Why Women Store Fat in the Belly

Ever wondered why women seem to build more fat in the lower body, specifically the belly? It’s not just the genes, so don’t look to your ancestors for someone to blame. It’s your gender and what years of evolution have granted upon the female sex of our species that have a lot to do with why women build belly fat.

Fat and the female body
Every person, regardless of whether you’re a man or a woman, has a body that was designed to carry and store fat. Fat is used for insulation, not just to provide a layer of protection for the inner organs and tissues but also to protect it against outside elements. Fat also serves as the body’s food, to be used in case a person starves.

Women tend to store more fat in the belly because they are naturally predisposed to do so. Women are naturally built to have a smaller percentage of lean muscle and a higher percentage of body fat compared to men. Not only that, female fat cells are 5 times bigger than the male’s.

Not only are female fat cells capable of holding more fat, they are also genetically programmed to do so. It all comes down to compounds called lipogenic and lipolytic enzymes. Although these enzymes are present in both sexes, women’s bodies have two times the number of lipogenic or fat-carrying enzymes and only half the number of lipolytic or fat-releasing enzymes.

Women also tend to collect fat around the belly because of their baby-carrying function. A woman needs the extra fat cells to nurture a growing fetus and help bring it to full term. This trait of storing fat in the belly was also passed down from early women ancestors who needed to hold extra body fat in that area to survive drought or famine. This trait has since passed down from generation to generation and is still apparent today.

Tags: belly fat, women weight loss

[image from wandernut