Does anyone know about Visceral Fat?

[merlinpass]

I've been losing some weight and all my data is going in the right direction, weight, sub fat, BMI and fat percentage.

However - my visceral fat started and has remained at 13.

Why isn't it budging?

Is this something to be concerned about?

How can I reduce this type of fat?

Thanks for anyone in the know that can offer some insight.

I think it’s fat that is stored around your organs rather than under your skin (subcutaneous fat).

Thank you.

I guess the kind that would contribute to heart attacks on that basis.

Hoping someone may be able to advise about how you go about reducing this kind of fat.

I think it's likely to be the usual

Eat healthy
Drink water
Exercise
Sleep

But that IS what I have been doing and all the other numbers are coming down but not this.

How are you measuring it?

Yes the answer is diet and exercise

It comes up as 13 on my scales as a score.

I also record mine from my scales and it rarely changes despite my Body Fat and Weight changing so I think you just need to be patient and keep doing what is working for you. For instance at two weights half a stone apart I'll have the same Visceral Fat measurement.

From what I remember the advice for reducing it is to do at least 30 mins cardio everyday and weight training and eat healthily (so just the usual sort of advice really).

I wouldn't put much faith in that really the scales aren't that accurate.

If all your other stats are improving then your visceral fat will be as well.

I think I have an answer to this. I did Fast800 in March this year when my visceral fat was 5 and its now 4. I didn't have much weight to lose. It was 6 back in 2019 and I did a stint of Fast800 in 2022 but didn't log it then.

Fast800 is a calorie restricted diet of 800 cals, that includes at least 40% of calories from fat, but the key thing is that it puts you into ketosis. Ketosis is where the body uses fat stores as its energy source, rather than sugars from your last meal (as the food is very low in its insulin impact). Another way to achieve ketosis is fasting overnight. After a few hours the body starts to use glycogen stored in muscles and the liver and after about 10 hours those run out so it switches to fat, so if you fast for 12 hours you will burn fat stores for a couple of hours.

EXERCISE
People can be slender & still have high visceral fat, look up TOFIs.
You need a non-sedentary lifestyle, or starvation diet, to keep fat off your organs.