Metabolic and Mental Health
Here’s Why Our Midsections Grow As We Age and How to Shrink Them in Seven Steps
I outline a holistic approach to lowering visceral fat sustainably, learning from weight management principles, and leveraging healthy lifestyle habits
This article explains seven known reasons for accumulating excessive visceral fat in the abdominal area. In addition, it offers practical solutions to these problems using healthy lifestyle habits holistically, providing takeaways.
Inspiration for the Story
Some readers (both male and female) mention that whatever they do, they cannot stop the growth of their bellies, especially after certain ages.
The most interesting statement is that they eat less and exercise more, as advised by their health consultants, but it does not work for them.
In my opinion, even though this advice is valid in principle, it is meaningless and unhelpful in reality for two reasons. Let me illustrate with two examples.
The first reason is that “to eat less” is not quantifiable. If a man is consuming ten thousand calories and reducing it to nine thousand, he is eating less. It is the same problem with exercising more.
Again if a woman is exercising for only five minutes and increase it to ten minutes, she is expanding the time. So neither eating less nor exercising more can make any sense in this context.
This example clarifies my point about how fewer and more are useless measures in real life. Therefore, I go into the specifics of what really makes a difference in belly growth and shrinkage.
Furthermore, in reality, fat loss is beyond eating less and moving more actions. There are more factors and variables, such as hormones, toxins, stress, inflammation, and emotions. I look at the issue from seven different angles.
Through my experience, observations, and reviews, I identified key reasons why our bellies grow as we age. Thus, I provide practical solutions on how to shrink them.
These solutions are not prescriptive and not health advice. They are principle-oriented solutions that might create awareness for customization.
I notice that those who use this holistic approach, including myself, achieve a trimmed body even after middle age, even if fat loss becomes more challenging as we age.
A Brief Introduction to Abdominal Growth
Belly growth happens for two physical reasons. The first one is visceral fat accumulation. The second one is bloating, causing stomach distension. There are different reasons for each.
My focus in this story is lowering visceral fat using a seven-pronged holistic approach contributing to physical, neurological, and mental health.
I documented bloating and stomach distension in another article titled Six Tips to Eliminate Bloating and Maintain an Attractive Physique.
The following seven approaches can also contribute to addressing the bloating problem to some extent.
Reason 1: Consuming More Calories than Spending
Problems
It is a physical rule that when we consume excessive calories and don’t use them timely, the body turns excess calories into fat molecules and saves them in our fat stores, usually in the abdominal area.
More calories, if not used, make the belly bigger and lead to metabolic disorders such as obesity, metabolic syndrome, fatty liver disease, type II diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancers, and neurodegenerative disorders.
Solutions
There are two viable solutions to address this problem.
The first one is not to consume more calories than our metabolic rate can handle. The second one is to burn excess calories by using exercise.
In addition, eating our food in a specific window enables the body to tap into fat stores during the fast window. It is known as intermittent fasting, time-restricted eating, or fast-mimicking diets.
However, calories are only one factor in weight gain or loss. As mentioned before, Fat Loss Has Nothing to Do with Calories.
The more critical factor is hormonal balance, which I will cover in the next section. In my experience and reviews, hormonal imbalance as we age is the most critical reason for our midsection to grow.
Reason 2: Hormonal Imbalance
Problems
Various hormones are critical in fat metabolism, mobilization, burning, and storage. The most common one is insulin and cortisol. Hormonal imbalance causes fat gain and the belly to grow gradually.
In addition, our metabolism slows as we get older.
Solutions
A viable solution is to balance our hormones, as I explained in an article titled Hormonal Intelligence: Sharpen It to Achieve Optimal Health.
As insulin is the storage hormone, it plays a critical role in fat accumulation. More specifically, insulin distributes blood glucose to muscle and fat cells. If our muscles cannot accept the sugar, then insulin sends them to the fat stores.
The solution is to lower blood glucose by reducing excess calories, mainly from refined carbs, preventing insulin resistance, and making the body insulin sensitive, as I explained in this article titled Three Tips to Eliminate Insulin Resistance and Shrink Waistline.
Another critical hormone is cortisol. When the cortisol levels get elevated for a prolonged time, the body cannot utilize fat stores using glucose as the main energy. Therefore, it is essential to optimize the cortisol hormone, as I documented in this story titled Optimize Cortisol to Melt Belly Fat and Keep Lean Muscles with Three Tips.
