Stubborn Fat

It is common for people to experience that certain parts of the body lean down before others. But why do we have stubborn body fat areas? Let’s look into it in today’s post!
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When you consume fewer calories than your body requires (=calorie deficit), your body signals fat cells to release energy in the form of fat. These signals are received by what we know as “catecholamine receptors” [1].
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Fat cells have two types of catecholamine receptors, Beta- and Alpha-Receptors. Beta-Receptors speed up the release of fat, whereas Alpha-Receptors slow it down. One of the main reasons you have stubborn body fat is because, in some areas of your body, fat cells contain more Alpha-Receptors than Beta-Receptors [2].
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This simply causes you to release less fat from certain areas of your body (often lower belly and hips) [3, 4]. This is genetic and there’s little you can do about it. By simply losing more fat overall, the stubborn areas will eventually have to become leaner. It won’t happen overnight though. It requires patience.
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With that said, I think it’s also important to emphasize that some fat around the stomach or low-back is a normal and healthy thing. To completely get rid of stubborn fat, you typically have to get to unhealthy body fat levels.
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References:
1. http://www.jlr.org/content/34/7/1057.long
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8680455
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2503539
4. Stubborn Fat Solution – Lyle McDonald