Targeting Viscral Fat

In this episode, we delve deep into the silent and dangerous enemy lurking within - visceral fat. Unveiling the insidious health risks associated with excess visceral fat, we shine a spotlight on the pivotal role it plays in various chronic conditions. Join us as we explore:

 The science behind visceral fat accumulation
 Its detrimental effects on overall health
 Practical strategies to target this toxic fat.

Tune in to listen to this episode and reach out if you are starting on your health journey and you need help.

#metabolicsyndrome #diabetes #weightloss #bodycomposition #dexascan #metabolichealth #healthyweight #fitnessgoals #fatpercentage #healthyfatpercentage   #obesity #metabolichealth #healthylifestyle #health

—————————————————————————————————

🌟 🌟 🌟 If you liked this episode and would like to learn more about wellness training and workshops offered by 9 to 5 Wellness, email us at info@aeshathair.com. You can learn more about our programs at:  https://toneandstrengthen.com/workshops-trainings/. 🌟 🌟 🌟

Aesha Tahir is an award-winning author, keynote speaker, corporate trainer, and columnist.  She delivers high-energy presentations that challenge audiences to leverage their focus to what matters most at work and in life, their health. Audiences love the practical strategies she shares. She helps the organizations create a culture of wellness by implementing health programs that put organizations’ biggest asset, the employees first.

 Aesha earned her Master in Exercise Science from Concordia University. She is a distinguished Toastmasters, a designation held by less than 1% of professional speakers. She engages groups from the moment she steps in front of them and leaves them with empowering tools that they can use for the rest of their lives. She has presented workshops and spoken at organizations such as Salesforce, Coffman Engineers, Pyramid Club, Voyager Media Group, National Libraries, 92NY, and Coaching4Leaders to name a few.

🌟 🌟 🌟. You can learn more about Aesha Tahir at https://www.aeshatahir.com and follow her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aeshatahir/. 🌟 🌟 🌟

🌟 🌟 🌟 If you liked this episode and would like to learn more about wellness training and workshops offered by 9 to 5 Wellness, email us at info@aeshathair.com. You can learn more about our programs at: https://toneandstrengthen.com/workshops-trainings/. 🌟 🌟 🌟

My passion is helping organizations create a culture of wellness, and I do this by setting up health programs that prioritize the most important asset they've got – their employees. Cheers to a healthier and happier journey ahead!

🌟 🌟 🌟 You can learn more about ME- the host at https://www.aeshatahir.com

Follow me on IG and LI to learn more

https://www.instagram.com/tone_and_strengthen/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/aeshatahir/

Transcript

 Welcome to the nine to five wellness podcast,  a show about corporate wellness solutions with innovators and forward thinking leaders who are at the forefront of the workplace wellness movement.  I'm your host Ayesha Tahir. 

  Hello, everyone. Welcome to today's episode of nine to five wellness show. Before we get into the episode today.  I wanna talk about what I'm doing. Today is July 3rd. I'm recording this episode on July 3rd. It's evening here in Philadelphia, and I am looking forward to tomorrow morning because I signed up for this race on 4th of July.

It's called four on fourth, so it's a four miler and I'm really looking forward to it.  I am a runner, a long distance runner, and I have been racing a lot this year, since January of this year.  And there is something about racing that I believe is very fulfilling. For me , I find  that  racing gives me something to look forward to, something to train for.

When I race, I get to know my strengths and weaknesses. I also get to understand if there are challenges. There are weak areas in my training where I can improve, so I just love racing for that reason. Okay,  so I'm looking forward to it. I'm not sure what's on your schedule,  Maybe you're meeting friends.

I've talked to a lot of friends and they are like, we are going to meet up with other friends. Maybe you're seeing family, maybe you're going to the beach. So I hope your 4th of July goes well. And today I want to talk about a topic that  a lot of my clients have questions about.

And that is belly fat. Like just this past week, I had a weight loss client and her concern was what she could do to lose belly fat, although her weight was in healthy range, and I often come across clients like her who are confident thin or their weight falls within a healthy range. It might surprise you to learn that someone with a flat stomach could still have significant levels of this kind of internal fat.

