Common reasons for someone to have belly fat even when they're skinny is: Being too sedentary (inactive), which builds visceral fat around the organs and abdominal fat. Eating too many processed foods, which stores at the belly.
If you have been exercising and still have belly fat, you could be doing the wrong style training, your stress levels may be too high, or you may have an endocrine disorder like polycystic ovary syndrome.
Your Belly Is What You Eat
If you're skinny everywhere, but your belly, your genetics may simply predispose you to storing fat from excess calories there. Certain types of food are also more likely to cause you to accumulate middle fat. Sugary foods and refined, white carbohydrates are culprits.
According to Hyman, insulin is also significant in storing fat in skinny people, leading to a fat belly. Not only does it store fat, but insulin also causes hormonal and metabolic changes that lead to muscle loss and increased inflammation levels in the body. These changes can lead to bloated and distended bellies.
Stress belly is the extra abdominal fat that accumulates as the result of chronic or prolonged stress. Although stress belly is not a medical diagnosis, it is a term used to describe the way that stress and stress hormones impact your midsection.
Your genetics prefer storing fat in your stomach area
Visceral fat—the type of fat the body stores in your abdomen and around your intestines and is mostly responsible for keeping people from a flat belly—can be partly determined by genetics.
Sometimes, excess fat around the belly is due to hormones. Hormones help regulate many bodily functions, including metabolism, stress, hunger, and sex drive. If a person has a deficiency in certain hormones, it may result in weight gain around the abdomen, which is known as a hormonal belly.
Poor diet, lack of exercise, genetics, alcohol, and hormonal changes during pregnancy can cause a belly pooch. Start eating low-GI foods and lean protein and cut out high-calorie foods from your diet to get rid of your belly pooch.
Most women have some extent of a stomach pooch after having children from a separation of the six-pack muscles. There are simply certain areas of your body where fat accumulates, and that fat is resistant to all forms of diet and exercise.
Even if you're thin, you can still have too much visceral fat. How much you have is partly about your genes, and partly about your lifestyle, especially how active you are. Visceral fat likes inactivity.
In many cases, the actual cause of an abdominal pooch is a separation of the abdominal muscles, known as diastasis recti. In patients with diastasis recti, the abdominal muscles become weakened and pull apart at the midline, often due to pregnancy and/or weight gain.
Pregnancy or significant weight fluctuations can create a pocket of skin and fat in the lower abdomen. This paunch is known as the panniculus, and its appearance can become more pronounced with age. A panniculectomy is a surgical procedure that removes this excess skin and fatty tissue for a slimmer stomach.
Generally, if the muscles are going to heal on their own, they will within three months of birth. If you are several months postpartum, it's likely that your diastasis recti is here to stay. Some women have had success using targeted exercises to help the muscles move closer together.
High Leptin
High levels of the hormone leptin are also associated with increased weight gain in the lower belly. Fat cells release leptin, which sends signals to your brain that trigger a feeling of fullness after eating, signaling that your body has stored enough fat.
Eating foods high in sugar and trans fats, drinking too much alcohol, and not eating enough protein can suppress your ability to burn fat and lead to excess abdominal fat accumulation. For many women, growing more abdominal fat may be in their genes.
Without proper hydration your muscles don't get the maximized results they could be if you were providing healthy liquids for your muscles to rely on. Not only that, but your body relies on electrolytes and proper hydration to provide you with the energy needed to blast through exercises.
Stomach problems are one of the most common symptoms of stress and anxiety. Researchers have identified a powerful connection between the gut and the brain. Like the brain, the gut is full of nerves.
The most common cause of stomach pain and bloating is excess intestinal gas. If you get a bloated stomach after eating, it may be a digestive issue. It might be as simple as eating too much too fast, or you could have a food intolerance or other condition that causes gas and digestive contents to build up.
Myth or Fact: If you cut down on your food intake, you'll eventually shrink your stomach so you won't be as hungry. Answer: Myth. Once you are an adult, your stomach pretty much remains the same size -- unless you have surgery to intentionally make it smaller.
A FUPA looks like an extra layer of skin and fat just above the pubis. Some people have a larger mons pubis because of genetics. FUPA can also develop after weight loss or weight gain.
Unhealthy eating is the biggest driver of big bellies. Too many starchy carbohydrates and bad fats are a recipe for that midsection to expand. Instead, get plenty of veggies, choose lean proteins, and stay away from fats from red meats. Choose healthier fats in things like fish, nuts, and avocados.