Belly Fat

Written by Stuart Stevens | Monday, 14 April 2008

Many people, especially men say that while they say are thin on the whole they have a problem with fat around their belly area which is very stubborn. If you have come across advertisements for special weight loss plans which focus specifically on belly fat you should ignore them completely because there’s no particular diet which can make you lose weight in one part of your body. However the good news is that when you do lose weight the chances are that the first place to shrink will be your stomach.

Research has shown that 99 percent of people who begin to lose weight will shed it from the region around their stomachs before any other part of the body. The reason for this is that the fat around the stomach tends to be visceral fat which is known to be “metabolically active” and therefore it goes away more easily than the other type of fat which is called subcutaneous fat.

You may see people in the gym furiously doing sit ups in the belief that by exercising their stomach muscles they will shed weight from this region. This will not happen and it is no point having a six pack stomach if it is covered by a thick layer of fat. Unfortunately the only way to lose stomach fat is to go on a low fat diet.

So the best way forward to lose that stubborn stomach is to eat healthily, try to get lots of fruit and vegetables and swap refined grains in your diet to whole grains. One research project done at Penn State University showed that when you consume a diet which has a lot of whole grains in it the body finds it easier to move the stores of fat present in it.

Having a large stomach can be uncomfortable unsightly and unhealthy. If the rest of your body is not fat and you only have a fat stomach you are still in a high risk category for obesity related illnesses.

© 2008 This content has been exclusively written by UKMedix