What Is Subcutaneous Fat, and Is It Easy to Lose?

Compared to visceral fat, subcutaneous fat may be easier to lose

Medically reviewed by Aviv Joshua, MS

Subcutaneous fat is found just beneath your skin in much of your body. This is the soft fat that you can pinch. This type of fat is the most widely present throughout your body though it is mostly harmless.

While all people have this type of fat, some have more than others. Factors like genetics, diet, and exercise can affect the amount of subcutaneous fat you carry. Often, a lifestyle that involves a poor diet and too little exercise can lead to taking in more calories than you burn. This can result in an excess of subcutaneous fat.

This article describes why subcutaneous fat exists and how it differs from other types of fat. It also suggests proven methods to lose this type of fat.

Subcutaneous vs. Visceral Fat: Location and Texture

There are considerable differences between subcutaneous and visceral body fat in their composition and how they are distributed throughout your body.

Subcutaneous fat is soft, loose, and doughy. It is the type of fat that accumulates directly beneath your skin. Subcutaneous belly fat is the fat you feel if you "pinch an inch" around your belly.

Visceral fat feels firmer than subcutaneous fat, though it is out of reach because it is deep beneath your abdominal wall.

Subcutaneous fat is located under your skin. Its main location varies by sex in the following ways:

• In men: Subcutaneous fat is often found around the abdomen and shoulders.

• In women: Subcutaneous fat is found around the thighs, buttocks, and hips.

Visceral fat is stored in the spaces around your liver, intestines, and other organs, making it inaccessible to your touch. It is also located in your omentum. This apron-like flap of tissue is under your abdominal muscles and blankets your intestines. The omentum hardens and thickens as it fills with fat.

Read Next: Layers of Skin and Their Functions

What's the Purpose of Subcutaneous Fat?

Subcutaneous fat plays an important role in protecting your body and ensuring it functions normally. It provides the following benefits:

• Energy and fat storage: Subcutaneous fat serves as an energy reserve. Your body uses subcutaneous fat as a fuel source after using the energy saved from consuming carbohydrates. This is a trigger for weight loss.

• Temperature insulation: Subcutaneous fat insulates your body from extremes in heat and cold. It prevents your internal body temperature from becoming too low or too high. This benefit can help you avoid getting conditions like hypothermia (a condition that can lead to freezing to death).

• Protection from trauma: The soft and fluffy makeup of subcutaneous fat acts as a cushion to protect deeper muscles, bones, organs, and delicate tissue from bodily harm or injury. This natural padding protects your bones and muscles from injury during falls and other types of physical trauma.

• Biological benefits: Subcutaneous fat can swell or shrink depending on whether fat is being stored or used. It also produces the hormone leptin, which regulates your feelings of hunger and fullness for appetite control, and the sex hormone estrogen.

• Inflammation reduction: Research indicates that subcutaneous fat may provide some protective endocrine and inflammatory characteristics. This may help explain the biology of people who have obesity but are metabolically healthy.

Health Risks of Subcutaneous vs. Visceral Fat

Despite the benefits of subcutaneous fat, too much can increase your risk of the following health problems:

• Insulin resistance (when cells don't respond well to insulin and can't take up glucose, or sugar, from the blood, requiring more insulin)

• Hepatic steatosis (fatty liver disease)

• Metabolic syndrome (a group of risk factors for heart disease, stroke, and diabetes)

• Hypertension (high blood pressure)
  

However, visceral fat is considered more dangerous because of differences at the molecular level. As a result, visceral fat has a stronger link to metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, and a higher risk of death, even when body mass index (BMI) is normal.

What Causes a High Subcutaneous/Visceral Fat Ratio?

Your body has a naturally high ratio of subcutaneous to visceral fat. While subcutaneous fat holds about 90% of total body fat, visceral fat holds the remaining 10% of body fat.

Women typically have more subcutaneous fat than men. It is most apparent during adolescence, when fat accounts for 25% of body weight in females but only 15% of body weight in men at this stage. However, with age, both subcutaneous and visceral fat increase in both males and females, with greater increases in visceral fat. As a result, sex differences in body fat distribution can become less apparent with age.

Computed tomography (CT) scans, an imaging process that uses X-rays and a computer to generate an internal image, is an accurate method for determining body composition factors such as subcutaneous to visceral fat ratio.

Other imaging procedures used to measure body fat ratios include:

• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): An MRI is a procedure that uses strong magnetic currents to produce an internal image.

• Positron-emission tomography (PET)/CT scan: A PET/CT scan procedure requires the injection of a short-acting radioactive substance called a radiotracer that clusters in areas of fat deposits, which can be identified in the PET scan or in combination with CT.

In addition to imaging procedures, the following techniques are used to measure body composition:

• DEXA (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) scan performed by a healthcare technician.

