Pop Quiz:
Which of the following type of body fat is most harmful to your health?

A) Underarm fat
B) Hips, thigh, and buttock fat
C) Abdominal fat
D) None of the above
E) All of the above

Ding ding, you’re right! The answer is C

But… not all belly fat is created equal. There’s the kind you can pinch, and there’s the kind you can’t, and only one of them tells the whole story.

Subcutaneous fat is the layer you can see and pinch. It sits just under the skin — the “pinch an inch” fat — and it’s the kind that shows up when your jeans feel tighter or you notice a little extra softness around your middle. It’s frustrating, but it’s largely a cosmetic concern. Your body actually uses it as a normal, protective energy reserve.

Visceral fat is a different animal entirely. You can’t pinch this one — it’s tucked deep inside your abdominal cavity, wrapping around and even infiltrating vital organs like your liver, pancreas, and intestines. Visceral fat is metabolically active — it doesn’t just sit there. It behaves almost like its own organ, pumping inflammatory compounds and free fatty acids straight into your bloodstream.

Where to Start?

When tackling belly fat, I like to emphasize nervous system mobilization, strategic exercise, and proper core mechanics. I know that sounds like a lot of science, but don’t worry, I’ll break it all down for you.

Training your muscles is a combination of staying strong and burning fat. Here are my 4 top ways to lose visceral fat…and yes, one of them happens with your eyes closed… zZZZzz! Plus, don’t miss the 3 must-knows about how to strenghten your core. 

Tips to Lose Visceral Fat

1. Go HIIT or Go Home 3 to 4 rounds of high-intensity interval training a week helps trigger adrenaline, and adrenaline is what drives fat oxidation, including the visceral kind. Pushing close to your max effort during those intervals is what matters here: it triggers a bigger adrenaline spike, which keeps fat oxidation elevated. Follow it with something low and easy, a walk or light movement, which assists overall caloric burn.

Translation? Push hard for those intervals, and your body keeps oxidizing fat even after you’ve stopped.

BONUS: Free 40-Min Belly Fat HIIT Blaster

Today’s fat-blasting routine starts with a warm-up, then moves through six rounds of intervals followed by two minutes of active recovery using functional moves like squats, lunges, and planks.  

2. Snooze Your Way to Flatter Abs Skimping on sleep does more than leave you tired. It also tends to increase appetite and calorie intake the next day, and that extra fuel has a tendency to settle as visceral fat. Chronic stress plays its own role too, with elevated cortisol linked to more fat storage around your organs. 

To help drift off to sleep, listen to this Dreamtime audio (below) as you slip into the sheets tonight. Comfortably close your eyes, take your focus off the world, and the audio will allow you to enter the deepest levels of sleep…. just press play below! 

3. Tell Glucose to Take a Walk Post-meal or post-dinner light 20-minute walks help clear blood glucose and manage insulin levels effectively. That short window after a meal is when light movement does the most work: it speeds up how quickly your body clears glucose from your bloodstream, easing the insulin spike that would otherwise encourage more of it to be stored as fat.

4. Get Bold, Go Cold Ice baths have had quite the moment. You’ve probably seen the tubs, the videos, the recovery hype. Most people reach for them for recovery and mental clarity, but they’re also great for zapping visceral fat. Here’s why: cold exposure triggers a shiver, and shivering ramps up your body’s calorie burn to generate heat.

Not ready to hop into a cold plunge? Finish your next shower with 60 seconds of cold water instead. It’s good for the belly, good for the brain, and a wake-up call in the best way.

Strengthening Your Abs and Core

1. Give Your Abs a Day Off  Your core, which includes your abs along with your obliques, lower back, and deeper stabilizing muscles, is made up of a roughly even mix of fast-twitch fibers (for quick, powerful moves) and slow-twitch fibers (for endurance). That mix means the core needs rest days to recover just like any other strength-trained muscle. Training it every single day doesn’t build it any stronger, it just cuts into the recovery time it needs.

2. Skip the Crunch, Try the Hold  High-rep crunches do not burn belly fat. What actually builds a stronger core is quality over quantity: slow, controlled movement with tension.

That quality shows up best in functional training (movements that mimic everyday actions instead of isolating one muscle at a time). Take a squat with an overhead press, for example: it trains your legs and shoulders while forcing the deep muscles that wrap around your spine (your obliques, lower back, and deep abs) to stabilize during the whole movement. It’s a multi-planar move, meaning your core is working in more than one direction at once. 

To learn what the stabilizing tension feels like, try the Hollow Hold! It’s fundamental core-strengthening exercise that targets deep abdominal muscles by maintaining total-body tension in a “hollow” or “banana” shape.

3. Brace Yourself  Bracing” refers to contracting and tightening your core muscles. It’s a common technique of weightlifters to create a solid foundation before heavy lifting. This core contraction offers significant benefits. 

Think of your trunk as a cylinder. The walls of the cylinder are the muscles surrounding your trunk. When gently tightened, bracing helps to…

• Provide essential stability to the spine and pelvis
• Develop more sturdy balance
• Support your lower back

To put bracing into action, imagine somebody is about to poke you in the tummy. You instinctively tighten your midsection muscles in response! It’s that simple!