So being skinny doesn't necessarily mean you're healthy.  The best way to know how much visceral fat you have is through a DEXA scan.  I talked about DEXA scan and body composition analysis in a previous episode, so make sure you check it out. Today, we are going to dive into the world of visceral fat.

Visceral fat is the fat that wraps around your organs deep inside your belly.

Unlike subcutaneous fat that you see on the outside, visceral fat remains hidden. So subcutaneous fat lies underneath your skin, mostly it's visible. to the naked eye,  visceral fat is not. Commonly,  as your overall body fat increases, so does visceral fat. And it's a genuine health concern and a major risk factor for many diseases. 

In a review of 72 studies on visceral fat, the study is linked in show notes. Researchers found that for every 10 cm increase in belly fat, the risk of death from any cause goes up by 8 percent for women and 12 percent for men. Yikes! That's why visceral fat is also referred to as toxic fat.  It lurks inside our bodies, around vital organs, presenting a hidden health hazard. 

Now, we will come back to the impact visceral fat has on our health, but let's talk about how to measure it.  While dexascan is the most accurate way to pinpoint visceral fat, there are simpler methods to assess your risk.

Typically, it should account for about 10 percent of your risk. or less of your total body fat. An increase in overall body fat often correlates with an uptick in visceral fat as well.  One straightforward method is measuring your waistline. Simply wrap tape measure around your waist at the belly button and if your measurement exceeds 35 inches for women or 40 inches for men, you're it could indicate higher levels of visceral fat.

However, it's important to note that this method has limitations. It's not perfect, but it does give you a point, a data point to start with. Also, waist to hip ratio can provide some insight. A ratio of over 0. 85 for women and 0. 90 for men can signify an excess of visceral fat. So this reading is only for a rough estimate, a data point to start with. It's not 100 percent accurate.

Visceral fat is the fat that you cannot see. So it is, it isn't always easy to know whether you have an excessive amount of it, but these methods give you an indication  of where you are as far as visceral fat is concerned.  If you suspect high visceral fat, it's important to see your physician or healthcare.

practitioner, they would go over , your measurements, and they would recommend an exercise and nutrition plan with and lifestyle options with you. 

So what's the real issue with stored fat?  Fat doesn't just store calories, it's a living tissue capable of producing and releasing hormones. that affect your other organs. Because visceral fat sits near our organs, its release of these chemicals is particularly harmful to our health.  According to a study published by Dr.

Michael Jensen,  there is a strong correlation between visceral fat and circulating very low density lipoprotein triglyceride concentrations. It is directly related to delivery of free fatty acids to the liver from visceral adipose tissue.  All this scientific lingo means is that you can have high LDL or bad cholesterol if you have high visceral fat. 

 In that study, they also found that visceral fat is a strong predictor of insulin resistance related illnesses too. Increased visceral fat is associated with glucose intolerance, and insulin sensitivity correlates with visceral fat mass in normal adults and in people with type 2 diabetes.

Higher visceral fat raises your LDL, or bad cholesterol, as we discussed before. in the study findings, and it can lead to hypertension and type 2 diabetes, so that's why it is also known as toxic fat. It is hidden inside your body. on and around your vital organs.

Okay, enough talk about health risks. Let's move on to good news, which is that you can reduce visceral fat on your own. Yep. With these five simple tips, you can get started on your own to reduce the visceral adipose tissue.  that you have in your body.  And these are simple, simple steps you can take. The first tip is to keep moving.

Yep, not a big surprise, of course, but it's something that we need to get in habit of doing, especially if you are a busy professional. Most of, My clients are busy professionals. They're either working from home or on site and they don't have time to move a lot, but if you make that part of your work day, Then it's, it becomes a habit and it becomes natural for you.

So increase your activity during the day. Move five minutes every 30 to 60 minutes that you are sitting at your desk. That will increase your NEAT.  NEAT is non exercise activity thermogenesis. It is the energy expended for  everything that you do, which is not sleeping, eating or sports like exercise.

Physical activity helps burn abdominal fat.  Exercise seems to work off belly fat in particular because it reduces circulating levels of insulin, which would otherwise  signal the body to hang on to fat and causes the liver to use up fatty acids, especially those nearby visceral fat deposits.

