The stomach had to go. And not just anyone, but mine. Because where it was once tight and muscular, there was now a bulge – a little stronger every year. I still remember the feeling with which I stood in front of the mirror one morning after showering, wet and naked, looking at myself from the side. How I glossed over what I had already seen: Oh, that’s okay, I’m not overweight. But what still went through my head: Is the tummy still harmless – or already unhealthy? That day was now three years ago. Since then, I have studied bellies intensively – my own and those of others. There are thick, round, soft, squishy and firm. And because I wrote about struggling with my stomach in stern and on stern.de, people trusted me with their stories – readers, relatives, friends, distant acquaintances. The stories were similar. Only the number of kilos involved varied. Sometimes there were three, sometimes fifteen.
Many women and men struggle with their weight. The desire to get rid of the stomach is great. You only have to look around a pedestrian zone in Germany for five minutes and you will see: one in two people is too fat. During the paralyzing months of the pandemic, many gained weight again. According to statistics, 67 percent of men and 53 percent of women are overweight. Millions suffer from the fact that their midsection has become larger over the course of their lives. And more and more people are struggling with the question: How do I get rid of the excess weight?
Not just for aesthetic reasons, but above all for health reasons. As a science editor, I know the studies and figures on belly, fat and health. On average, women in Germany have a waist circumference of 90 centimeters, men around 100. That’s too much for both sexes. Women should be no more than 80 centimeters, men no more than 94. With every centimeter the risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes increases. There is even a connection between waist circumference and cancer. Apparently belly fat triggers processes in the body that make us sick. Long before the body mass index (BMI) indicates overweight.
It is becoming increasingly clear that BMI is a rather useless value. Because not all fat is the same. Whether it harms us depends on where on the body we carry it with us. The thing on the stomach in particular is likely to trigger a real tsunami of illness. What makes this belly fat so dangerous?
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