What Are the Causes of Excess Abdominal Fat?
While an improper diet and a lack of exercise may be the most common reason why people have excess abdominal fat, it would be wrong to label that the most probable cause. Different people have belly fat for different reasons. Everyone’s body and physical makeup are different. Some people who over eat and don’t exercise may build up a lot of abdominal fat. In others, it may go straight to hips, thighs, or bottom. Others may indulge in poor diets and never gain any abdominal fat, while someone else may eat everything they should and nothing they shouldn’t and still have a belly. Let’s take a look at several probable causes of abdominal fat.
1. Metabolism – Some people are lucky enough to have fast metabolisms, meaning they burn off most of the fat that they eat. Those who have slower metabolism will retain a lot of the fat they consume, and quite often it goes right to the stomach. Metabolism generally slows down as we age and that would explain why there are so many people over the age of 40 with excess abdominal fat.
2. Overeating – As we said, this may be a primary cause for a lot of people, but not for everyone. For those people where this is true, they often hope the reason is something else – something they can fix without cutting out the food they love.
3. Stress – This can be a major cause of the stomach fat issue. Not just because many people have a tendency to turn to food for comfort, but also because stress causes the body to produce and release more of a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol triggers the liver to make more sugar that the body doesn’t really need. The more sugar, the hungrier you feel, the more you eat, and the more fat on your belly.
If overeating is not the main cause of your extra abdominal fat, cutting back and correcting your diet can still be a way to help you get rid of it.