Belly Fat and Men

Not only are men from Mars and women from Venus, but the two put on excess weight differently. Women are more prone to add weight to their hips while men are more likely to put weight on in the mid section, in the form of belly fat. Studies are showing that fully two thirds of men are carrying excess weight in the form of spare tires, love handles, beer guts or a pot belly. But regardless of what you call it, the health concerns are growing.

Carrying excess weight is an unhealthy proposition for anybody. The factors for diseases like type II diabetes, stroke, heart disease and a host of others increase as the body increases its weight. It’s enough of a concern that doctors routinely are advising their patients to loose weight. Left unchecked, weight can become the primary driver behind poor health, and there is no more obvious indicator of weight gain in men than belly fat.

Fat and Our Body

No one will argue that the body needs a certain amount of fat. It’s when the fat is too much for our frame that problems begin to occur. Belly fat in men begins when the caloric intake of food exceeds the body’s ability to burn the calories off. These excess calories are converted to fat and stored until the body needs the energy. The problem that most of our body’s run into is that the time for the fats use never comes.

It’s normal for the human body’s metabolism to slow down as we age. As our metabolism slows, our body needs fewer calories to sustain the daily rigors of life. For most of us, this slow down in our metabolism is accompanied with a general slow down in our life activities. We simply are not as active as when we were young. The combination of the slow downs, coupled with poor eating habits causes our body’s to make more and more fat. In men, that fat goes to belly fat.

How Much is Too Much?

Men need awareness of their fat content. A good measure is simply your waist size. While there are other good measures, lie the BMI or body mass index and complicated procedures to determine how much fat you have, the fact is, you know when you weigh too much.

Having belly fat is not unique; there is a lot of belly fat out there. But losing belly fat is something that every man should take seriously for his ongoing health.