Get Rid of Visceral Fat the Healthy Way
Usually, when someone speaks about having a goal to burn the fat around their stomach, it has two meanings. The first one is visceral fat, also known as the active fat, and the second one, which is the fat under your skin or the subcutaneous fat. The second one is actually the one you can ‘see’ when you pinch your arms, belly, thighs, or any other loose and jiggly part of your body. Visceral fat is, however, a lot harder to notice since it surrounds the organs of your midsections, such as the pancreas, liver and also your intestines.
Why is it not good to have a big visceral fat body percentage
Having a big visceral fat percentage in your body can cause some various and serious problems regarding the proper functioning of your lives as well as inhibit proper hormonal messaging between the body’s vital organs. This can ultimately cause resistance to insulin, which can pave the way for developing diabetes, high blood pressure, increase the risk of developing heart disease and increase the cholesterol. Large deposits of visceral fat have been related to multiple types of cancer, such as colorectal and breast cancer, stroke, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
In addition, a larger midsection in combination with the increased blood pressure, elevated levels of triglyceride in your blood, low levels of good cholesterol and increasing blood sugar levels are symptoms of the so-called ‘Syndrome X’, which appears when the stores of visceral fat are high. However, you can treat this. There is a way to stop the deposits of this kind of fat and reverse them altogether. Changes in your lifestyle, which include a proper diet and increased physical activity, will increase your body’s usage of the visceral fat depots and decrease the risk for the development of a heart disease.
How to diagnose and fix the problem?
The best way to find out if you have too much visceral fat is to measure your midsection. And the most precise way to do this and find out if you are at a risk is to have an MRI scan or a CT scan. These procedures are very expensive and not necessary from a medical standpoint. Nevertheless, having a waist measuring more than 30 inches and 40 inches for women and men, respectively, is a clear sign that there is an excess of stomach fat, even though you might have a healthy weight and seem to be in good shape and good health.
You Should Follow A Properly Customized Diet Plan According To Your Needs
A good strategy to start practicing is to eat a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits that are full of nutrients and fiber which will ease your digestion. You should consult with a professional nutritionist that will help you set up a proper diet plan as per your needs with the primary concern of health improvement and weight loss. A generally well accepted recommendation among nutritionists is to limit the consumption of fat from 20 to 30 percent of the total daily calories, limiting the saturated fats found in palm oil and processed food to about 7 percent and completely tries to avoid trans fats which are the most harmful.
The diet plan is supposed to be consisted of fresh vegetables and fruits, lean protein and slow digesting carbs which can be found in lentils, grains and beans, filling you up with fiber and keeping your high energy levels in check. You should also try using olive, peanut, canola, safflower and sesame oils, since they are a great source of monounsaturated fats, also known as the good fats, however, as with anything else, use them in moderation. You should not neglect vegetable oils, including sunflower, avocado, grape seed and coconut oils.
Increase Training Volume As Well As Intensity
Training with moderate intensity 4 to 5 times per week is one of the easiest ways to keep healthy levels of physical activity. You should train for at least half an hour every day, which will burn off excess calories that you have consumed. A gradual weight loss in the range of 5 to 10 percent of the total body mass will also gradually decrease the deposits of visceral fat. In order for you to do that, you will have to expend more calories than what you have consumed, otherwise known as being in the negative caloric balance.
To be more precise, if you want to lose one pound per week, you must reduce your daily calorie intake by 500 per day. This is easily achievable by exercising. Types of physical activity you could do is simple walking, circuit training, riding a bike or anything that will speed up your heart rate and will keep you moving for a full hour. It might not hurt if you incorporate the HIIT routine. A study has found that HIIT type of training can help you reduce the total belly fat, both visceral fat and subcutaneous.
Keep Yourself Accountable and Motivated
Being supported by a like-minded community is a great way to be consistent with your diet plan and achieve your weight loss goals much faster. Healthy weight loss is a slow process and one shouldn’t expect to lose the excess fat overnight since it took a long period of time to gain that weight in the first place. As we previously said, a gradual and slow weight loss will decrease the visceral fat deposits in a more efficient manner and eliminate any other medical complications that might arise.
You should always keep that in mind since it will help you stick to your training and diet plan. Nowadays, there are lots of smartphone applications that allow you to easily track your weight loss progress, MyFitnessPal being one of the most popular. Reaching out to people that support your fitness journey and goals and asking for encouragement in difficult times is always helpful. Research has shown that those who have people that they could be accountable to will be more prone to sticking with the fitness plan and achieve their goals.
Incorporate Healthy Habits in Your Lifestyle
Practicing meditation is a great way to decrease the levels of stress or simply breathing deeply for a few minutes. If you are looking for ways to improve your health, it goes without saying that you should give up smoking if you already are a smoker, reduce your alcohol intake, take up physical activity and stop eating processed foods that are high in unhealthy fats. Try to always go for the healthier choices that will increase your overall quality of life and will quickly show itself on the scale. Do not forget to get enough sleep at night and always have time for yourself to relax. Scientists have discovered that cortisol, known as the stress hormone, increases the depositing of visceral fat. That is why it is always a good option to meditate for 20 minutes, take up yoga, take a bath or go for a walk.