Fastest Way to Shrink Visceral Fat (Backed by Science)

You can lose a lot of weight and still

be stuck with belly fat. And that's

because abdominal fat isn't just under

your skin. It's also visceral fat that's

packed around your internal organs. So,

it's packed around your stomach and your

liver and your pancreas. And this is the

fat that drives a lot of the chronic

conditions that are slowly killing us

today. So, visceral fat is what drives

diabetes and fatty liver and heart

disease and even cancer. But the good

news is that while visceral fat is

dangerous, it's also the easiest fat to

lose once you know how to target it. So

in this video, I want to show you the

fastest way to specifically target

visceral fat and how to burn it off

quickly. So we're going to go over the

best foods and drinks to incorporate

into your regimen. And then I want to go

over the best exercises that will give

you the biggest bang for the buck. So

let's start with food because what you

eat every day either feeds your visceral

fat or it stars it. And one of the most

powerful weapons against visceral fat

are carotenoidrich foods. And

carotenoids are just natural pigments in

plants. They're what give carrots their

orange color and that's what makes

tomatoes red and that's what gives

spinach that dark green color. But it's

not just the color. Carotenoids are

powerful antioxidants. And that's

important because so much of what causes

visceral fat is energy excess that

eventually leads to inflammation and

disrupted metabolism. So carotenoids

reduce that stress by neutralizing free

radicals or it's these unstable

molecules that just damage cells. And by

removing free radicals, carotenoids help

you stabilize your genes. And

specifically, carotenoids can actually

help turn on genes that burn more fat.

And they actually quiet down genes that

tell your body to store fat. And there

was an interesting study that was a

randomized double blind trial in Japan

that looked at whether carotenoid intake

affects visceral fat. And what they

found was that just eight weeks of

eating carotenoid rich vegetables reduce

visceral fat, especially the group that

was randomized to the high lycopine and

low luteine group, which in that study

consisted of carrots and shabuki

cabbage. But I want to emphasize all

four groups that ate carotener rich

vegetables lowered their visceral fat.

So, how do you get these carotenoids

from your diet? Well, just target your

favorite colorful vegetables. So, things

like carrots and sweet potatoes and bell

peppers and spinach and squash, you name

it. Any colorful vegetable or fruit is

likely to be rich in some type of

carotenoid and it will help you lose

your visceral fat. Now, after

carotenoids, another special compound

that you need to target is kakans. And

these are flavonoid polyphenols which

also act like antioxidants and they

reduce inflammation. Now my favorite way

to get kakans is by drinking green tea.

And you hear it all the time, green tea

burns fat. And it does. And it does so

because it's rich in kakans. These

compounds basically change how your body

handles fat and specifically visceral

fat. And kakans help with fat regulation

in so many different ways. So first

kakans boost your fat oxidation and

energy expenditure. So they stimulate

the nervous system just to burn up more

fat and boost your overall metabolism.

And on top of that kakans also inhibit

fat processing enzymes like lipase. So

they block fat that we eat from being

absorbed in the first place. And the

reason green tea is so powerful is green

tea also contains caffeine which can

work synergistically with kakans to

enhance that fat utilization or fat

burning. And there was a double blind

placebo control randomized trial in

Japan that showed that just 12 weeks of

drinking kakinenriched green tea which

was about 600 mg of kakans per day

resulted in a significant reduction in

visceral fat. Now just remember most

green teas are high in kakans but to

really maximize the benefit you want to

target green teas that are minimally

processed. So those would be matcha or

cena teas. Now in the grand scheme of

things anything that leads to an energy

deficit or a calorie deficit will help

you lose weight and it will help you

lose visceral fat. But targeting these

right foods and drinks will help you get

there much faster. And once you've

dialed in the right foods, the correct

exercise regimen will become that

magical multiplier. In fact, the correct

type of exercise is a big must when it

comes to losing visceral fat quickly.

And we have studies like this meta

analysis of 117 studies that show that

even though both diet and exercise can

reduce visceral fat, diet has a larger

effect on total body weight loss, while

exercise tends to have superior effects

on reducing visceral fat. And there's an

older but a very interesting study that

showed just how powerful small dose of

exercise can be. So in this study, just

two 45minut cycling sessions per week at

75% of the V2 peak for 2 months reduce

visceral fat by 48%.

