Losing weight is easy — at least on paper. By limiting your caloric intake and exercising regularly, you should be able to reduce your fat cells. Unfortunately, various factors may complicate the results. Often, you will find that you have managed to shed weight from certain parts of your body, while some fat clings stubbornly to other areas. In this blog, board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Galiano shares three regions where fat is most likely to be resistant to diet and exercise efforts. He also explains which cosmetic procedures can help you to improve your body contours when a healthy lifestyle does not finish the job.
Abdomen
The stomach can be an especially difficult place to lose weight, as it has more fat cells than most other parts of the body. Furthermore, the fat cells around the midsection do not break down as easily as most fat cells. For both these reasons, you may find stomach fat linger even when weight comes off in other areas.
When it comes to losing stomach fat, try focusing on your diet over exercise. Unhealthy foods with excess fat, sugar and carbohydrates have a direct impact on the size of the stomach. Gaining weight around the stomach specifically could be a sign that you have insulin resistance.
Arms
Fat is also known to cling to the upper arms (from the elbows to the shoulders). Because testosterone is helpful in pushing excess fat cells into the bloodstream to be expelled from the body, women (and men with low testosterone production) are especially susceptible to arm fat. When low testosterone is the main reason for upper arm fat, even diet and exercise may not get you the results you would like.
Thighs
Again, women are more prone to developing thick thighs, and they also have sex-based hormonal differences to blame. During her teenage years, a woman’s estrogen production surges, boosting the number of fat cells in the thighs and buttocks. Theoretically, the fat should come by the time estrogen production drops around menopause; however, because the body’s metabolism declines with age, stored fat is not lost as easily.
Plastic Surgery Solutions
Thankfully, Dr. Galiano knows how to help patients who have stubborn fat around their stomach, arms and thighs. Liposuction is an effective procedure to remove persistent, unwanted pockets of fat. Dr. Galiano carefully crafts appealing contours while removing fat cells and, best of all, the results last indefinitely. If loose skin detracts from an attractive body shape, Dr. Galiano can pair liposuction with a skin tightening procedure like tummy tuck, arm lift or thigh lift.
To schedule a consultation with Dr. Galiano in Chicago, please call (312) 926-4382 at your soonest convenience.
