If you haven’t already noticed, people tend to accumulate weight in four different ways:

 

  • around the belly (lower sagging)
  • around the belly (higher roll)
  • around the hips (saddlebags)
  • around the entire body equally

 

In this article, I’d like to give you some insights into these different body shapes.

Fat has a useful purpose, believe it or not. Its main purpose is not insulation or as a cushion. Rather, its principal purpose is as an energy reserve. The body reserves energy to help you survive. The body also uses stored sugar for energy, but this is very limited. The preferred source of fuel is sugar over fat. The body will ALWAYS use sugar before fat, so tapping into fat requires avoiding sugar, even in small amounts.

 

Of the four different body types, really only one is made from sugar. This is the sagging lower belly, which is Adrenal. The Adrenal type will do this in two ways:

1. Turn the body’s own protein (leg muscles, just above the knee) into sugar.

2. Take out stored sugar from the muscles and liver.

 

These two sources of sugar then trigger insulin to change it into fat around important organs—which happen to be in your gut.

 

The rest of the body shapes usually come from other causes. For example, the higher-roll belly, which wraps around the stomach and into the back, is more of a Liver body shape. When the liver is stressed, it will either give you a top roll, as seen in many women, or a potbelly, as seen in many men. In the case of men, this is usually water weight, not fat. I had a patient come in recently weighing nearly 400 pounds and he had only 37 percent body fat—not too bad. But his water weight was off the charts.

 

The hip and thigh fat is more of an estrogen fat, which is a superficial, just-under-the-skin cellulite type. Estrogen makes fat, and because women have more estrogen receptors, you see this body shape more in women. In fact, I’ve ONLY seen this in women.

 

The last body shape is weight all over. When the thyroid breaks down, it starts holding waste fluids in the cells all over the body; this is called myxedema. This could come from excess estrogen too, as estrogen blocks the thyroid. It’s very rare to have a primary thyroid problem nowadays, unless the person has been exposed to radiation, has had some medications that gave them a side effect, or has had DES (diethylstilbestrol). DES was the estrogen drug given to mothers in the ’50s and ’60s. I have observed a mother who took it and her offspring were affected as well. 

 

If you take a healthy person and start feeding them grain carbohydrates or even heavy starches like potatoes, they will put on weight either all over or in the stomach area. However, it is superficial and won’t necessarily distort the body into an abnormal shape. It’s only after long-term use that the body really distorts and becomes very stubborn. If the person can lose weight easily with healthy eating, it means the gland control has not been damaged. It is only when gland damage starts that a person will have a difficult time.

 

Dr. Eric Berg
Dr. Berg on the web: www.drberg.com
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Dr. Eric Berg is a chiropractor who specializes in weight loss, nutrition and pain relief. He has taught as an associate professor at Howard University. He is the developer of the Acupressure Stress Elimination Technique (ASET) and has trained hundreds of healthcare practitioners. Dr. Berg is the author of the new book The 7 Principles of Fat Burning. This information is provided as information only and may not be construed as medical advice or instruction. No action should be taken based solely on the contents of this publication. Readers should consult competent healthcare professionals on any matter relating to their health and well-being.