A number of factors influence belly fat especially if you are skinny fat. Lets look at some of them:-
1. Sugar Intake and Insulin Resistance: Eating processed food high in sugar causes a sudden surge in blood sugar level, which results in excess insulin release. If you continue with diet high in processed sugar, your body will become less sensitive to insulin over time (read insulin resistance) which causes more insulin to be released for same amount of sugar (Just like an alcoholic who needs more and more alcohol every time for the same effect). Insulin is responsible for conversion of sugar into fat. That is why insulin resistance leads to fat gain. The good news is that insulin resistance can be reversed by cutting excess sugar from diet.
2. Leptin Resistance: Leptin is a hormone released by fat cells of our body and signals the brain the sensation of hunger. Ideally, the higher your body fat, more Leptin will be produced signalling your brain that you are full and eat less. However, some people have lower Leptin sensitivity either due to genetics or due to disruption of Leptin activity due to excess insulin release. Leptin resistance deceives your brain that your body is in need of those fat cells even when a person is overweight. This results in excess fat storage. Leptin resistance induced due to diet and lifestyle can be reversed. Since you are naturally skinny, you do not have genetic leptin resistance.
3. Ghrelin: Ghrelin is a hormone secreted by our gastrointestinal tract. When our stomach and intestines are empty Ghrelin is released signalling our brain to eat. When we eat very fast, our stomach gets filled immediately but it takes time for the food to reach intestines. Only when our intestines are filled do we feel really full. So eating slowly helps in eating less.
4: Cortisol : Cortisol is stress hormone. Excess Cortisol in body results in excess fat storage. Lack of sleep also results in Cortisol release. The only way Cortisol can be reduced is by reducing stress and sleeping adequately.
5: Calorie in vs Calorie out: Everyone knows this concept, so I wont go into detail here. However, remember that all calories are not same. Calories from processed food are low in nutritional value as well as causes excesses insulin release. Please read about Glycemic Index. Consume food low in Glycemic Index so that your blood sugar level increases slowly and steadily as well as drops slowly and steadily.
6. Type of Exercise: Doing cardio is good for your body and health, but cardio alone may not help you lose fat especially when you are skinny fat. This is because body burns both fat and muscles if you do cardio alone. You may lose weight, but your body composition in regard to fat percentage may not change. What you need to do is to signal your brain that you need muscles for survival. That's why weight training is so important for reducing body fat percentage.
Every body is different and you should find out whats best for you. Being a skinny fat person myself, I did the following to reduce my fat percentage which you can also try out.
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Cut out sugar and processed food completely from your diet except fruits. Do not over eat fruits as well. Eat a lot of vegetables.
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Include protein in every meal. This reduces the sudden surge in blood sugar as well as provides necessary fuel to sustain your muscles.
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Whenever you consume carbohydrates, try to consume low GI version. eg: brown rice instead of white rice, oats instead of packaged cereals etc.
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Reduce carbohydrate intake except on the days of weight training.
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Do weight training 2-3 times a week. Since you are skinny, lift heavy and do compound exercises.
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Do High Intensity Interval Training 2 times a week. It is very effective in burning fat.
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Sleep for 7-8 hours on an average.
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Do not overeat. Calorie counting is not a practical idea. But be aware of how much you are eating on an average.
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/fqh51o/factors_that_influence_belly_fat_and_how_to_fight/
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