As people gain weight, excess fat tends to be centered around the abdomen, generally starting at the lower abdominal area and working up. This results in a large belly or gut protruding out from the rest of your body.
For most people, belly fat is the first sign of weight gain. If they see even the slightest change around their abdomen, they consider it as a sureshot sign of added kilos.
The typical fat-gain areas for many women are the hips, arms and thighs, giving them what is termed a 'pear-shape'. The other areas where many women accumulate fat are the chest and the abdomen. Such women have slim arms and legs, and are seen as 'apple-shaped'. They also might have a family history of diabetes.
It's all About the Hormones
One of the biggest influencers of where we store our body fat is hormones. Your hormone level indicates how much fat you have and where it sits on your body. Getting a better understanding of specific hormones and how they work can help you determine what to do about your body fat.
As against areas such as legs, face and arms, our stomach and abdominal regions possess beta cells that makes it difficult to reduce the fats easily and lose weight in these areas. However, as per research, belly fat is the most difficult to lose as the fat there is so much harder to break down.
Because of its proximity to the liver, visceral fat is usually the easier fat to burn. It's the less risky subcutaneous fat that likes to stick around. Unfortunately, you can't forcefully spot reduce fat around your belly no matter how many crunches you do.
If you lose 10 pounds of fat, precisely 8.4 pounds comes out through your lungs and the remaining 1.6 pounds turns into water. In other words, nearly all the weight we lose is exhaled. This surprises just about everyone, but actually, almost everything we eat comes back out via the lungs.
Fat Metabolism
Where does fat go after weight loss? Fat is converted into carbon dioxide and water. You exhale carbon dioxide and water enters your circulation until it is excreted as urine or sweat. If you lose 10kg of fat, exactly 8.4kg goes out of your lungs and the remaining 1.6kg turns into water.
But if your calorie intake dips too low, says Lummus, your body could go into starvation mode. "Your body will start to store fat because it thinks it is not going to get anything," says Lummus. "You will be at a point where your body is kind of at a standstill."
Epidemiologists have observed that the average person typically puts on 1 to 2 pounds a year from early adulthood through middle age. The CDC's numbers show that much of the increase is concentrated in the 20s, for men and women.
Women generally have a higher percentage of body fat than men. Also, women store more fat in the gluteal-femoral region, whereas men store more fat in the visceral (abdominal) depot.
While everyone loses weight differently, dropping as little as 3 to 5 pounds can show up on your face first, Eboli says. That's because when you exercise your whole body (and eat healthy), you burn fat all over.
Subcutaneous fat is the belly fat you can feel if you pinch excess skin and tissue around your middle. Visceral fat is belly fat that accumulates in your abdomen in the spaces between your organs.
Common reasons for someone to have belly fat even when they're skinny is: Being too sedentary (inactive), which builds visceral fat around the organs and abdominal fat. Eating too many processed foods, which stores at the belly.
Excess visceral fat can pose serious health risks, but when you embark on a healthy diet and exercise plan, this fat is often the first to disappear. This means you're likely to notice weight loss in your abdominal area first. Too much visceral fat can make your belly protrude.
Where do you notice weight loss first? Body-weight loss is usually noticed around the belly, waistline, and thighs first. This is because your body stores fat in different locations. For instance, men hold more fat around their belly, while women store it on their thighs and hips.
Fat burning typically begins after approximately 12 hours of fasting and escalates between 16 and 24 hours of fasting.
Fat cells in the stomach area have a higher amount of alpha receptors, which makes them more stubborn to get rid of. This is why when you start a fat loss program, you see results in the face, arms and chest before you lose the belly fat.
Unlike other parts of the body, the face can't store a lot of fat. It's one of the places where you put on fat last but lose it first. However, there are individual differences. Some people have an easier time achieving a round face than others.
Most fat is stored underneath the skin and is known as subcutaneous fat. That is the fat that is visible and that you can feel. The rest of the fat in the body is hidden. That is visceral fat.