Is Your Belly Too Fat - Find Out How Big Is Too Big

You have long been told that excess weight leads to health problems but even more significant to your health is how that fat is distributed on your body.

Researchers who followed 360,000 people for 10 years found that having too much belly fat doubled the person's risk of dying prematurely.

And this risk increased with belly fat, whether the person was overweight or within a normal weight range.

So how do you know if your belly is too fat and becoming a health risk? The answer can be found not by stepping on the scale but rather by pulling out your measuring tape.

How much you weigh is not as strong of a factor as how big your belly is. To determine if your belly is too fat measure your waist circumference. Simply place a tape measure around your waist at a level one inch above your belly button. A waist measurement of 40 inches in men and 35 inches in women puts you in the higher risk category.

Men and women with waist measurements above 40 and 35 inches respectively have nearly double the risk of premature death as men and women with smaller diameter waists.

Researchers also found that risk increased with every 2-inch increase in waist measurement. And the risk increase was significant with close to a 17% increase in death in men and a 13% increase in women.

With the right combination of diet and exercise along with the right mindset belly fat can be reduced, reducing the risk of premature death. The solution doesn't have to be hard but you must work to make weight loss fit into your lifestyle. Short-term weight loss programs will not rid your body of the deep belly fat that is called visceral fat. Visceral means organs so this fat is deep and wrapped around your abdominal organs making in more dangerous than other fat found below the skin.

This type of deep belly fat responds best to long-term weight loss; in order to achieve this you must not only change your diet and exercise but also your mindset when it comes to food, eating and moving your body. To do this you need to develop a strong desire to lose weight, believe that long-term weight loss is possible, commit to a plan and be flexible enough to see that plan through. Make sure that you find a weight loss program that addresses your mindset as well as proper eating and exercise advice.

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