The next critical hormone is leptin. It is the satiety hormone signaling our brain to stop eating. If this hormone does not function, we keep eating, exceeding the calories our bodies need. I also explained this hormone in an article titled Make the Body Leptin-Sensitive to Lose Visceral Fat With a Simple Metabolic Shift.
Even though there are several more hormones related to fat metabolism, the next critical one is glucagon, which plays an opposite role to insulin. I documented my findings on this hormone in an article titled Here’s Why Understanding the Role of Glucagon Is Vital for Type II Diabetes.
Reason 3: Lack of Restorative Sleep
Problems
Lack of restorative sleep cause elevated cortisol and insulin resistance. Therefore it leads to obesity, the growth of fat cells, accumulation of toxins in the body, and chronic inflammation.
Solutions
Even though the number of sleep hour vary from person to person, the critical point is to get restorative sleep each night. Sleep deprivation adversely affects our metabolic and stress hormones.
Three major phases of sleep, such as rem, deep, and light sleep, are critical in particular amounts for recovery, memory forming, and rejuvenation.
The key point is to create sleep hygiene and stick to a routine to get restorative sleep daily. In addition, taking breaks and resting the body also reduces stress and contributes to sleep quality.
If sleep problems are at a pathological level, then it is necessary to obtain support from qualified healthcare professionals such as sleep specialists.
I documented my sleep improvement protocols in an article titled Here’s How I Corrected My Sleep Issues in 7 Steps and Reaped Many Health Benefits.
In addition, I posted inspiring stories of two friends linked below.
Here’s How a 37 Years Old Female Body Builder Cured Insomnia.
Reason 4: Sedentary Life
Problems
The body needs movement every day for various purposes.
So, lack of exercise can lead to an imbalance of hormones and cause serious health issues in the long run.
While the most common benefit looks like spending excess calories, exercise has more significant benefits for the body to keep homeostasis.
Solutions
Regular exercise is essential for everyone, even though the amount and intensity vary from person to person.
The key point is making exercise a routine by choosing joyful workouts that we can enjoy and see as hobbies.
Exercise can assist in lowering excess calories, providing oxygen to cells, improving blood flow, and activating the lymphatic system to get rid of toxins. In addition, exercise reduces stress and inflammation, which I will touch on in the next section.
Reason 5: Chronic Stress and Inflammation
Problems
Chronic stress and chronic inflammation adversely affect our metabolism and might cause visceral fat accumulation and lead to metabolic and mental health disorders if not addressed timely.
Solutions
The ways to reduce stress can also contribute to lowering inflammation.
Restorative sleep is the most critical one to address the accumulation of stress and inflammation. Then good nutrition and exercise come next.
Refraining from food upsetting and stressing the digestive system, abstaining from toxins and pathogens, moving the body regularly, and resting can significantly lower stress and inflammation.
In addition, leveraging the power of thermogenesis and ketosis are effective ways to deal with chronic stress and inflammation, in my experience.
I have written many articles about chronic stress, such as this one. In addition, I documented my experience and findings on chronic stress in an article titled Here Is How I Defeated Chronic Inflammation via 9 Lifestyle Habits.
Reason 6: Excessive Toxins and Pathogens
Problems
Most toxins are kept in our fat stores. The more visceral fat we gain, our bodies can hold more toxins. These toxins stress the body and increase inflammation. Pathogens also break the homeostasis of the body, putting it in a metabolically disadvantaged position.
Solutions
Refraining from toxins and pathogens is an excellent approach. However, entirely eliminating toxins is impossible. We get them from our environment via food, drinks, air, and even dermally.
There are numerous solutions to deal with toxins and pathogens. One of the effective ways is to maintain hygiene at home and in other environments. In addition, improving our defense system, especially the immune system, is an excellent way.
We can also get rid of toxins by activating the lymphatic system. For example, I use trampoline, calisthenics, cold showers, and dry saunas to activate my lymphatic system daily.
However, the most sustainable way is to initiate the body’s self-healing mechanism, such as autophagy and mitophagy, cleaning the body’s biological toxins, damaged proteins, and other harmful materials.
I documented my experiences with autophagy and mitophagy in the following two articles.
What Happened When I Experimentally Initiated Autophagy Decades Ago.
How I Initiate Mitophagy and Make My Mitochondria Denser in 7 Steps.
Reason 7: Emotional Traumas
Problems
I left this to the, and as emotional traumas are a less spoken aspect of fat gain, but it is as impactful as the other items.
Emotional traumas can break the balance of the body, cause stress at the genetic level, and confuse our hormones and neurotransmitters.