So almost half in just 2 months. And not

only that, but this group also improved

insulin sensitivity by 41% and lost 18%

of subcutaneous fat. And this wasn't

strainous exercise by any means that

they had to do twice a week. What they

did in the study was they measured the

intensity as V2 peak as opposed to V2

max. So, it's hard to tell exactly what

75% look like for that average

participant. But since the people in the

study were likely not professional

athletes, I assume their V2 peak was

lower than their V2 max or zone 3 range

or about 70 to 80% of maximum heart

rate. So this exercise would actually

put them in the low moderate intensity.

It's that intensity where you can still

hold the conversation and speak in full

sentences, but you just sound a little

winded. And another interesting trend

that we see from those studies is that

the total body weight stayed about the

same. So remarkable changes in dropping

their visceral fat and improving their

insulin sensitivity even though there

are no measurable changes on the scale.

And this is such an important point that

I always talk about with my patients. Do

not get discouraged if you're doing all

the right things when it comes to

nutrition and movement and proper

exercise, but the weight is just not

coming off. More often than not, the

scale is a pretty poor indicator of your

progress because the number on the scale

does not necessarily show the changes in

your body composition and loss of fat

mass. Now, what's the best type of

exercise that will help you lose

visceral fat and it will help you do it

fast? Well, a recent systematic review

and meta analysis that looked at 84

randomized control trials showed that

it's the vigorous intensity aerobic

exercise and highintensity interval

training or HIT that are the most

effective exercise modalities for

reducing visceral fat. And resistance

training was still beneficial, but just

not as effective when looking

specifically at visceral fat reduction.

And that's not to say forget about

resistance training. In fact, resistance

training is a must for maintaining your

muscle mass, and it's important for your

overall health and your metabolism. But

if you want to lose visceral fat fast,

like over the next few months, it's

probably better to dial up your cardio.

Now, if we're choosing between HIT and

aerobic exercise, there really isn't a

big difference between the

effectiveness. The studies that look at

direct comparisons show that both

modalities are very similar with no

statistically significant difference

between the two in adults. Now, if you

really want to dig into the data and the

literature, there may be a small signal

that when it comes to hit exercises, you

may get a little bit more effectiveness

with running as opposed to cycling. And

there's some studies that show that in

kids and young adults under the age of

24, HIT may be more effective than

aerobic exercise. But honestly, we're

just splitting hairs at this point. At

the end of the day, the way I see it, it

doesn't matter if you do high intensity

interval training or if you do aerobic

exercise or whether for cardio you

choose to do cycling or running or

rowing or dancing. The best exercise is

the one you'll actually stick with

because consistency beats the perfect

plan every time. So that textbook

perfect hit protocol that you just dread

and you only do twice a month is always

going to lose out to that walk that you

enjoy and are able to do several times a

week consistently. And the ideal

protocol, at least based on the studies

that are available, would probably be an

exercise that you can do at least two to

three times a week for at least 45

minutes each. And whatever you choose,

it just has to be at least moderate to

vigorous intensity, meaning you're

getting your heart rate to about 70 to

80% of your maximum capacity. And if

you're not into measuring or tracking

your heart rate, a good rule of thumb is

to do a talk test. You know you're doing

a moderate intensity activity if you can

talk in full sentences, but you sound a

little out of breath. And you know

you're doing vigorous intensity exercise

if you can only speak in a few words

before pausing and taking a breath. And

the beautiful thing about exercise is

the fact that the effects that you get

are dose dependent. Meaning the more you

do, the better are the results. There

was a recent study in the British

Journal of Sports Medicine that showed

that participants who exercise more or

with higher intensity frequently saw

proportionally greater reductions in

visceral fat. And by contrast, they did

not see that dose dependent response

with caloric restriction or dieting.

Meaning there's a limit to how much you

can restrict your calories and you

really don't see any additional benefit

after a certain point. So you do not

need to starve yourself to lose belly

fat. Quite the opposite actually. get

enough calories that still keeps you in

a small calorie deficit, but you can

gradually step up your activity and

exercise if you want to lose your

visceral fat faster. All right, I hope

this was helpful. Stay healthy and I'll

see you in the next