What Is Visceral Fat?

Good morning!

Most of us think about body fat in terms of what you see. The number on the scale, how our jeans fit, what the mirror says back at us. But not all fat plays by the same rules, and some of the most important fat is hiding where you can't see it.

This week, we're breaking down visceral fat. What it actually is, why it tends to accumulate around your organs, how hormones influence, and what the research says about reducing it.

Key Takeaways

• Visceral fat surrounds your organs and releases compounds that can interfere with insulin and liver function.

• Hormones influence where fat accumulates, with estrogen, testosterone, cortisol, and insulin all playing a role.

• Visceral fat responds well to lifestyle changes, including exercise, a balanced diet, sleep, and stress reduction.

CORE

What Makes Visceral Fat Different

Not all body fat is created equal. Your body stores fat in different places, and where it ends up can matter almost as much as how much you have.

Subcutaneous fat sits under the skin and is relatively inert. It’s the kind we all think about when we mention body fat, and it serves primarily as an energy reserve. Visceral fat, by contrast, is inside the abdominal cavity surrounding the liver, pancreas, intestines, and kidneys. The problem with visceral fat isn’t just that it’s neighbors with your organs, it’s that it’s also metabolically active (meaning it can interfere).

Visceral fat is more than just stored energy. It releases free fatty acids (fats) and signaling molecules that can promote inflammation and interfere with insulin’s effects. What makes visceral fat particularly problematic is where those substances go: blood draining from the abdominal organs flows directly to the liver through a large blood vessel called the portal vein. This means the liver is essentially the first stop for many of the fatty acids and inflammatory signals released by visceral fat.

With visceral fat constantly releasing these compounds, the liver is exposed to a steady stream of them. Over time, this can interfere with how the liver handles fats and responds to insulin, contributing to higher triglycerides, unfavorable LDL levels, inflammation, and worsening insulin resistance.

As seen in a 2025 meta-analysis involving more than 824,000 people, higher levels of visceral fat were associated with a higher cardiovascular risk. And importantly, these risks weren’t simply a reflection of how much someone weighed overall.

That’s because BMI can’t tell you where your body stores fat. Two people can have the exact same BMI while having very different amounts of visceral fat. Age, sex, hormones, genetics, and lifestyle all influence where fat accumulates.

How Hormones Influence

Fat doesn't simply accumulate wherever there happens to be room. Hormones help determine where your body is more likely to store it, which is why men and women accumulate fat differently, why both change with age, and why stress produces a different body composition than simple overeating.

Estrogen helps explain why premenopausal women tend to carry more fat around the hips, thighs, and buttocks. Estrogen favors fat storage in these subcutaneous areas, the fat stored just beneath the skin (rather than around the organs). This is generally considered a more metabolically favorable place to store excess energy.

As estrogen levels fall during perimenopause and after menopause, that pattern changes. Women tend to lose some of this lower-body fat and accumulate more fat around the abdomen, including visceral fat. This shift is associated with changes in blood lipids, insulin sensitivity, and the chemical signals released by fat tissue.

Testosterone influences fat distribution in men in a different way, by actively suppressing visceral fat accumulation and promoting lean mass. Testosterone can reduce fat storage and increase the breakdown of stored fat, with some evidence suggesting these effects are particularly relevant in visceral fat tissue. As testosterone levels tend to decline with age, men often experience a gradual shift toward greater abdominal fat accumulation.

There is also an interesting connection between visceral fat and testosterone. Visceral fat contains an enzyme called aromatase, which can convert testosterone into estrogen. More visceral fat can therefore contribute to a hormonal environment with lower testosterone and relatively higher estrogen, potentially making abdominal fat accumulation easier to maintain. It's a feedback loop rather than a simple one-way process.

Cortisol is the third major hormonal driver, and the one most responsive to lifestyle. Visceral fat is particularly sensitive to cortisol because it contains a high number of receptors that respond to it. Chronic high cortisol levels promote visceral fat accumulation independently of caloric intake, because cortisol reduces insulin sensitivity and facilitates fat storage, particularly in the abdominal region. 

Insulin completes the picture. When you eat, your blood sugar rises and your body releases insulin. One of insulin's jobs is to help your cells take in and use nutrients, while also signaling your body to store some of that energy for later.

When insulin resistance develops, your cells don't respond to insulin as well, so your body often produces more insulin to compensate. Combined with chronically elevated cortisol, this can promote greater fat storage around the abdomen and contribute to the buildup of visceral fat.

This doesn't mean carbohydrates automatically cause belly fat, or that hormones matter more than calories. The amount of energy you consume still matters for how much fat you gain or lose. Hormones influence how your body manages that energy and, importantly, where some of that fat ends up being stored.

How To Reduce It

The good news is visceral fat responds well to lifestyle intervention, in some respects better than subcutaneous fat, which is more resistant to reduction. 

Exercise works best when you combine types. Combining aerobic exercise with resistance training was more effective for reducing visceral fat than either type of exercise alone.

Intensity also appears to matter. Research suggests that higher-intensity exercise can produce greater reductions in visceral fat, even when the total amount of exercise is similar. You don't need to turn every workout into a suffer-fest, though. Regular moderate-to-vigorous activity is still highly effective, and consistency matters far more than making every session brutal.

Diet… duh! A healthy, balanced diet is an enormous win for any facet of your health. More protein and fiber can help you stay full. Cutting back on added sugars and heavily refined foods can make it easier to avoid eating more calories than you realize. And replacing sugary drinks with water or other low-calorie options is a particularly easy win.

Sleep. Poor sleep can affect hormones involved in appetite, blood sugar regulation, and stress, giving your body another reason to favor abdominal fat storage. Similarly to a balanced diet, sleep is one of the pillars of good health, so if you have an extra couple of minutes, I’d check out our sleep edition.

Stress is another piece of the puzzle. Given cortisol's direct role in visceral fat accumulation via glucocorticoid receptors in abdominal adipose tissue, chronic stress reduction is a genuine metabolic lever, not just a general wellness recommendation.

ENDNOTE

Final Thoughts

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Until next week!

Adrian Macdonald | Team Dietitian | The 8% Newsletter Author