Solutions
Unresolved childhood traumas are known causes of severe addictions, including emotional and binge eating. These decisions come from the subconscious mind because of toxic emotions like guilt or feeling worthless cemented in the psyche.
A great solution is to seek help from qualified psychotherapists who could help us resolve traumas effectively and sustainably.
If not possible, self-therapy using mindfulness techniques such as meditation, visualization, journaling, therapeutic writing, self-talk, and cognitive behavioral therapy can be helpful.
This is a broad topic and not possible to cover in a section. Thus, I plan to write a detailed article about it in the future. In the meantime, you might check this well-presented and insightful TED talk by Tricia Nelson titled Emotional Eating: What if Weight Loss Isn’t about the Food?
Conclusions and Takeaways
The reasons for fat accumulation are well-known and documented in the body of knowledge. However, some causes are highly complex and require multiple approaches and personalized solutions.
In this article, I highlighted the key reasons to cause fat accumulation, especially in the abdominal area. I also provided principle-based solutions anyone can customize.
I excluded medical conditions covering underlying health conditions. For these complex situations, the viable approach is to seek timely guidance and support from qualified healthcare professionals specializing in holistic health, not just addressing the symptoms with medication.
Eating less and exercising more can be helpful principles initially. However, the sustainable solution is not less or more of any activity but the optimal amount based on our needs.
For example, we need to lower excessive visceral fat by reducing calories. However, we can’t live by lowering calories all the time. Therefore, we need more sustainable solutions to maintain a healthy weight throughout our lives to live happy and satisfactory life.
Rather than a constant diet, we need to focus on nutritional food with the right amount of energy for the body’s needs. In addition, we need to find ways to deal with stress and inflammation and balance our hormones.
More importantly, we need to address emotional traumas, which might be the more significant part of the metaphorical iceberg for metabolic disorders.
I excluded severe cases in my article. However, there are medical options such as personalized medication or surgery for severe conditions with underlying health issues. Therefore, timely support from qualified professionals is necessary.
I hope these seven points can give you valuable perspectives to customize your lifestyle habits based on your goals and needs.
I wrote many articles about eliminating visceral fat and keeping lean muscles as we age. I also wrote about Seven Mistakes to Avoid When Losing Fat.
In addition, I posted numerous case studies reflecting on success stories from my circles compiled in a collection titled Here Are Insightful Life Lessons from My Personal Stories.
Let’s take this information and use it to make a meaningful difference in our lives and those we care about. Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
As a new reader, you might check my holistic health and well-being stories reflecting on my reviews, observations, and decades of sensible experiments. I write about health as it matters. I believe health is all about homeostasis.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
As a new reader, please check my holistic health and well-being stories reflecting my reviews, observations, and decades of experiments optimizing my hormones and neurotransmitters. I write about health as it matters. I believe health is all about homeostasis.
ALS, Metabolic Syndrome, Type II Diabetes, Fatty Liver Disease, Heart Disease, Strokes, Obesity, Liver Cancer, Autoimmune Disorders, Homocysteine, Lungs Health, Pancreas Health, Kidneys Health, NCDs, Infectious Diseases, Brain Health, Dementia, Depression, Brain Atrophy, Neonatal Disorders, Skin Health, Dental Health, Bone Health, Leaky Gut, Leaky Brain, Brain Fog, Chronic Inflammation, Insulin Resistance, Elevated Cortisol, Leptin Resistance, Anabolic Resistance, Cholesterol, High Triglycerides, Metabolic Disorders, Gastrointestinal Disorders, Thyroid Disorders, Anemia, Dysautonomia, cardiac output, and urinary track disorders.
I also wrote about valuable nutrients. Here are the links for easy access:
Lutein/Zeaxanthin, Phosphatidylserine, Boron, Urolithin, taurine, citrulline malate, biotin, lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ10, PQQ, NADH, TMG, creatine, choline, digestive enzymes, magnesium, zinc, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine, and other nutrients.
Disclaimer: My posts do not include professional or health advice. I only document my reviews, observations, experience, and perspectives to provide information and create awareness.
As part of my creative non-fiction writing goals, I’d like to share a few stories that might warm our hearts with a bit of humor into weighty topics.
Sample Humorous Stories
Finally, After Burning Her House, Georgia Found Enlightenment
Hilarious Tips to Prevent Brain Atrophy and Keep the Gray Matter Giggling
8 Psychological Points I Had to Unlearn and Relearn the Opposite
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