4 Major Causes Of Belly Fat

Excess abdominal fat is a common problem these days and it is even more common for many women. Excess belly fat is clinically known as visceral fat and it increases one’s risk of developing diabetes and some cardiovascular diseases.

According to Bruce Krahn, a celebrity trainer and author of the Lean Belly Breakthrough guide, physical activity and poor diet are contributing factors, but there are other factors that also add to this issue of excess belly fat. They include stress, age, hormonal changes and hereditary factors.

Generally, belly fat is what you can reduce through healthy diet, aerobic exercise and some exercises that are specifically designed to target strengthening your abdomen. With the help of a fitness expert from any of the best gyms around you, you can come up with an exercise routine that will work best for you. However, it is good that you know what might be the reason why your body is holding on to excess fat in the abdominal area.

1. Stress

A study by Elissa S. Epel, Ph.D., and his fellow researchers at Yale University in 2000 revealed that women who are stress more often yet otherwise not overweight but healthy are susceptible to having excess belly fat.

This study further revealed that some women are more prone to the effects of cortisol that others. This is responsible for the development of excessive abdominal fat and the storage visceral fat around your vital organs.

2. Aging

As you age, the rate at which your body produces the hormone dehydroepiandrosterone, which is also known as DHEA, starts to decline.

Harvard Women’s Health Watch revealed that some researchers have associated this decline in the DHEA with an increase in the storage of abdominal fat, even though some other studies didn’t show this.

Although the effects that DHEA has on belly fat aren’t conclusive, some health care providers believe that getting a supplement for DHEA can result in decrease in belly fat. Also, your metabolism start to slow down as you age.

This is possibly another age-related reason people develop excess belly fat.

3. Hormonal Changes

Another one of the causes of belly fat is changes in hormones. Women seem to be protected from belly fat until after menopause. There are some hormonal changes linked to menopause are other common causes of excess belly fat. Researchers at Yale University made us understand that menopause causes reduction in the rate at which sex hormones like estrogen are produced, which results in the development of excess abdominal fat.

Apart from that, menopause causes your body to shift the location where it stores fat. Instead of the fat to be stored in your hips, legs and arms like they did when you were a teenager and growing up, the fats just go to your abdominal area.

4. Heredity

When it comes to women and excess abdominal fat, heredity factor is a major culprit. According to a study that was published in the journal “Diabetes” in 2012, it was revealed that women tend to be more sensitive to an enzyme that is usually triggered by Vitamin A.

This enzyme promotes the storage of fat in women, especially around their midsection, by inducing the release of hormones that causes this. Another study published in the “Journal of Obesity” in 2010 revealed that hereditary factors are responsible for excess belly fat in women. There is a chance that you may have just inherited predisposition for storing fat in your midsection area is your genetic make-up is wired that way.

Although you can tone your belly muscles and reduce abdominal fat through aerobic exercise and targeted strengthening exercises. If you have the tendency to gain abdominal fat, then you may just be fighting nature, even when you expect to have a perfectly flat belly.