Health Tips

How Much is Too Much Belly Fat?

November 24, 2009
By David Bechtel

What Exactly Is Belly Fat?

If you are thinking all the medical warnings about the dangers of this fat is mostly hype, you could not be more wrong.

Take what this fat does to your liver as an example. Your liver works to transform this fat and this fat then becomes cholesterol in the body. Not the good kind either. We all know what cholesterol does to arteries.

By the scientific name, belly fat is known by the title of visceral fat. It has also been called intra abdominal fat. Translated, it means this is fat that you carry in your abdomen and it is deep in the body surrounding your internal organs.

It is fat turned into plaque carried in your blood that sticks to the arteries and in the heart, this plaque constricts the amount of blood able to flow through. When the plaque builds up enough, the blood can not pass through the artery and it leads to a heart attack.

Fat actually has two labels – visceral and subcutaneous. The word subcutaneous means beneath the skin. The subcutaneous fat is the fat you can see as what is commonly called cellulite. Some people refer to cellulite as lumps or flab, but it is all the same. The subcutaneous fat, while unsightly, is not nearly as dangerous to a person’s health as visceral fat.

Do family genetics play a part in the amount of fat you carry? Yes, but only a small part. You can still choose to be in the driver’s seat with your health and do something about your belly fat.

“I am a Thin Person, So I Don’t Have to Worry About Belly Fat!”

Wrong. You are not immune to the destruction belly fat can cause in your body. Being thin does not exclude a person from carrying around dangerous visceral fat. Researchers are now beginning to realize that visceral fat doesn’t discriminate against any body type.

While it is not as obvious in a thin person as it is in people whose bellies stick out noticeably, it is just as bad, if not more so because of the way society assumes thinner people automatically have a healthy fat level.

It is this kind of thinking that leads to undiagnosed or overlooked risks for slender people. If you do not have belly fat to the point where it is able to be seen, then how can you tell if you need to be concerned about visceral fat? There are tests that can tell you how much of your body is composed of this type of fat

How Much Is Too Much?

You can gauge how much is too much by using a measuring tape around the center of your belly. For a man, if your belly measures over forty inches when you use a tape measure around it, then it is too much fat for you to have.

If you are a woman and your belly measures greater than thirty-five inches, it is time to do something about it. Whether you are a man, woman, thin person or obese, baby boomer or teen, belly fat is not safe to have hanging around.

Do something about it.

Do not procrastinate.

Your life is far too important.

Get more information about burning away belly fat in order to be more healthy along with feeling great and get your free Taking Your Diet to the Next Level report at http://www.minuslbs.com.

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