Second. is to include strength training into your weekly routine. There is a strong connection between weights and waist. Yep, weights and waist. Weight training has been shown to substantially reduce the risk of obesity due to its ability to increase muscle mass. And muscle mass is crucial because it burns more energy than fat at rest.

So as you gain muscle through strength training, your body burns more calories.  Even when you're not working out, you are still burning calories and energy.  Studies show that even a little bit of weight training can have a significant impact on obesity risk. People who strength train for Just one to two hours a week are about enough.

30 percent less likely to become obese over the years. If you ask me, that's an impressive result for just one to two hours of strength training a week. And it's not just about looking good,  it's about improving your overall health and reducing your risk of health complications related to visceral fat.

If you haven't already done so, consider adding strength training to your weekly routine. It doesn't have to be complicated or time consuming. You can start with bodyweight exercises like squats, push ups, lunges, and work your way up to using weights or resistance bands.  It is important to find an approach that works for you so that you stick with it. 

Third tip is to manage stress.  Because  if you are stressed out, you're gonna  want to eat more.  So managing stress is important. If you have high chronic stress levels, there is evidence that you will engage in emotional eating.  In addition to psychological responses to stress, there are also physiological responses, which lead to weight gain. 

During a stressful event, the body releases cortisol, a hormone that helps the body protect itself. However, if cortisol levels are elevated for a prolonged period of time,  such as during repeated and constant stressors, which we busy professionals go through all the time. This can lead to increased food consumption, fat storage, and weight gain. 

And we tend to crave more sugar and fat when we are stressed out because it turns down the stress response in the human brain.  As a result, we may be consuming sugar as a quick way to hold back our feelings and emotions. I have noticed and my clients have reported that afternoons and evenings are a high risk period for overeating, particularly when paired with stress exposure and for those with binge eating disorder.

This means that your commute home  or evening meal may be a time when you have a greater likelihood to eat more than you should.  So it's important That you find a coach and work with a coach who practices cognitive behavior therapy if you are stress eating.  Fourth tip to reduce belly fat is to eat whole foods. 

Try not to eat packaged foods which are processed. Eat protein rich foods. I suggest a minimum of one gram of protein per pound of your ideal body weight. Replace simple and refined carbs with complex carbohydrates. In general, a low carb way of eating is good. Good for reducing visceral fat. It shifts your intake away from problem foods, those high in carbs  and sugar and without much fiber like bread, bagels and sodas and towards high fiber choices like vegetables and beans.

Of all carbs, fructose may add the most inches to waistline as it can trigger cravings and overeating.  Last and most important tip to lose visceral fat is hang out with health focused friends. You might find this surprising, but it is true. In my experience, it is very much true. And research shows that you're more apt to eat better and exercise more if your friends and family are doing the same. 

Just ask my friends. I've converted a lot of my friends into runners, and back in the early days when I started working out, it was because of my friends, because my friends were doing it. I had a couple of neighbors who used to go to the gym that I started going to, and that's how I started exercising regularly, and I got so interested in the exercise field.

So that's And I became an exercise physiologist.  So if you have a healthy company, you will be more motivated to get your workout in , and eat healthy.  As a nutrition and exercise coach, I see people losing significant amounts of body fat, including including visceral fat, typically about five percent from a focused program of eight weeks of full effort exercise and whole food nutrition.

Yep, you heard that right. From my program, Typically we see about 5% of body fat reduction from a focused program of eight weeks of full effort exercise and whole food nutrition  after the first 5% which delivers most of the metabolic benefits.  Most of my clients tend to continue the program, and , they see significant body recomb and health benefits within the 16 weeks.

So the first 16 weeks, if you if you can extrapolate that program to 16 weeks, you will see a significant body recomb  and health benefits.  You know, it's all in your control, and it's simple. Start with small steps. Start with simple steps. Move more often.  Increase your consumption of whole foods.  Reduce sugar and simple carbs  manage stress  and add weight training to your weekly routine.

If you do, you can get rid of this toxic fat. You can target the toxic fat . So that's all I have to share about visceral fat with you today. Thank you, friends, for listening to me. I can't wait to talk to you guys next week. Hugs and kisses to all of you, and have a very happy 4th of July weekend.

Bye, guys! 

  If you like this show today, please share it with your friends and family members. And don't forget to subscribe to our show so that you can get fresh episodes every week.