While excess weight typically accumulates slowly, a larger waistline can quickly change your life forever if the fat leads to a heart attack or cancer diagnosis. Although fat inside your midsection is more dangerous than the fat located elsewhere on your body, the Cleveland Clinic reports that your stomach often shrinks first when you modify your weekly schedule to include physical activity and low-calorie nutrition. Understand how your body changes during weight loss to ensure your well-being.
What Goes First
Although any excess weight poses a threat to your overall wellness, visceral fat--or metabolically active fat that resides only in your abdominal area--potentially shortens your life. People with large stomachs carry an elevated risk for disease, since visceral fat secretes hormones that cause interior inflammation and disrupt your body's natural chemistry. The fat also surrounds your liver and encourages plaque buildup. Harvard Medical School reports that even though visceral fat carries the greatest risk to your future, your stomach usually downsizes ahead of other body parts when you lose weight. The quick shrinkage occurs because visceral fat metabolizes easier into fatty acids than the less harmful fat on your legs and arms.
Your Shrinking Stomach
You'll have the greatest chance to see your stomach shrink by adding aerobic exercise into your life on most days of the week. Aim for a moderate or intense pace that gets your arms and legs moving and quickens your heartbeat. The Department of Health and Human Services endorses 150 minutes of aerobic exercise at a moderate pace, although you'll only need 75 minutes weekly when you perform at a fast, or intense, speed. Choose from walking briskly, swimming, jogging or biking. Sports like football, volleyball and tennis are also aerobic.
Balanced Nutrition
A balanced diet that includes plant-based foods is key to achieving a slimmer body, according to MayoClinic.com. Add fresh fruit, vegetables and products with whole grains to each meal when possible and consume only lean proteins and low-fat dairy. Saturated fats hinder your waistline and are found in regular meats, cheeses and butter. Nuts, fish and some vegetable oils contain healthier monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats. Every calorie counts during weight loss, so when eating in restaurants, share your meals when possible or eat half of your plate and save the rest for later, since restaurants are notorious for serving large portion sizes.
Strength and Body Fat
A visit with your doctor is essential before starting any plan to lose weight, especially if you have a serious health condition that requires medication. Ask your doctor if strength training--or exercise like weightlifting that builds strength and muscle--is appropriate. Strength workouts reduce your overall body fat and give you the power to burn calories for extended periods when performed on two or three days each week for half an hour.
References
- MayoClinic.com; Obesity; May 2011
- Harvard Medical School; Taking Aim at Belly Fat; August 2010
- MayoClinic.com; Aerobic Exercise: Top 10 Reasons to Get Physical; February 2011
- Cleveland Clinic; What's Your Gut Tell You?; November 2009
- President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition: Exercise and Weight Control
- MayoClinic.com; Strength Training: Get Stronger, Leaner, Healthier; June 2010
Member Comments