How to Deal with Belly Fat with PCOS

Today’s article is one that I have been looking forward to for a long time. Having just had a baby, I’m desperate to blitz the last of my weight and that darn belly fat that goes hand in hand with PCOS. It is written by someone whom I hope you’ll see a lot more of on the blog!

To find out more about how to manage PCOS naturally and deal with that belly fat by changing the way that you eat, check out my free training, “How to Manage PCOS Naturally.”

Erika is a certified personal trainer, Nutrition Coach, and fitness writer. She holds certifications from the American Council on Exercise (ACE), TRX Suspension Training Systems and Precision Nutrition.

Erika was diagnosed with PCOS in 2005. She believes that lifestyle modifications are the best treatment for PCOS. If you want to learn more about how exercise can alleviate PCOS symptoms, please visit her website at erikavolkfitness.com.

Erika lives with her husband in a small beach town somewhere in Costa Rica. Her hobbies include cooking, hiking, learning Spanish and traveling. At erikavolkfitness.com you’ll find at-home workout plans, healthy cooking tips, and stories about her life in Costa Rica.

As a personal trainer, I always get a little nervous when a female client walks into my training studio, grabs ahold of her belly and says “We need to do something about this!”

I take a deep breath and give her the bad news (and then the good news!). The bad news is that we can’t selectively reduce fat from certain areas of our bodies. The good news is that you can reduce your belly fat through a commitment to regular exercise and healthy eating habits.

Bombarding your poor abs with crunches is not an effective way to battle belly fat. Abdominal fat, like all other body fat, needs to be used by the body as a fuel source in order for it to disappear from your waistline.

The majority of abdominal exercises do not burn many calories. Abdominal strengthening exercises will improve the tone of your rectus abdominis, obliques and transverse abdominal muscles, but you will have nothing to show for your hard work if those abs are covered by a layer of fat!

Think of it this way: if you put silk bed sheets beneath a down comforter, can you tell the sheets are silk just by looking at the bed? No – and you can’t see strong, taught ab muscles if they are beneath a layer of fat.

So what’s the solution? Choose exercises that use large calorie burning muscles, like your quads, while also engaging your abdominal core. This approach will help you build a stable, strong core while you burn fat.

Of course you will also need to eat a diet of healthy foods like the meal plans you find on this site 🙂

At the bottom of this post you’ll find a 25 minute, equipment free, home workout that will help you burn some serious calories, strengthen your abdominal core and other major muscles. I designed the workout to help you address belly fat in a sensible and effective way.
But before you get your sweat on, I want to talk a little bit about belly fat and PCOS. Carrying weight around your middle is a risk factor for PCOS, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and heart disease – yikes! It certainly is important to both our health and our pride to reduce belly fat.

There are two types of fat that take up residence in your middle: subcutaneous abdominal fat and visceral fat. Subcutaneous abdominal fat is the stuff you see in the mirror, that you can pinch. Visceral fat is hidden and tucked away deep in the body in-between the internal organs.

Visceral fat is particularly concerning for us PCOS women. Studies have lead the medical community to believe that visceral fat contributes to insulin resistance and that abdominal fat in general disrupts the functioning of several other hormones. If there is one thing us ladies with PCOS want to avoid it is additional hormonal imbalances!

Fortunately exercise tends to reduce visceral fat quickly. A 2005 study in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that individuals who participated in a moderate-intensity aerobic workout for a total of 3 hours a week (that could be broken down into just 25 minutes a day) lost 7% of their visceral fat in just 8 months. While just a little activity can go a long way it seems that being sedentary can really add to your belly fat problem. The same study observed a control group of similar participants. The control group did not do any exercise and saw a jaw-dropping 8.6% increase in visceral fat.

Our more unsightly subcutaneous abdominal fat tends to be more stubborn but it will respond to lifestyle modifications like regular exercise. So even if your become frustrated with your slowly shrinking waist remember that you are probably eradicating that more dangerous visceral fat before moving on to your muffin top.

Belly fat can be an embarrassing problem and an issue that could be affecting your overall health. Your extra belly fat does not have to be a permanent condition! Regular exercise, good nutrition and patience will shrink your belly fat while expanding your health and self esteem.