Recognize the 7 Causes of Skinny Fat and Can Be Avoided

Bumisuka.com – Recognize the 7 Causes of Skinny Fat and Can Be Avoided. Many people think that a slim person means healthy and doesn’t have much fat on their body. In fact, a person’s outward appearance does not always reflect his health. People who look slim or ideal from the outside may actually store a lot of fat in their bodies, or what is known as skinny fat.

In simple terms, skinny fat refers to someone who looks fit and healthy on the outside, but actually stores excess visceral fat on the inside.

Visceral fat is fat that surrounds the internal organs and is not visible from the outside. This fat plays a role in providing a protective cushion and as a fat reserve, which can be oxidized to meet the body’s energy needs. However, this excess fat can trigger some serious health problems.

There are many factors that cause skinny fat. What are they?

1. Excess belly fat

People who are thin but bloated may experience skinny fat, according to the Good To page. An easy way to measure visceral fat levels is to measure abdominal circumference.

To measure this, you need to divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement. For men, if your waist to hip ratio is above 1, then you are considered tall. For women, a waist to hip ratio above 0.85 means tall. If you have a ratio above that number, there is a possibility that you are at a higher risk of developing the disease. To get an accurate measurement of visceral fat levels, you’ll need a CT scan.

2. Hormone imbalance

Hormones also affect how much fat mass is stored, citing the FirstCry Parenting page. For example, insulin is a hormone responsible for regulating carbohydrate metabolism. Experiencing stress for a long time will make the body produce excess cortisol, a hormone that causes the body to become resistant to insulin.

Another example is when estrogen levels continue to fall after menopause. Hormonal imbalance like this will lead to dangerous accumulation of visceral fat.

3. Lack of exercise

Many people feel that they don’t need to exercise because their body is slim enough. In fact, without exercise, the body cannot build enough muscle. The main cause of skinny fat is not having enough muscle.

The less you exercise, the more fat you gain. Therefore, exercise is important for everyone, regardless of their weight. Reported by Better Me, the best exercise for building muscle mass while reducing visceral fat is strength training, such as lifting weights.

4. Eating too much sugar and refined carbohydrates

Sugar and refined carbohydrates can provide energy quickly. Plus, foods high in sugar and refined carbohydrates also taste great. However, according to the Healthline page, when you eat high-sugar foods, your blood sugar will rise and your body will produce insulin to move the sugar to fat and muscle cells for storage.

Drastically elevated insulin levels can lead to insulin resistance, which occurs when the body stops responding to insulin. Insulin resistance is associated with increased body fat, particularly around the abdomen.

5. Significantly reduce calorie intake

Logically, you need to eat less if you want to lose weight and fat. However, if you cut calories excessively, you will lose muscle and fat at the same time, according to the Fitness Volt page. Body weight is reduced, but the relationship between muscle mass and body fat percentage remains relatively unchanged.

Significantly reducing caloric intake is often unsustainable in the long term and can result in loss of muscle mass. In fact, muscles play an important role in metabolizing calories and fat. As a result, you will experience skinny fat because muscles do not burn enough fat. It is best to take a more sustainable and less aggressive approach to nutrition.

6. Not eating enough protein

When you don’t get enough protein, it means your body doesn’t have the building blocks it needs for muscle repair and growth. The body also begins to lose muscle. When muscle levels decrease, body fat levels increase.

Explained on the Fitness Volt page, muscle loss can also lower the basal metabolic rate. This means you may have a calorie surplus as your body burns fewer calories.

7. Stress

According to the American Heart Association, stress has been shown to cause weight gain and visceral fat. When you experience negative emotions, such as stress and embarrassment, your body produces more cortisol, which can cause visceral fat to build up. Visceral fat is a type of fat that is more closely related to the risk of cardiovascular disease.

We can’t eliminate all causes of stress, but there are things you can do to minimize it. For example, with deep breathing exercises and self-awareness. You also need to avoid various causes of stress as much as possible or train to manage them properly.

By knowing what are the factors that cause skinny fat, we hope you can stay away from it so you don’t experience it.