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Potbelly

oceans11

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This is going to sound so bizarre but I know I'll get some straight up answers on SF. I'm 41 now & I like to eat but have never really had to work out to keep the potbelly from appearing up until around 38 years of age.

When I tighten my stomach I don't feel much fat around my stomach. There's some of course but not what I would think would be there when I look in the mirror (side view) & see that "pot"!! Do we have fat underneath the stomach muscles as well? What gives the "potbelly" the most portruding effect?

Weird question I know but I just don't get it.
 

fuji

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You have a pot belly because you have a high body fat percentage, theres no secret to it, its just you have fat on you. It protrudes because there is lots of it. To get rid of it you just have to lose weight.
 

Cary Grant

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Originally Posted by fuji
You have a pot belly because you have a high body fat percentage, theres no secret to it, its just you have fat on you. It protrudes because there is lots of it. To get rid of it you just have to lose weight.

Sorta correct... though once you get past 40 surface versus sub-abdominal fat starts to behave differently...

Sho' is also right that at some point many of us need to fight the effects of gravity more than others
blush.gif
with core strength work.
 

LawrenceMD

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there can be fat in-between the different layers of abdominal muscles. but more often there is a layer right on on the surface. unfortunately it can be one of the last areas of fat that is utilized for energy during a course of diet and exercise and conversely one of the first areas to where "extra" energy is stored. here's the rub: you don't lose any individual adipose cells. you only shrink them by eventually burning the lipids stored inside of them. so sometimes its extremely difficult to get rid of that "potbelly" because those fat cells are so easily/rapidly filled up with lipids, and the last ones to be burned. thats the one reason to get liposuction: you permanently take out the offending cells.
Originally Posted by oceans11
This is going to sound so bizarre but I know I'll get some straight up answers on SF. I'm 41 now & I like to eat but have never really had to work out to keep the potbelly from appearing up until around 38 years of age. When I tighten my stomach I don't feel much fat around my stomach. There's some of course but not what I would think would be there when I look in the mirror (side view) & see that "pot"!! Do we have fat underneath the stomach muscles as well? What gives the "potbelly" the most portruding effect? Weird question I know but I just don't get it.
 

Liberty Ship

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Sounds like metabolic syndrome. Go on the South Beach diet.
 

oceans11

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Thanks for the info guys. I appreciate it. It looks like there's really no substitute for a good diet & normal exercise but just more of it as we get older.
 

Sunnydale

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Probably what you have is visceral fat. It is considered the more dangerous fat to store. I suppose the good news is if it is visceral this tends to be the easiest fat to loose from what I've read. One doctor likes to call it wheat belly, as many of his patients have lost their pot belly after avoiding wheat. Let go of my love handles http://www.heartscanblog.org/2010/09...e-handles.html An excerpt from the article:
When is fat not just fat? When it's visceral fat. Visceral fat is the fat that infiltrates the intestinal lining, the liver, kidneys, even your heart. It's the stuff of love handles, the flabby fat that hangs over your belt, or what I call "wheat belly." Unlike visceral fat, the fat in your thighs or bottom is metabolically quiescent. Thigh and bottom fat may prevent you from fitting into your "skinny jeans," but its mainly a passive repository for excess calories. Visceral fat, on the other hand, is metabolically active. It produces large quantities of inflammatory signals ("cytokines"), such as various interleukins, leptin, and tumor necrosis factor, that can trigger inflammatory responses in other parts of the body. Visceral fat also oddly fails to produce the protective cytokine, adiponectin, that protects us from diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. Visceral fat also allows free ***** acids to leave and enter fat cells, resulting in a flood of ***** acids and triglycerides (= 3 ***** acids on a glycerol "backbone") in the bloodstream. This worsens insulin responses ("insulin resistance") and contributes to ***** liver. The situation is worsened when the very powerful process of de novo lipogenesis is triggered, the liver's conversion of sugar to triglycerides. Visceral fat is also itself inflamed. Biopsies of visceral fat show plenty of inflammatory white blood cells (macrophages) infiltrating its structure. So what causes visceral fat? Anything that triggers abnormal increases in blood glucose, followed by insulin, will cause visceral fat to grow.
 

AChekhovGun

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Some pretty good info in this thread.

The only thing that I will add (that it seems you are aware) is that it is impossible to "spot-reduce" fat by targeting a specific area.

Strict diet and exercise will solve your problem over time (but honestly, most people have some sort of potbelly, just depends on to what degree).
 

jhcam8

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Originally Posted by sho'nuff
lot of pot bellies are due to a weak transverse abdominals cage that surrounds your inner organs there. core muscles. do a lot of suction/vacuum abdominal exercises daily and you can get rid of some pot belly eventually.

And as you age your organs, along with everything else, droop and sag, thereby contributing to pot belly syndrome.
 

997CTSurg

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There can be a tremendous amount of intra-abdominal fat.
You can lose that fat the same way you lose any other.....by taking in fewer calories than you expend.
 

Nicola

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The problem is some body types store fat around the belly. Bigger problem is it's a health issue.

You'll see guys that are by the weight scale not overweight with a belly. Worse then being overall overweight and with no belly.
 

Waistcoat

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I've always had a bit of fat around my stomach, despite being really well toned and muscular everywhere else. I've managed to get rid of that stubborn fat by sticking to the primal blueprint and not cheating so much, more importantly since I've started doing some intermittent fasting I've found that weight much easier to keep off.
 

sonlegoman

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There's a layer of subcutaneous fat but I think the a contributing factor of a potbelly is the lack of tone holding the intestines. Also, surrounding the intestines is mesenteric fat. And tons of it. I think the majority of the bulge is mesenteric fat.

More cardio. And watch the diet.
 

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