Q I'm a working mom in my late thirties. I don't gain weight anywhere else, but only my lower belly and love handles keep getting thicker. Why does it pile up only on my belly?
A As we age and lose muscle and hormones, fat tends to be stored in the abdomen before the arms and legs. Refined carbs, late-night eating, lack of sleep and stress all push this along even more.
Detailed Answer
After middle age, your basal metabolic rate drops and shifts in female hormones move fat storage toward the abdomen. Add long hours of sitting, late meals, sweets, poor sleep and chronic stress, and fat piles up on the belly first. It's hard to remove fat from just one spot with targeted exercise; you have to change your overall metabolism and lifestyle together for the belly to shrink.
Our Korean Medicine Clinic's Perspective
At Dongjedang, we understand belly fat as "surplus pooling where flow has slowed down." Buildup appears first where circulation is stagnant, so rather than management that only tightens the surface, we aim to loosen the stagnation, revive metabolism and empty what has accumulated, so it shrinks from the inside out.
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