Can Exercise or Diet Prevent Abdominal Visceral Fat Gain?
December 13 2009
Abdominal visceral fa (as showin the picture) is a strong risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes than fat deposits in other areas.
Both exercise and diet can prevent weight gain. But can both exercise and diet prevent the dangerous abdominal visceral fat gain?
What was the purpose of the abdominal visceral fat study?
The study was done to find if exercise or diet is better in preventing abdominal visceral fat following weight loss
What was the design of the visceral fat study?
- Subjects lost around 25 lbs before the study
- Then they were divided into 5 groups: Resistance training, Aerobic exercise, Diet only, Non-Aerobic Adheres, Non- Resistance adheres.
- After 1 year of follow up, the visceral fat and other variables were measured.
What was the exercise protocol?
The exercise was very moderate. They exercised 2 days/week
Cardio: 40 min at 80% of HR max
Resistance: 1o exercises – 2 sets of 10 reps
What was the result of the visceral fat study?
Though the weight loss was similar in both groups, exercise group gained no visceral fat compared to the diet only group
Practical Applications
- Though weight loss is all about calories in vs out, we can see how exercise is superior to diet in preventing the harmful abdominal visceral fat gain.
- Following weight loss, even moderate volumes (1-2 days of exercise) are beneficial to prevent large weight gains and direct fat deposit away from abdominal area.
