weightlessMD

Smarter health. Better results.

  • Shop
  • About
  • Mind
    • Stick to it
    • Picture your healthiest state
    • How to Create Healthy Eating Habits
    • How to Redesign Your Environment for Healthy Eating and Weight Loss
  • Movement
    • Workout Reviews
      • P90X3
      • Focus T25 Review
      • CT-50
      • Dailyburn
      • Dailyburn Live to Fail by Ben Booker Review
      • Dailyburn Black Fire
      • 7MWC
      • Skulpt AIM Review: Track your muscle and fat
    • High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) for Weight Loss
    • HIIT Tabata Training
    • HIIT Elliptical Workout
    • HIIT Burpee Workout
    • An Interval Walking Program: To lose weight, get strong and beat diabetes
  • Fuel
    • Low carb diet
    • Paleo Diet
    • Nuts and weight loss
    • Coffee and weight loss
    • Cayenne Pepper Pills for Weight Loss
    • Dark chocolate and weight loss
  • Lose Weight
    • Weight Loss Secrets from the National Weight Control Registry
    • Skulpt AIM Review: Track your muscle and fat

The Couch-Potato Dilemma: Inactivity proven to cause more belly fat

by Nick

​

The “couch potato.”

A term with universal American meaning coined in the ’70’s. The phrase was originally uttered by Tom Iacino to some close friends.

His friend Robert Armstrong, a cartoonist, drew it up and trademarked the term.

Robert Armstrong later illustrated The Couch Potato Handbook by Jack Mingo, and drove the couch potato movement.

“Couch potato” straight from the Oxford Dictionary:

A person who takes little or no exercise and watches a lot of television.

When you envision a couch potato, inevitably it’s a unkempt, beer-bellied man with potato chip crumbs on his abdomen and he's clutching a remote.

This is the quintessential sedentary man and could be the image that defines our era.

Certainly an unhealthy image . . . the abdomen in particular.

Abdominal fat or more precisely - visceral fat - is proven to be a bad actor.

The fat in your abdomen (around your organs) secretes pro-inflammatory cytokines and hormones that lead to diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and the metabolic syndrome.

In fact, if I were to pick a fat it would be subcutaneous, the fat just beneath the skin, which I guess we can call “healthier.”

Yes, subcutaneous fat is a “healthy fat,” at least compared to the disease-causing belly fat.

Unfortunately, it turns out that inactivity may lead to more of the visceral fat.

A recent study from the International Journal of Obesity showed that being inactive caused a preferential increase in visceral fat.

They took 24 male subjects and put one group on bed rest for 60 days, an extreme form of inactivity, while another group performed strength training. They completed DEXA scans on the subjects before and after to compare fat distribution.

The inactive group gained 29% more abdominal fat over the 60 days, but only gained 7% fat on the arms and legs. The active group . . . lost fat in the abdomen, arms and legs.

This demonstrates that living on the couch and being sedentary contributes to abdominal fat more than any other fat. By being inactive you not only gain unsightly belly fat, but presumably you increase your risk of disease.

Time to get off the couch and ditch the chips.

Best health,

Nick

Need to get off the couch?  

Take a look at the benefits of high-intensity interval training.   ​

For a fun, guilty-pleasure-kind-of-read get THE Official Couch-Potato Handbook:

The Evidence:

Preferential deposition of visceral adipose tissue occurs due to physical inactivity

Meet Tom Iacino, the Man Who Coined the Phrase 'Couch Potato’ from bon appetit

Filed Under: Mind, Movement, Obesity, weight loss


  • Email
  • Google+
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Recent Posts

  • The Mathematics of Weight Loss TEDx Talk with Physicist Ruben Meerman
  • 9 Sugary Foods Making You Fat (with Low Sugar Alternatives)
  • 5 Sugary Sauces Making You Fat (+ Low Sugar Alternatives)
  • 8 Sugary Drinks Making You Fat (with LOW SUGAR DRINK TIPS)
  • Green Coffee Bean Extract for Weight Loss

  • Email
  • Google+
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

LEGAL

  • Disclaimer
    • Medical Disclaimer
    • Testimonial Disclaimer
    • Terms Of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • External Links Policy
    • Earnings Disclaimer
    • E-mail Policy
    • Dmca Notice
    • Anti-spam Policy

Important Disclaimer: The information contained on WeightlessMD.com is intended for informational and educational purposes only. Any statements made on this website have not been evaluated by the FDA and any information or products discussed are not intended to diagnose, cure, treat or prevent any disease or illness. Please consult a healthcare practitioner before making changes to your diet, exercise regimen or taking supplements that may interfere with medications.

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

© 2013-2025 weightlessMD

Copyright © 2025 · Parallax Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in