Walking Doesn’t Reduce Belly Fat
Walker’s belly develops due to non-engagement of all muscle groups during walking
Walking (or brisk walking) has often been advised as a method of amping up your fitness levels. It’s not only a form of cardio exercise, but has great mental health benefits too. However, it has been often noticed that though walkers gradually shed the kilos, their abdominal regions retain the fat. In fact, there is a term for it — walker’s belly. It is described as an unusual bloating or stubborn fat accumulation in the abdominal area despite regular walking.
How does it develop?
Dr Jagadeesh Kumar V, senior consultant physician & diabetologist at Kims Hospitals, explains: “Walkers belly is more like central obesity, with deposition of fat in the abdomen. There’s a significant level of physical activity awareness nowadays among people to decrease fat and get free from diabetes. Walking is considered the easiest activity and followed by many. But if we look at the involvement of various muscle groups in walking, it’s confined to more in the lower body, sparing the upper body completely.”
Sedentary lifestyle
The doctor adds that our modern lifestyle also plays a role in developing a walker’s belly. “Our smart lives have significantly decreased day-to-day activities involving our core muscles and upper body muscles like latissimus, rhomboid, and pectorals. Poor posture and prolonged sitting posture because of high demanding jobs has decreased daily utility of various groups of muscles. Until people are involved in different high energy sports activities like football, basketball, swimming or core strengthening exercises, maintaining abdominal group of muscles is very difficult.”
The kind of food you eat also determines how fat is deposited in the body. Increased intake of processed and ultra-processed food leads to deposition of fat in the belly. “Walkers belly is a simple sign of lack of core strength, anterior pelvic tilt, exaggerated lumbar lordosis and possible metabolic diseases. Planning activities that involve all group muscles is required to tackle this,” adds Dr Jagadeesh.