A study published in a 2013 issue of the International Journal of Cardiology showed that high-intensity resistance training induces faster belly fat loss than cardio activity alone. Resistance training becomes increasingly important as we age, for many reasons, including reducing the accumulation of belly fat. Weight Training May Prevent the Accumulation of Excess Belly Fat as We Age This helps you burn more calories and burn them more efficiently for fat loss all day long, not only when you’re working out. Muscle tissue requires more calories to maintain than fat. When you build muscle, you increase your body’s ability to burn calories at rest. However, weight training builds and maintains muscle mass in a way that cardio exercise can’t. So it might seem more logical to increase the amount of aerobic activity. Weight training, when compared to aerobic activities like running or cycling, doesn’t burn a huge number of calories per session. Standard advice says you should simply consume fewer calories than you burn so your body turns to fat stores for fuel, and you subsequently slim down. The good news? The threats can be reduced. How do you know if you’re in danger ? In general, if your waist measures 35 or more inches for women or 40 or more inches for men, the chances are high that you have more visceral fat than is healthy. And, a study of over 3,000 women in India found that those whose waists were nearly as big as their hips were three or four times more likely to develop breast cancer. One Korean study found that the chances of getting colorectal cancer was almost twice as high in postmenopausal women with excess visceral fat. It appears that our risk of developing cancer is also raised by belly fat. The study found that the chances of developing heart disease were doubled among the women with the largest waists – even when other coronary risk factors were accounted for. For example, a 16-year study of nurses found that visceral fat produces retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) which increases the risk of developing coronary heart disease. Likewise, The Million Women Study in Britain found a direct link between the development of coronary heart disease and an increase in waist circumference over a 20-year period. Unlike the cells in subcutaneous fat, visceral fat secretes hormones and a variety of chemicals that have been linked to diseases that commonly afflict older adults. This type of fat is metabolically active and has been strongly linked to a host of serious disease risks, including heart disease, cancer, and dementia. The primary villain is visceral fat that accumulates around the abdominal organs. Research shows that belly fat also carries serious health risks. The problem of increased belly fat runs deeper than no longer being able to zip up our jeans. Some of us are simply predisposed to store excess weight around the waist. In fact, until midlife, men have a greater propensity towards excess belly fat, a pattern that usually reverses as women pass through menopause. This is likely due to decreasing estrogen levels, which appear to influence where fat is distributed in the body. To make matters worse, our metabolism begins to slow, with fat tissue building up toward the center of the body, including around the internal organs.įor many women, changes brought on by menopause can cause body fat to shift to the abdomen. Since muscle burns a relatively large percentage of calories, decreased muscle mass means our bodies are less able to maintain the number of calories we consumed when we were younger. In addition, bones may begin to lose some of their minerals and become less dense. After age 30, we naturally begin to lose lean tissue, including muscle mass. The human body is made up of fat, lean tissue, bones, and water. However, the good news is that lifestyle and exercise can slow down the process. Body shape does tend to change as we age and some of those changes are, quite frankly, unavoidable. Many consider an expanding waistline to be a normal part of aging, and they’re not altogether wrong. Does the size of your waistline say anything about your health?
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