Do you have too much visceral fat? It’s possible that you do and don’t know it. Visceral fat is fat stored deep inside your abdominal cavity. This contrasts with subcutaneous fat, which is located right below the skin, the type of fat that we commonly think of when we think of as body fat. Subcutaneous fat is so superficial that you can pinch it between your fingers, whereas visceral fat lies deep beneath the surface. Even though visceral fat doesn’t jiggle when you walk, it has other downsides.
Visceral fat is more likely to cause health problems than having too much subcutaneous fat. From a health standpoint, they’re like two different species. Unlike subcutaneous fat that’s mainly a storage depot for energy, visceral fat can expand to all organs in the pelvis like the liver and pancreas where it can cause health problems, like non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. (NAFLD)
You might want to LOSE some of the subcutaneous fat you carry on your hips and thighs but a bigger concern, beyond aesthetics, is reducing visceral fat, the type that can cause you health problems.
Exercise and Visceral Fat
One approach to reducing visceral fat is exercise. Exercise works best in conjunction with a healthy diet low in refined carbohydrates and sugar, but it alone can have some impact on visceral fat. But does the intensity of your workouts matter for reducing visceral fat?
Exercise Intensity and Visceral Fat Loss
One small study looked at the effect of exercise intensity on visceral fat in women with metabolic syndrome, a condition characterized by two or more of the following:
- Elevated fasting blood glucose
- Elevated blood triglycerides
- Low HDL-cholesterol (the kind linked with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease)
- Elevated blood pressure
- Large waist circumference (greater than or equal to 80 centimeters)
Visceral fat is strongly linked with metabolic dysfunction that leads to high blood sugar, elevated lipids, and high blood pressure.
The women in the 16-week study were assigned to one of three groups:
- High-intensity exercise training
- Low-intensity exercise training
- No exercise
The exercise they did was walking or running at their assigned intensities on an indoor or outdoor track. The low-intensity group exercised at an intensity equivalent to a rate of perceived exertion (RPE) of 10 to 12. The high-intensity group exercised at an RPE of 15 to 17 three days of the week and a lower RPE of 10-12 the other two days.
The results? The women who did the high-intensity sessions lost more total body fat, visceral body fat, and subcutaneous belly fat relative to the low-intensity and no-exercise groups. In conclusion, the study found that high-intensity exercise was more effective at lowering visceral fat, subcutaneous tummy fat, and total abdominal fat in women with metabolic syndrome. It’s not clear whether the results would be similar in women who have a healthy blood sugar level and don’t have metabolic syndrome.
Other research also suggests that high-intensity exercise, like HIIT training, offers an advantage for vanquishing visceral tummy fat. So, if you’re trying to trim visceral fat and lower your risk of future health problems, ramping up the intensity of your workouts may help.
Why High-Intensity Exercise Works
Why does high-intensity exercise have an edge for belly fat loss? One reason may be the after-burn effect you get from high-intensity exercise. After you finish an intense sweat session, like a HIIT workout, your body continues to work hard to restore homeostasis, to bring your body temperature down, restore a normal blood pH, and control your breathing. The extra energy your body burns to do this continues for hours after a workout is over. You’ll have a greater afterburn if you work out at a high intensity than a moderate to low intensity.
Long periods of moderate-intensity exercise can also elevate the stress hormone cortisol. When cortisol rises, it shifts where your body stores fat and you get more abdominal fat storage. Plus, a chronically high cortisol level can cause other health problems, including bone loss, disruptions in immunity, increased risk of infection, and infertility. Therefore, shorter workouts that are higher in intensity have some advantages, as long as you give your body enough rest between sessions and do them in moderation. If you do a high-intensity workout every time you train, you’ll place your body under increased stress this can increase cortisol.
Are You Carrying Too Much Visceral Fat?
You might wonder where you stand in terms of visceral fat. The only reliable way to measure visceral fat is with an imaging study, like an MRI. However, you can get some idea of whether your visceral fat burden is too high by measuring your waist size. If your waist size is healthy, it should be no larger than half your height in inches. For example, if you’re 5 feet 6 inches, or 66 inches, the largest your waist size should be is 33 inches and less than that is healthier. If it’s larger, it’s time to work on losing that deep abdominal fat.
Nutrition Matters Too
High-intensity interval training in moderation may help you lose visceral fat, but you’ll get better results if you focus on nutrition too. Cut back or eliminate sugar and refined carbohydrates and give your pancreas a rest. Doing this will also help you shed visceral fat. It goes without saying that you also need at least 7 hours of high-quality sleep per night and ways to manage stress. Insufficient sleep and stress can both elevate cortisol and increase tummy fat, including visceral fat.
The Bottom Line
Visceral fat is something most people need less of and how much you have depends largely on lifestyle. Keep exercising and watching how you eat , but include some high-intensity exercise sessions in your belly blasting routine too.
References:
- Irving BA, Davis CK, Brock DW, Weltman JY, Swift D, Barrett EJ, Gaesser GA, Weltman A. Effect of exercise training intensity on abdominal visceral fat and body composition. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2008 Nov;40(11):1863-72. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181801d40. PMID: 18845966; PMCID: PMC2730190.
- “The Skinny on Visceral Fat – Hopkins Medicine.” https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/gim/faculty-resources/core_resources/Patient%20Handouts/Handouts_May_2012/The%20Skinny%20on%20Visceral%20Fat.pdf.
- Giannopoulou I, Ploutz-Snyder LL, Carhart R, Weinstock RS, Fernhall B, Goulopoulou S, Kanaley JA. Exercise is required for visceral fat loss in postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2005 Mar;90(3):1511-8. doi: 10.1210/jc.2004-1782. Epub 2004 Dec 14. PMID: 15598677.
- “Taking Aim at Belly Fat – Harvard Health Publishing ….” 12 Apr. 2021, https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/taking-aim-at-belly-fat.
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