Why You Store Fat Here, And How To Get Rid Of It

Name: Why You Store Fat Here, And How To Get Rid Of It
Uploaded: 2026-08-30T13:30:36.000Z
Duration: 13 min 18 s
Channel: Jeremy Ethier

Jeremy EthierAugust 30, 202613m

Topics6

Ranking Six Problem Areas for Fat Loss0:00 Visceral Fat - The Easiest to Lose but Most Dangerous0:00 Face Fat - A Three Out of 10 on the Stubborn Scale4:01 Upper Body Fat - A Six Out of 10 on the Stubborn Scale5:30 Love Handles - An 8.5 out of 10 on the Stubborn Scale8:31 Lower Belly Fat - The Final Boss of Fat Loss11:02

In a Nutshell

Fat loss difficulty varies by location due to receptor density and metabolic priority, with visceral fat easiest to lose (via calorie deficit + HIIT/cardio) and lower belly fat hardest, requiring 10-12% body fat in men. Upper body fat responds to muscle-building exercises plus moderate deficit, while love handles need tracked calories (10-13× bodyweight) and often V-taper training to appear smaller. Face fat improves fastest from simple sodium reduction and whole-food diets; overall, stubbornness ranks from visceral (1/10) to lower belly (10/10).

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Going from this to this can take as little as 90 days, but that's just one area. Your love handles, face fat, and even the fat hidden around your organs don't all come off the same way. The six biggest problem areas are ranked from least to most stubborn, along with the best training and diet strategy to improve each one.

Visceral fat sits deep in your belly, wrapping around your organs, pumping out inflammatory molecules linked to heart disease, diabetes, and even early death. Eric and Brian look pretty similar from the outside, but based on their scans, Eric carries 10 times more visceral fat, over 1,000 g, which puts him in the high-risk category for disease and health complications. Andy is a good example - he's actually pretty skinny everywhere, but his gut has gotten bigger and feels firm to touch since moving from Ukraine to North America. Andy actually carries more visceral fat than Eric, higher than anyone else measured.

In just a few months, Andy's visceral fat was cut down to about a third. Asians have been found to have higher levels of visceral fat, which might explain the pot belly physique that's common in many of these regions. When you overeat, especially sugar and saturated fats like fatty meats, butter, and deep-fried foods, the more likely your body is to store those extra calories as visceral fat. Brian eats a much cleaner diet with less added sugar and more healthy fats from foods like avocados, fish, and nuts, so any surplus calories are more likely to be put towards building muscle or stored as regular fat.

For visceral fat, diet changes can go a long way. Brian does one thing both Andy and Eric don't do at all - cardio. Since your body prioritizes health above aesthetics, visceral fat is actually the fastest to go. You can even start burning it without losing any weight. In 2023, researchers measured how effective different exercises were at burning off visceral fat, scoring them each out of 100. Lifting weights alone did help, but it was the least effective. Lifting weights plus steady-state cardio made it over twice as effective. The most effective exercises were intense forms of cardio, like HIIT or fast running and hard cycling. Even if you currently lift weights, add 15 to 30 minutes of cardio after your workouts. For the best results, at least once or twice a week, choose a form of cardio that really gets your heart rate up. It can be intervals or just straight hard cardio. Do not push yourself too hard right at the start.

The most reliable way to burn off visceral fat is still a calorie deficit. You may not even need to count calories yet. Simply cutting back on the sugary and high-fat foods while adding some cardio can often be enough. Dayton and Andy did this and within a matter of months, both cut their visceral fat by more than half. On the stubborn scale, visceral fat gets just a one out of 10.

Unlike visceral fat, which is invisible and hard to visually see progress, losing even a tiny amount from your face can make you look dramatically leaner. Even though only 1 to 2% of your overall fat is stored in your cheeks and chin, it has an outsize effect on how lean you look. Sometimes it's not even fat that's a problem. After eating a big salty bowl of soup with a lot more sodium than normal, the face becomes puffier and more swollen looking. Both faces are puffier, just a lot less defined, but no actual fat was gained. The salt caused the face to hold onto more water under the skin to balance out the salt levels, puffing them up. The biggest culprits of sodium usually come from takeout meals and pre-processed foods. Simply cutting back on that can quickly flush out the water the face is holding and look leaner within 24 hours.

Compared to areas like your belly and love handles, your face is actually one of the first areas you'll lose progress during a diet. Matson felt like his cheeks and chin genetically just stored more fat. In just 30 days, the fluid in his face was flushed out, and a lot of the actual fat was gotten rid of. He didn't even have to start counting calories. He just followed a couple simple rules. First, instead of eating out almost every single day, he started eating most of his meals at home using whole unprocessed foods. Second, instead of drinking calories from things like bubble tea and lattes, he switched over to calorie-free options like herbal teas, diet sodas, and Americanos. Melody followed a similar diet, and her cheeks are slimmer, her skin looks healthier, and even her jawline is more defined. On the stubborn scale, face fat gets a three out of 10.

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Why You Store Fat Here, And How To Get Rid Of It

Ranking Six Problem Areas for Fat Loss00:00

Visceral Fat - The Easiest to Lose but Most Dangerous00:00

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