The Anxiety/Ab-Fat Connection

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Q: Is it true that stress causes belly fat?

A: Ab fat accumulates for many reasons. Most likely, it’s from eating more calories than your body uses. And for those more genetically prone to storing fat in certain areas, the extra heft may land in the belly.

The stress connection comes from research that shows that increased levels of the hormone cortisol are associated with higher levels of deep ab fat. Cortisol is a stress hormone. Many things can raise cortisol levels, from smoking and drinking alcohol to not getting enough sleep and being stressed out.

Recent obesity research has shown that abdominal fat, particularly the deepest kind, known as visceral fat, may function differently than fat in other areas of the body. Ab fat appears to be the most metabolically active kind—which makes this type of fat the most dangerous to have as it’s associated with high cholesterol, heart disease and diabetes, among other health problems. But because it’s so metabolically active, it is also easier to lose than fat on your hips and thighs.

You can figure out if your ab fat is cause for concern simply by measuring your waist circumference. Men should aim for a waist size of 35 inches or less, and women 33 inches or less, according to a recent study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

If you do have excess flab, the solution is not to plop on the floor and do high repetitions of abdominal exercises like crunches or “core” moves like the plank. Those types of exercises strengthen the muscles in the area, but they do not burn enough calories to decrease the fat.

To reduce ab flab, the more cardio workouts you do, the better. General recommendations are to do at least 30 minutes of day of cardio activity, or up to 60 to 90 minutes per day if you are trying to lose weight or maintain weight loss. If you’re a beginner, always go slow and gradually work up to more intense and longer bouts of activity.

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Martica is a Manhattan-based exercise physiologist and nutritionist and an award-winning fitness instructor. She has written for a variety of publications including Self , Health , Prevention , The New York Times and others. Martica is the author of seven books, including her latest, Cross-Training for Dummies . (Read her full bio.)