• Hydrostatic weighing performed underwater in a special lab

• BIA (bioelectrical impedance analysis), a measurement that may be available on home scales that provide weight, body fat percent, and other numbers

• Skin calipers that pinch subcutaneous fat tissue on certain areas of your body to determine body fat levels

• Body circumference or waist circumference measurements that use a tape measure to determine the width of certain body parts such as waists, thighs, and arms

Your healthcare provider can help you determine what the results of these tests mean and whether they show a cause for concern.

How to Lose Subcutaneous Fat

Generally, the best way to lose subcutaneous fat is to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This involves a combination of a fat-burning diet and regular exercise.

While genetics can make you more likely to have a high subcutaneous fat mass, research indicates these genetic factors can be offset by high physical activity. Since subcutaneous fat stores energy, you must burn calories to lose it.

Follow these strategies to lose subcutaneous fat:

Lifestyle Changes

• Avoid processed foods, baked goods, and fast food that typically contain inflammatory, refined oils and unhealthy fats.

• Read labels to avoid products that contain the following ingredients: sodium, partially hydrogenated oil, high-fructose corn syrup, trans fats, and high amounts of sugar and calories.

• Stay properly hydrated by aiming to drink 6 to 8 cups of water daily and more when working out in hot weather.

• Get a good night's sleep because sleep deprivation interferes with appetite-suppressing hormones and increases your risk of being overweight.

• Reduce stress, which can increase levels of cortisol (the stress hormone). Higher levels of this hormone can make you feel hungrier and crave foods high in sugar, calories, and fat.

Exercises

• Aim for at least 30 minutes of high-intensity cardio exercise a few times weekly to burn fat throughout your body rather than trying to spot-reduce.

• Try high-intensity interval training (HIIT), an exercise program that uses several minutes of movements that increase your heart rate to 80% of your maximum heart rate, followed by short periods of lower-intensity movements. These workouts can increase your metabolism for up to 14 hours after exercising and, in turn, increase your daily fat-burning potential. Common exercises in a HIIT workout include the following: body-weight squats, backward lunges, plank with knee drive, alternating side lunges, jumping jacks, and skaters

• Incorporate three to five weekly strength-training sessions into your regular fitness routine. This can increase your metabolic rate so you can burn more fat daily.

• Burn calories with aerobic workouts that increase your heart rate, such as running, cycling, swimming, brisk walking, jump roping, stair climbing, cross-country skiing, and rowing.

Losing subcutaneous fat requires patience and persistence. Subcutaneous fat can be harder to lose because of the functions it serves in your body. In addition, your body typically burns excess visceral fat before it attacks excess subcutaneous fat.

Everyone loses weight at different rates due to factors such as genetics, body composition, age, and hormones. Generally, a combination of a calorie deficit (eating less and moving more) and physical activity can trigger changes as early as one to two weeks or as late as six to 12 weeks after you start your program.

Guidelines for Physical Activity

To achieve notable benefits from your exercise program, follow The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, Second edition, published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). For adults, these guidelines include completing 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity every week with the following characteristics:

• A minimum of 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise per week for adults (60 minutes for kids)

• Muscle strengthening activities two or more days a week

Foods to Support Subcutaneous Fat Loss

If you're serious about losing body fat, it's important to modify your diet to include the following foods to support subcutaneous fat loss:

• Lean, high-quality protein, such as chicken, turkey, salmon, and eggs, that helps you feel fuller for longer periods, promotes muscle growth, and repairs more than carbohydrates and fats so you can exercise more

• Nutrient-dense and fiber-rich foods that help you feel full longer and avoid overeating, such as whole grains like whole grain bread, quinoa, and brown rice, legumes (chickpeas, kidney beans, kidney beans, and lentils), healthy fruits like blueberries and strawberries that are low in calories and high in fiber, vegetables, especially those like broccoli with a high water and fiber content, and oatmeal

• Water used as an appetite suppressant and a replacement for sugar-filled soft drinks and other sweetened juices

• Coffee or green tea, both of which can enhance fat burning and the breakdown of fatty acids.

• Low-fat dairy products, such as low-fat milk, which assists in building dense muscle mass and low-fat cottage cheese, which is low in fat and carbohydrates but high in protein

• Seeds and nuts (contain healthy fats, fiber, and protein to curb hunger)
  

• Tempeh, a protein substitute for meat suitable for vegans
  

Summary

Subcutaneous fat makes up 90% of body fat in most people. It is the type of loose, jiggly fat that most people think of when talking about body fat. It is often found in the regions around your belly, arms, and legs.

While it may not look healthy, subcutaneous fat is an energy reserve. It also protects your body from extreme temperatures, trauma injuries, and eating too much. However, the fact that this type of fat is helpful in your body makes it harder to lose.

Losing subcutaneous fat can be a slow process. It involves making combined changes to your diet and physical activity routines. Consult your healthcare provider to ensure that you are making changes to help you achieve your goals safely.

Read the original article on Verywell Health.