Diet Information

Why Your Tummy Gets Fat

April 3, 2008
By J White

Have you ever wondered why so much fat likes to congregate around your tummy? Why not the arms or legs? Sure they get their share, but not like your middle section.

So why does fat like to accumulate around your tummy?

To understand this, you need to know that there are two basic body types when it comes to gaining weight: apple and pear. If you happen to store that excess weight around the lower part of your body, then you fall into the pear shaped club; and if you happen to to store the excess baggage on your tummy, then you’re in the apple club. From casual observation, there seems to be more apples than pears out there.

This distribution is effected by genetic factors, which brings us to the fat around your tummy. The reason that you gain more fat around your tummy is that even though fat cells are distributed all over your body, the function of the fat cell varies depending upon location on the body. Some may serve to provide heat while others, may serve to act as food reserves. The factors controlling the amount of fat in a cell is also regulated by genetics in addition to hormones, diet and physical activity.

Given the amount of fat around your tummy, it’s safe to infer that the fat cells around your tummy serve to act as your main food reserve for those with the apple body type. When it comes to having an effect on these fat cells, you can’t control your genetic factors, but you can control diet and physical activity.

As for hormones, it has been speculated that those who are overweight have hormones that encourage the storage of fat as a result of overeating and lack of exercise. This is why the body tends to resist sudden changes such as crash dieting. The good news is that there is evidence that suggest that you can “reset” you body’s hormone production by making long term changes in diet and exercise, so all is not loss.

So the primary reason that fat likes to congregate around your tummy has to do with your genetics. To control this accumulation and to lose weight in that area, you need to exercise and watch what you eat.

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