Mocktail Minutes

Understanding Visceral Fat

• Mocktail Minutes • Episode 131

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Last week we talked about the ideal target for body fat. This week we are talking about visceral fat (the not so healthy kind of fat) and how to reduce it to improve metabolic health.


If you have questions, or topics that you want to hear about, head over to our Instagrams https://www.instagram.com/bayleethedietitian/ or https://www.instagram.com/brianna.dietitian/ and send us a DM! You can also follow the podcast https://www.instagram.com/mocktailminutes/


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Baylee:

Hello everyone. Welcome back to this week's episode of Mocktail Mi. This is Bailey.

Brianna:

And this is Brianna.

Baylee:

This week I am drinking, it's a balloon Superfood latte. I think it's what it's called. Not B-L-O-O-M. B-L-U-M-E.

Brianna:

Oh.

Baylee:

But good ingredients. It's not bad. It's not. It's supposed to be kind of like a hot chocolate. It's not super sweet. So like they actually put like, Hey, you probably wanna sweeten this. There's like coconut sugar in it. So I did that and then I added just a little bit of honey. Not bad.

Brianna:

It's like for like a gut, little gut friendly.

Baylee:

I don't think it's like a gut. It's not really promoted for

Brianna:

Oh, I see. No, it's a superfood latte.

Baylee:

Yeah.

Brianna:

They have other ones that are like gut belly balance.

Baylee:

Yes. So yeah, not the B-L-O-O-M. The B-L-U-M-E and I, it was the mint chocolate one. That's what I did.

Brianna:

how does it taste? Because it has spirulina in it.

Baylee:

Yeah. It's actually not bad. It's a little earthy, but like once I added honey, it's pretty good.

Brianna:

Okay. Okay.

Baylee:

And it'd still be less sugar than like regular hot chocolate.

Brianna:

Yeah, I'll have to try it. It's coming into like the cold season, you know?

Baylee:

Yeah, that's why I got it. But now we're back to like 60, 70 degrees all of a sudden in Missouri.

Brianna:

it tricked you. I have just the electrolyte powder, plus the mango flavor.

Baylee:

Oh, yeah,

Brianna:

That's just my go-to. But again, it just doesn't feel very weather appropriate.

Baylee:

yeah,

Brianna:

Mm-hmm.

Baylee:

yeah. I walked out, I was like, I was like, oh, it's nice out The sun is out like.

Brianna:

Yeah.

Baylee:

We gotta finish our nice weather things before it gets real Missouri winter.

Brianna:

Real winter. Yeah. Yeah. I don't

Baylee:

Yeah. We're, we're still in the, in-between right now.

Brianna:

Yeah. I like sixties.

Baylee:

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Not too bad.

Brianna:

same.

Baylee:

Today we are talking about visceral fat. So last week we talked about just like fat in general. We talked about this role. But we're gonna expand on that a little bit more today. So visceral fat. This isn't the fat that you can like pinch or that you're like looking at in the mirror. It's the fat that's gonna be around your organs that this is gonna drive inflammation, and it kind of like silently messes with your hormones, your energy, and just overall health. So you could have a normal VMI and still have high levels of visceral, visceral fat. So that's what sometimes is referred to as like skinny fat.

Brianna:

And this is the fat that's gonna like really dictate like, are you metabolically healthy? Right? Like, oh, I'm at a healthy body weight and my BMI is good, but. Metabolically are healthy'cause this is gonna really impact it. So we're gonna kind of talk about like what visceral fat is, why it's metabolically so dangerous, how to know if you have too much, and then how to kind of reverse it through nutrition, exercise, lifestyle, stress, regulation, all those good things.

Baylee:

So visceral. Is gonna be stored kind of deeper in your abdominals. It's gonna be around your organs, like I mentioned, so like your liver, your pancreas, your intestines, and our other fat is a subcutaneous, subcutaneous fat, and they, they just behave differently. So visceral fat, it's metabolically active, meaning it's not just kind of like sitting and hanging out. It releases inflammatory molecules, hormones, free fatty acids directly into your liver and bloodstream. This can kind of create a little bit of a chain reaction such as insulin resistance, higher triglycerides, elevated cortisol, and can even increase your risk for heart disease. Fatty liver, brain fog, it's. Kind of like this fat is talking to your organs, but the conversation isn't going so great. And it's not that all visceral fat is bad, we actually do need some because it's gonna give you some cushioning around your organs and it's gonna help your hormones function. But when we have too much, it's kind of like our body's a little bit on fire everywhere. You might not see it. So you'll feel it through your energy, your hunger cues, your mood, your sleep, and how your body even like responds to food.

