The difference between fat and visceral fat

Good morning,

I hope you had a great weekend. Mine didn’t start well.

My mum called me to update me on some sad news regarding a distant relative, she was 60 years old. After that, I couldn’t stop thinking how young that person was and that 60 was only 24 years away for me.

I did not touch my phone for the vast majority of the weekend and for the first time in a long time I spent hours just watching animal documentaries with my daughter. It turned out to be one of the best weekends of my life, and we didn’t do anything special.

On Sunday, I wrote a viral post about how six groups of people spend time over the course of their lives and why it's important for people to see these six graphs at least once in their lifetime.

Let’s dive into today’s topic, visceral fat, how dangerous it is and how to get rid of it

Subcutaneous fat is the fat layer between your skin and the muscle fascia.  If you can't see your abs, it's often because of too much fat covering them.

Visceral fat is the fat stored around your vital organs, beneath the muscle fascia.

Total body fat includes both subcutaneous and visceral fat. Subcutaneous fat is where the body prefers to store excess energy. But there's a limit to how much energy each person can store, like a bathtub filling up.

When you consume more energy than your body needs, the excess spills over. This overflow can go into visceral fat, surrounding organs like the heart and pancreas.

_{This type of fat is particularly harmful and can lead to a myriad of health issues like insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes}

There are two primary methods for fat reduction, but only one contributes to longevity.

1. Decrease the overall number of fat cells

2. Decrease the size of existing fat cells

The former, liposuction, is a cosmetic procedure. The latter not only offers cosmetic advantages, but also significantly enhances health and lifespan.

Making this simple to understand for general population

Imagine an office building with 1,000 employees. To understand if the number of people is increasing or decreasing, we focus on the main entrance and exit to understand the net increase or decrease.

If more people are hired and constantly entering, management may consider expanding the office or borrowing space from nearby buildings.

We want to reduce the office size. If it expands, we tend to fill it, assuming we're understaffed. Similarly, when we consistently overeat, our capacity to store fat expands, signaled by hormones acting like floor managers. Expanding is easier than downsizing, so sustainable fat loss is crucial.

In a company, the hiring and firing has a process, a structure, right? If we want to make our office smaller and reduce body fat (especially visceral fat) there is a process we must follow too.

The foundation-recomposition-momentum

_{Skip one phase, and you will only be able to lose fat for X amount of days/weeks}

One of the main reasons why fat loss journeys fail for people is not being able to stick to it for long enough. Hormones get in the way, and the process seems unbearable.

How to keep hormones on your side, not against you?

By regulating the 3 foundational elements of the building structure:

1. Cortisol regulation (stress and sleep management)

2. Metabolism (adequate protein and fat intake)

3. Energy levels (insulin control). This is what we go through during the beginning of the journey at The Lean Executive

Below are the numbers behind the process:

1. 7 hours of sleep using the 3-2-1 evening routine

2. 1.6g of protein per kg of body weight split into 3 meals over a 10-hour eating window. (Avoid having one or two meals per day)

3. Carb backloading mechanism (delay of carbohydrate) for insulin and ghrelin (hunger hormone) regulation

Simple (not easy). A push-up is simple, but not easy if I ask you to do 100 without rest. The same applies here.

Know someone who might benefit from my weekly insights? Please use the link below, and when you're ready, here are two ways I can help:

1. The Lean Executive: If you're a C-suite executive, senior executive, or entrepreneur, inquire about 1-1 coaching here. 

2. Want to make significant improvements but not ready for a 1-1 commitment yet? I've got you covered. Access the first two modules of The Lean Executive Method here for free.

Hope you have a great week ahead!

Diego Carrete

Chief Executive Officer @ FIT LIFE FZCO

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