visceral fat

[German26]

Ive been wondering - where in the world do all of those lbs of body fat melt on the human body? You lose 1 lbs of fat or so per week, but it seems you can barely tell a difference after 4 weeks. The subcutaneous fat on your body is like 1mm-1cm if youre (fairly lean).

When you're getting in contest shape/do a cut, could it be that you lose quite some visceral fat (stored in places inside the body), too?

Thus 4 weeks (4 lbs of body fat) can often look like just a slight difference, not just b/c its spread out over your whole body, but also because some of the fat you lose is actually inside your body (visceral fat)?

Has anyone of you thought about that before/knows the answer?

thank you

[thepacman]

If your sub 15% body fat chances are that unless your using massive amount of androgens you will not have much visceral fat. It is much more easily mobilized than subcutaneous fat. I read once, and I believe this is what your referring to, that there is a range of body fat, maybe 14-18% where results are just not that noticeable when slimming down. Obviously as you get to the lower bf range, every pound will make the world of difference simply because you have less fat spread over you body. When you have a higher body fat there is just more "covering the muscle" so it will take bigger drops to make more noticeable changes to your physique.

[German26]

"If your sub 15% body fat chances are that unless your using massive amount of androgens you will not have much visceral fat. It is much more easily mobilized than subcutaneous fat. "

How do you knows this / where did you get this from? I'm really just curious!

"I read once, and I believe this is what your referring to, that there is a range of body fat, maybe 14-18% where results are just not that noticeable when slimming down. Obviously as you get to the lower bf range, every pound will make the world of difference simply because you have less fat spread over you body. "

Again - any idea where you got this from (so I could read up on it)? B/c this is exactly what Ive been wondering. I remember in my last cutting phase (Ive only done two before, still a beginner..and dont really remember the first one) I was complaining and insecure about it not working (despite losing weight at the expected pace), but 10 days later (I found old forum threads where I posted about it) I was like "seems like I just wasnt patient enough!" and was very satisfied with the results in the end - caliper measurement said 11% bodyfat (I know...not contest shape, but definitely lean)....In other words during the first 3-4 weeks despite losing bodyfat I could barely tell a difference. Yet another 3-4 weeks later (same diet / workout) I was very satisfied with the results......Ive read in another thread where someone said "during the first 4 weeks you hardly notice a difference" (obviously that must depend on the range of body fat you're in i guess)

Ive seen other people's cutting logs and if you compare the first and the last picture (from day 1 to a month later), it's often pretty hard to see an actual difference, when they probbaly lost 4 lbs of fat.

I was thinking that maybe visceral fat might explain this (losing some of that, too not just subcutaneous).

I really cant see how losing 8 lbs of fat for example can hardly show a difference when all of it is subcutaneous fat...and when it's such a slight layer of fat that really just looks like thick skin.



thanks!

PS:

Is water weight only lost during the first week or so, or do you continue losing it if youre only in a slight caloric deficit (and dont make other adjustements to your diet, except for lowering it by 200 kcals/week for example)? Obviously much more isp robably lost during the first week, but any idea what happens to the water storage in your body after that?
(I assume for contests you will probably dehydrate very soon before the contest, and should know more about it than I do!:-))

[thepacman]

Yes it all depends on the range of body fat that your starting off with. Someone who's 30% body fat could drop 5% to 25% and still look the fairly similar, except his scale weight would show less. If someone dropped from 10% body fat to 5% they would look like a completely different person. When you in the single digit percentages, even small amounts of weight loss will appear dramatic in your composition. If you were reading 11% on the calipers, chances are you were around 14+% in reality. It is just going to take a bit more fat loss to show noticeable differences. Most people when they start diets in the higher percentages can get discouraged because they don't approach it with the right diet/training. So with the initial glycogen loss and lack of calories they may become weaker in the gym and lose a bit of their fullness. This may reflect to a couple pounds loss on the scale but they probably will not have an enormous amount of change in their physique unless they stick it out a bit longer (like you were referring to).

Visceral fat is usually located around your abdominals. There is a fairly good amount of blood flow through that area allowing allowing it to be more easily mobilized. It is also less sensitive to insulin (http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat...-stubborn.html).

A noticeable amount of water weight is lost in the first week of dieting due to glycogen loss. Glycogen requires water to be stored. In the initial stages of dieting your body depletes these glycogen stores, reducing your bodyweight from stored glycogen and water. From that point there are many variables that will affect water weight through the remainder of your diet (hormones, refeeds, sodium content, etc...)

[bigasssnowman]

Good thread on NAC and visceral fat loss.
http://www.mindandmuscle.net/forum/i...howtopic=31021