Brianna:

Yeah. Yeah. So how, how it shows up. There's a few like telltale signs that you can get without getting like fancy testing. So these are things that you can kind of like pay attention to if you are seeing that some of these are popping up. You likely have increased visceral fat. So Bailey said you sore fat mostly in your midsection. So this is especially like true if you kind of like are a lean person in your limbs, but you kind of just feel like your midsection is not very lean. So in your midsection, your waist circumference is more than 35 inches for women or 40 for men. That's like. That's one that we don't really talk about a lot, but that's a good indicator of like, is your abdominal circumference kind of like where it needs to be for health? This stubborn belly fat, which I feel like I hear women talk about this a lot. So this stubborn belly fat, that's like not responding to like a normal diet change or calorie deficit or you are just doing as much cardio as you want and it's still there. And then especially if you're experiencing like. Energy crashes, cravings, poor blood sugar control, so like labs that could be elevated would be, triglycerides are a big one. Low HDL, which is your good, your good cholesterol, and then your fasting glucose kind of keeps creeping above 90. It's just kind of like habitually a little bit high. That kind of means like that's like a check engine light. I feel like all of those things are like, okay, my visceral fat is probably high.

Baylee:

And this can build up for a couple reasons. It could be to, of course, to blood sugar spike and crashes. Again, we come back to blood sugar all the time because it has so much to do with everything and having constant highs and lows and insulin will drive the body to store more fat around your organ. So fine carbs, sugary drinks, or even healthy snacks. Eaten without good balance can cause you to kind of be up and down throughout the day. Could be chronic stress. So that elevated cortisol telling your body to go in protection mode and the easiest place to store kind of that emergency energy is gonna be your belly. Lack of sleep, just one night of poor sleep increases your insulin resistance up to like 30%. So chronic deprivation shifts when your body stores fat from the subcutaneous to the visceral. So.

Brianna:

Mm-hmm.

Baylee:

That is another thing, like sleep is often so overlooked. It's not that we're just gonna sleep when we're dead, like you need sleep. We've had a whole episode talking about sleep before, so that's gonna be important. So that way we're reducing and insulin resistance, and we're helping to decide where our body's gonna store fat. Low muscle mass. So the less muscle you have, the less glucose being burned and the more fat that's gonna be stored around the midsection. And then alcohol and processed food. So alcohol goes straight to your liver and contributes to a fatty liver, which is kind of like a visceral fat red flag going on there. So those are kind of like the top hitters as to how, why, and how does visceral fat increase.

Brianna:

Yeah, so how to reduce visceral fat, because the thing is, is. You absolutely can change it and lifestyle change your, that visceral fat is highly responsive to lifestyle change, so you can't spot reduce fat. So anything that's like do a bunch of crunches, all this, like that's not gonna really do it for you. But you can create kind of this environment in your body that helps you burn that visceral fat first. So number one is going to be balance your blood sugar. This is very important. So even starting your meals with like protein and fiber and then having your carbs. Always pairing your carbs with a fat or protein, not grazing all day. So eating intentional meals that are balanced. You don't, you just wanna eliminate that insulin floating around all day.'cause it's a storage hormone. And if you already have high visceral fat, that's just like a recipe for disaster. Second, lift, heavy and move. More often. So strength training increases insulin sensitivity. It also gives a place for that glucose to go that's not gonna be your fat. So that's helpful. Walking after meals, this is especially true if all of these are happening and your A1C is high. Walking after your meals is gonna directly lower your blood sugar in the moment. It's gonna help you out. And then. Things like hit, so strategic cardio, I would say like true sprint style. Hi, that's only a few minutes. Maybe once or twice a week. Super helpful. Sleep. You literally can't, these first three things. I mean, honestly, all of'em, but if you're gonna focus on it, these first three things, sleep, you have to get seven to nine hours. It's not an option. So you need it. It's like metabolic medicine. Create a good sleep routine. Just knowing that even for someone that doesn't have high visceral fat or doesn't have any blood sugar dysregulation, less than seven hours of sleep is gonna make you more insulin resistant the next day. It's not something you wanna be doing if you're already struggling with this. Reducing alcohol and ultra processed foods. So even like moderate drinking, so even that like, oh, I'm only drinking one drink a day. Not good. So drinking can double visceral fat accumulation, and that's gonna be the first place that you store it when you drink. This is. This is why a lot of people get fatty liver disease when they drink blood alcohol. And then swapping the convenient foods for like real foods. So I'm actually eating like lean proteins. I'm eating color, I'm doing fruits and vegetables. I'm having healthy fat things that actually make you feel full and then manage stress.'cause again, that cortisol. So walking, breathing, journaling, praying, meditating, whatever it is that kind of fills your cup, helps you feel less stress. We're doing it because your body will not burn fat if it thinks you're in danger. If you are having a fire 24 7 in your body, your body's first reaction is not gonna be like, oh, let's ignore that and like lose weight. It's gonna go like, we're on fire, help us, and it's just gonna be this chronic inflammation.

Baylee:

And when we're thinking about, because you mentioned that visceral fat is highly responsive, so it's often the first type of fat to decrease when you make. The correct changes, and I mean, there's studies that even show that visceral fat can reduce even just after four weeks of consistent nutrition and movement. And I like to emphasize like four weeks of consistency. Not, Hey, I did it last week. I fell off this week. Why did I see results?

Brianna:

Right.

