weight loss

Why Excess Belly Fat is So Dangerous – And Easy to Lose

Hey Angels and Alphas,

When we’re talking about belly fat and weight loss, we’re often most concerned with the aesthetic characteristics that come with it, not realizing that belly fat is one of the main precursors to a variety of life-threatening diseases.

And when it comes to actually reducing your risk of such diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, we fail to realize that slimming your waistline down could be much more important than simply shifting the number on the scale or getting a nice set of abs.

Almost 40 percent of American adults live with obesity. This, in its own right, increases the chances that people develop diseases such as heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, and more. But your body mass index doesn’t even need to be greater than 30 for you to be at risk of these obesity-related conditions.

The bottom line is, where your fat is located matters a lot.

Even if you’re sitting at a normal weight right now, or you’re just slightly overweight, having a waistline that’s greater than 35 inches (in women) and around 40 inches (in men) is associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and high cholesterol – all precursors to much more dangerous conditions.

The reason? Visceral fat.

Visceral fat is just another word for belly fat, and it poses a much greater risk to us than all of our total fat combined. Visceral fat is a health hazard, and such be addressed as one.

Some new research published in the journal Menopause has pretty much added to the already robust set of evidence that carrying some extra weight around your waist can lead to serious health problems. In one study, researchers took a group of women who had so-called “central” obesity.

What this means is they had significantly higher rates of CAD, coronary artery disease, compared to other women who were classified as obese based purely on their overall body mass index. This was just the latest in an ever-increasing list of studies that have shown that your waist circumference is a much better predictor of heart disease than your weight.

And yes, while the connection between cardiovascular disease and your waist circumference is not that well understood as of yet, experts are beginning to suspect that excess belly fat may be making it harder for your body to process blood sugar.

On top of that, visceral fat might also trigger extra inflammation in the body, another big risk factor when it comes to cardiovascular disease.

And the mere width of your waistline isn’t just directly linked to heart disease. Based on data gathered from more than 650,000 adults, experts have discovered that men who have a waist circumference higher than 43 inches have a much greater (50 percent greater) risk of death during a period of 14 years than men whose waists measured 37 inches or less.

When we’re talking about women, the risk was even greater. 80 percent greater risk of death associated with a waist circumference of 37 inches compared to 28 inches or less.

The solution? Lose belly fat and reduce your risk of dangerous diseases.

A total of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise and overall physical activity every week seems to be one of the gold standards when it comes to weight loss – or at least that’s what researchers have touted.

If you’re someone who is troubled by their high waist circumference or you’re experiencing certain cardiovascular disease risk factors alongside a greater waist circumference, we have to emphasize that starting out slowly and working your way up toward an achievable weight loss goal is what you should be focusing on.

Taking walks, going to the gym, jogging in the morning, playing sports, practicing yoga, all of these options will not only become an enjoyable activity that helps you grow into a better and healthier you, but they’ll also slim down your waistline significantly and help you reduce your risk factors.

The bottom line is, obesity puts strain on more than just your waist – it puts strain and inflammation on your entire body.

And when it comes down to it, we know for a fact that belly fat is often the first one to go when we start exercising and taking care of our diet. If we lose the weight, we reduce the risk. It really is as simple as that.

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