Call it your beer belly, your pot, your
breadbasket, your bay window, your
spare tire or good old middle-aged
spread, but if you’re carrying extra
weight around your gut – even if you’re
not very overweight overall – you could
be in danger of serious health problems.
It could affect your heart, your bones,
your knees…and your s*x life.
Visceral fat, as doctors call abdominal
obesity, is a particularly menacing type
of fat located deep under the muscle
tissue in the abdominal cavity
surrounding the abdominal organs.
“Women tend to put on weight in their
hips and thighs, but when men put on
weight, it tends to go right to the gut,”
says Jim White, RD, spokesperson for the
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and
an American College of Sports Medicine-
certified health fitness specialist.
Here, four good reasons to blast away
belly fat, and how to do it best.
1. Your heart Wrap a tape measure
around your middle at about the level of
your belly button. Don’t pull too tightly.
If your waist measures over 40 inches
(or 35 inches for a woman), you are at
increased risk of unhealthy levels of
blood cholesterol, high blood pressure,
and pre-diabetes, according to the
American Heart Association. Visceral fat
is strongly associated with insulin
resistance (an inability of the body to
use insulin to convert food into energy)
and high levels of triglycerides (a type
of dangerous fat in blood). Excess
visceral fat has also been linked with
increased risk for heart disease
including upping your risk for heart
attack and stroke.
2. Your bones In men, more belly fat can
equal weaker bones, according to a
Harvard. The researchers did CT scans
to take abdominal fat and muscle
measurements in men with an average
age of 34 and to measure bone strength
in forearm bones. They found that
overall body mass index (BMI) and age
didn’t play into how strong the men’s
bones were, but that belly fat did. The
more belly fat a man had, the lower his
score on tests of bone strength. In
contrast, the higher his scores on muscle
mass measures, the stronger his bones
were.
3. Your back aches and your knees are
weak. Blame your belly fat. That extra
weight in front of your body puts
pressure on your back, possibly leading
to back strain and pain. And every
extra pound around your belly puts an
extra four pounds of pressure on your
knees with every step you take – or an
extra 4,800 pounds for every mile you
walk. The good news? Losing 11 pounds
reduces your risk of knee arthritis by 50
percent, according to data from the
Framingham Heart Study.
4. Your s*x life. Don’t let your big belly
come between you and your significant
other! Being overweight raises your risk
of restricted blood flow to the man-
hood, making erectile dysfunction more
likely. Belly fat can lower your levels of
the s*x hormone testosterone, too.
Testosterone, which is made in the
testicles, is broken down in the fat cells
of the body, but particularly in belly.
The Startling News About Aging and
Fertility in Men and clinical professor of
urology and reproductive medicine at
Weill-Cornell Medical College in New
York. “Studies show the bigger the waist,
the lower the testosterone.”
The best way to get rid of belly fat? Lose
weight overall. “You can’t spot reduce.
Unfortunately just doing a lot of
stomach crunches alone isn’t going to do
it,” says White. He recommends a three-
pronged approach:
Exercise at least 30 minutes every day
Practice weight training a couple days a
week
Eating a healthy diet.
Do all three and you will slim down your
midsection and reduce your health risks.
“Vary your activities – swim one day, jog
another, play tennis or golf on a third,
for example,” says White. “That will not
only to help you lose visceral fat but will
reduce exercise boredom and overuse
injuries, and help you get in shape
overall.” Check with your doctor before
starting a new exercise plan to make
sure increased physical activity is safe
for you, and if it is, get moving!
breadbasket, your bay window, your
spare tire or good old middle-aged
spread, but if you’re carrying extra
weight around your gut – even if you’re
not very overweight overall – you could
be in danger of serious health problems.
It could affect your heart, your bones,
your knees…and your s*x life.
Visceral fat, as doctors call abdominal
obesity, is a particularly menacing type
of fat located deep under the muscle
tissue in the abdominal cavity
surrounding the abdominal organs.
“Women tend to put on weight in their
hips and thighs, but when men put on
weight, it tends to go right to the gut,”
says Jim White, RD, spokesperson for the
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and
an American College of Sports Medicine-
certified health fitness specialist.
Here, four good reasons to blast away
belly fat, and how to do it best.
1. Your heart Wrap a tape measure
around your middle at about the level of
your belly button. Don’t pull too tightly.
If your waist measures over 40 inches
(or 35 inches for a woman), you are at
increased risk of unhealthy levels of
blood cholesterol, high blood pressure,
and pre-diabetes, according to the
American Heart Association. Visceral fat
is strongly associated with insulin
resistance (an inability of the body to
use insulin to convert food into energy)
and high levels of triglycerides (a type
of dangerous fat in blood). Excess
visceral fat has also been linked with
increased risk for heart disease
including upping your risk for heart
attack and stroke.
2. Your bones In men, more belly fat can
equal weaker bones, according to a
Harvard. The researchers did CT scans
to take abdominal fat and muscle
measurements in men with an average
age of 34 and to measure bone strength
in forearm bones. They found that
overall body mass index (BMI) and age
didn’t play into how strong the men’s
bones were, but that belly fat did. The
more belly fat a man had, the lower his
score on tests of bone strength. In
contrast, the higher his scores on muscle
mass measures, the stronger his bones
were.
3. Your back aches and your knees are
weak. Blame your belly fat. That extra
weight in front of your body puts
pressure on your back, possibly leading
to back strain and pain. And every
extra pound around your belly puts an
extra four pounds of pressure on your
knees with every step you take – or an
extra 4,800 pounds for every mile you
walk. The good news? Losing 11 pounds
reduces your risk of knee arthritis by 50
percent, according to data from the
Framingham Heart Study.
4. Your s*x life. Don’t let your big belly
come between you and your significant
other! Being overweight raises your risk
of restricted blood flow to the man-
hood, making erectile dysfunction more
likely. Belly fat can lower your levels of
the s*x hormone testosterone, too.
Testosterone, which is made in the
testicles, is broken down in the fat cells
of the body, but particularly in belly.
The Startling News About Aging and
Fertility in Men and clinical professor of
urology and reproductive medicine at
Weill-Cornell Medical College in New
York. “Studies show the bigger the waist,
the lower the testosterone.”
The best way to get rid of belly fat? Lose
weight overall. “You can’t spot reduce.
Unfortunately just doing a lot of
stomach crunches alone isn’t going to do
it,” says White. He recommends a three-
pronged approach:
Exercise at least 30 minutes every day
Practice weight training a couple days a
week
Eating a healthy diet.
Do all three and you will slim down your
midsection and reduce your health risks.
“Vary your activities – swim one day, jog
another, play tennis or golf on a third,
for example,” says White. “That will not
only to help you lose visceral fat but will
reduce exercise boredom and overuse
injuries, and help you get in shape
overall.” Check with your doctor before
starting a new exercise plan to make
sure increased physical activity is safe
for you, and if it is, get moving!
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