Why do women have fat bellies?

Whether it is men or women, it is easy for fat to accumulate in the belly, especially for many office workers who often sit for a long time. If they don’t exercise much, it is easy for fat to accumulate in the abdomen, leading to abdominal obesity. For women who love beauty, most women will use many methods to lose abdominal fat. Why do women have fat bellies?

Why do women have fat bellies?

In fact, men and women are the same. They are prone to gaining weight and having a belly. There is a yellowish omentum tissue called the greater omentum between the internal organs and the dermis in the lower abdomen of the human body. Fat is most easily accumulated between the cortex, so this is where women are most likely to gain weight.

How can a woman lose weight with a fat belly?

1. Walk more often

If people find that they have abdominal fat and their workplace is not too far away, they can actually walk to work. After a period of time, people may find that their abdomen shape has become better and they have become thinner. How to effectively reduce belly fat? Walking more often is a convenient and feasible way. Of course, if people cannot take the time to walk for various reasons, they can also use massage.

2. Massage to lose weight

How to effectively reduce belly fat? For those who work in offices all day and cannot move around, or who have difficulty moving around in their lives and work for various reasons, massage is also a method that can be used to reduce belly fat. The specific method is to sit there with your upper body straight, try to relax your body and not let your muscles tense. Then use both hands to massage your abdomen clockwise or counterclockwise. As long as you have time, doing it every day can also help you lose belly fat.

3. Other methods

If people gain belly fat due to irregular eating habits, they should pay attention to making reasonable arrangements in their diet. As long as you eat regularly and normally, your figure should return to normal after a period of time. In addition, people can also go to beauty salons to find some professional weight loss methods.

Causes and dangers of abdominal obesity

1. Too much stress

Time constraints, financial concerns, worrying about the kids...whatever the source of stress is, it can make it difficult to lose excess fat, especially in the belly. Not only is it easier to eat high-fat, high-calorie foods when you're stressed, the stress hormone cortisol also increases the amount of fat your body needs and enlarges your fat cells.

2. Eating foods that make your belly grow

Wang Xingguo, director of the Nutrition Department of Dalian Central Hospital, pointed out that the following four types of food are particularly likely to make people "grow a belly."

The first type of food is cooking oil. Cooking oil is almost entirely fat, which, after being digested and absorbed by the human body, will be stored indefinitely as belly fat. In addition, there are foods high in fat, such as fried dough sticks, fried cakes, crispy biscuits, and instant noodles.

The second type of food is refined grains, such as white rice, white steamed bread, white noodles, etc., which will stimulate the secretion of large amounts of insulin and cause fat to concentrate in the belly.

The third type of food is beverages and sweets, which contain a lot of sugar and will contribute to the formation of belly fat.

The fourth type of food is alcohol. Alcohol will cause excess energy, accumulate in the abdomen, and accelerate the formation of belly fat.

3. You’re exercising the wrong way

Just doing aerobic exercise like running or cycling won't do much to help you lose weight in your belly. "You need a combination of strength training and aerobic training," said Cleveland Clinic endocrinologist Sangeeta Kashyap. "This will build muscle, which burns more calories than fat."

In addition, insufficient exercise intensity will greatly reduce the effect of weight loss. Studies have shown that people who perform high-intensity exercise lose more abdominal fat than those who do low-intensity exercise. It is recommended that you do 250 minutes of moderate-intensity or 125 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise per week.

4. Lack of sleep

A 16-year study of nearly 70,000 women found that those who slept five hours or less a night were 30% more likely to gain 13.6 kg or more than those who slept seven hours. The National Institutes of Health recommends that adults get 7 to 8 hours of sleep per day.

5. It’s hard to lose weight when you’re older

As we age, our metabolism slows down and our body uses fewer calories to function. In addition, "if women gain weight during menopause, it's likely to be in their abdomen," said Michael Johnson, a professor in the department of endocrinology at the Mayo Clinic in Maryland.