Belly fat is the hardest to lose of all body fat. There are two main types of belly fat, visceral and subcutaneous. Visceral fat is the fatty deposits surrounding your major organs, while subcutaneous lies just below the skin's surface. According to MayoClinic.com, belly fat increases your risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes tremendously.
Causes
Belly fat is more than just weight gain from eating one too many cheeseburgers. Aging and heredity play a major role in your risk of becoming obese or overweight, thus developing belly fat, according to MayoClinic.com. Aging brings about many changes in your body such as loss of muscle. As you lose muscle, fat tends to take its place requiring you to change your diet and increase exercise. Heredity is also to blame for belly fat, especially in women. Individuals with a family history of obesity are more likely become obese themselves.
Hard to Lose
Belly fat is difficult to shed for several reasons. As with the causes of belly fat, it is obviously impossible to prevent your body from aging or to change your genetic makeup. Other factors preventing you from losing belly fat in a timely manner could include hormone fluctuations. According to Harvard Health Publications, research points to a rise in cortisol as estrogen levels decline, prompting fat to accumulate in the abdomen. Subcutaneous fat is less responsive to elimination methods, as visceral fat seems easier to get rid of; stubborn belly fat seems to be with you for the long haul.
How to Lose
You may have tried crash dieting and spot training in the fight to rid yourself of stubborn belly fat. The problem is that crash dieting and spot training do not work. Crash dieting restricts your calories to the point that your body stores even more fat to compensate for what it recognizes as starvation. Spot training only increases muscle mass but does not burn fat. According to MayoClinic.com, the only sure fire way to reduce belly fat is to eat healthy and get aerobic exercise every day. Exercising for 30 minutes per day will burn more calories than you take in, stopping fat accumulation and forcing your body to burn stored fat for energy.
Medications
Although diet and exercise are the best way to lose stubborn belly fat, the FDA has approved several medications to reduce fat deposits. These medications mainly work on appetite suppression and are only used as a last resort. Harvard Health Publications also stated that as of 2011, studies were under way to determine if supplemental hormones such as DHEA are in fact effective at helping you lose weight and burn belly fat. DHEA is converted into testosterone and estrogen, believed to balance hormone levels; however in 2006, studies were unsuccessful at proving this theory and anti aging related benefits of DHEA supplementation.
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