Baylee:

Consistency, consistency, consistency. More than just a week like you need. Steady consistency, and you might not see huge scale changes in this time, but waist, circumferences and energy will improve fast. And I mean, average decrease like 10 to 20% reduction in visceral fat volume within the first month can happen with a proper nutrition, exercise, sleep, and even kind of like thinking like eight to 12 weeks. This is where deeper metabolic changes can happen. So like fasting insulin and triglycerides start dropping. Sleep and stress hormone stabilize, you'll kind of notice that. More improved mood, mental clarity, just appetite regulation overall. So most people can reduce the visceral fat by 25 to 40% within three months.

Brianna:

It's a lot.

Baylee:

Again, with the consistency piece though, it's not gonna happen if you're just on and off all the time. And then, I mean, even looking more long term like three, six plus months, your visceral to subcutaneous fat ratio is gonna start to shift, meaning your body kind of starts to store more fat under the skin, which is less harmful rather than around your organs. So then lower A1C higher HDL, which is your good cholesterol your higher HDL to triglycerides ratio. Better fasting, glucose and insulin. So at this stage, you've kind of built a good metabolic momentum. The your body's new baseline is healthier. And so, I mean, overall data points you can track. We've mentioned some. So waist circum, comforts, this is the easiest marker. Visceral fats. So women ideally under 35 inches, men under 40 inches. Even a one to two inch reduction actually reflects significant. Visceral fat loss your waist to height ratio, it can be actually a better predictor sometimes of metabolic health. And BMI is what we're seeing. So basically you just take your waist divided by your height. The idea is to keep it under 0.5. So if you are five five, let's say you're 65 inches tall, your waist should be under 32.5 inches.

Brianna:

Mm-hmm.

Baylee:

General rule of thumb. And then we've talked about the Dexter and body, so you can kind of look here at what does this look like on these different scans to look a little bit deeper. Then your blood markers with glucose insulin, triglycerides, H-D-L-C-R-P could even be a good one to check in on inflammation.

Brianna:

Yeah,

Baylee:

Yeah, I would say those are main things that you could kind of use as markers as to, okay, how am I improving?

Brianna:

and this is, if you're someone who does have high visceral fat, this is where I encourage you not to get discouraged.'cause I've had a couple people who've like, okay, I got a dexa. And like, okay, I had a small change like in my, you know, body fat percentage, muscle, whatever, but their visceral fat has like significantly changed. This is really the foundation that you need. To have that long-term success because with that decrease in visceral fat, like Bailey said, you're having better blood sugar regulation. Insulin is floating around a lot less, so you don't have that inflammation that's causing like more of an issue. With cortisol, you feel better. The other thing too is you start to listen to leptin, your hunger and your fullness hormones, leptin and graylin a lot better. Everything just starts to work better, and that over time is really like that wheel that gets everything going and helps you build that momentum. You literally can't focus on, am I getting healthier? Am I seeing weight loss? And like not worry about that visceral fat first. So it's really what you need. So not getting too discouraged if you're like, well, I don't feel like I look very different, or I don't feel like the scale has gone down that much. Like in, in the big reality, like visceral fat pound wise is not very heavy. Like if you're looking at your weight. So you may not see a big change on the scale, but if you change that visceral fat drastically, you're on a much better path. Like that is the goal, because then eventually everything else is gonna speed up to it, but you're never gonna get to that point. If your visceral fat is still high, so that should be like number one, this is what I'm focusing on.

Baylee:

This one, it's gonna be less about how you look. It's more a reflection on how you feel. So you wanna. Exactly. Yeah. Balance your blood sugar, lift heavy weights, sleep, manage your stress. And when we say manage your stress, not just dissociate it from it, actually do things that are gonna help release your stress and like actually take care of things. You have so much more control then you think you do. And so it's a huge piece. And this isn't about just not losing fat. We're looking at how do you feel metabolically, you're creating an internal environment where your body can just let go of what it's been holding onto. This is where it goes from being a quick fix to being a lifestyle shift that's gonna protect your body for decades. It's not just gonna be the weight you lost for Mexico or whatever. It's,

Brianna:

Yeah, exactly. It's gonna be that long-term good health, weight loss, weight maintenance. It's like looking under the hood, you know? Like who cares what the car looks like on the outside if it's not gonna get you anywhere.

Baylee:

Yeah, there's actually no engine in it.

Brianna:

There's no engine. It looks pretty, it looks great, but like we're doing nothing. So just thinking about it that way, really trying to expand how you're measuring your progress. Especially if you know, hey, I have kind of been metabolically unhealthy. Okay, let me shift to this focus. Yeah,

Baylee:

Yes. So we hope this was helpful to kind of clarify visceral fat. Next week we are actually bringing a guest on here. She is gonna kind of talk about like being a mom, being a full-time worker, taking care of herself. Like all, like how do we do this normal? How do we feel normal and take care of all the things and create a balance. I'm excited to bring her on. That way you guys can get a new perspective and just continue to see, I'm gonna be a normal person, but also like take care of myself.

Brianna:

how do I prioritize myself and also still do all the things that I have to do?

Baylee:

Mm-hmm.

Brianna:

Yeah, it'll be good.

Baylee:

Yes. All right, everyone. Have a great rest of your week and we'll talk to you next week. Bye.

Brianna:

Bye.

Contributor

Baylee

Host
Contributor

Brianna

Host