It’s what’s on the inside that counts….Visceral Fat

Body fat is not all what meets the eye, you can be skinny and still have a lot of visceral fat.

So what is visceral fat?  

Visceral fat is the internal fat that surrounds the heart, liver, kidneys and pancreas, and streaks through muscles; therefore, you can look skinny and still be fat. Furthermore, visceral fat doesn’t just act like normal fat; it releases toxic waste into the blood stream.

Who gets visceral fat?

Everyone that has a crap diet and doesn’t move about be you skinny or obese. However, to all you men out there that are so fond of your beer bellies, put the beer down. Middle aged men have a genetic predisposition to store visceral fat, so the next time you stroke your belly fondly just remember it’s killing you.

Causes:

• ·         High fat and high sugar diet

• ·         Excess calories

• ·         Little or no exercise

• ·         Obesity

• ·         Alcohol

• ·         Stress

• ·         Smoking

Effects:

• ·         Heart Attacks

• ·         Hypertension

• ·         Angiogram

• ·         High cholesterol

• ·         Type 2 Diabetes

(Nice visceral fatty heart yum!)

Another effect that visceral fat has is on mood. Not only do you feel down and have low energy levels and self esteem due to your weight; to whack a big bundle of depression on top of it, visceral fat has been proven to increase the levels of a stress hormone called cortisol and reduce levels of feel good endorphins.

To sum it up, it makes you feel like crap (if you didn’t already).

The good news….visceral fat has been proven to reduce relatively quickly with the right level of intervention, the obvious being move more, eat less and eat healthier. Over time visceral fat will reduce, your mood will improve along with your general well being, setting you on the right path to look and feel fantastic…hurrah!

 So how do I know what my visceral fat level is?

 Lucky for all you guys and gals out there, there are plenty of ways you can find out, the easiest being on a set of body composition scales. Electrical currents are sent through the body and then rate your visceral fat on a scale of 1-59.

A low risk area for visceral fat is 1-12 and anything above being classed as high risk. The lower the better though!

If you are concerned about your health or would like to know what your body composition is (including your visceral fat), don’t hesitate to get in touch and book a consultation!