Body Shape and Weight Loss

Three Body Types

Shapes are personal and go beyond the usual apple and pear. Women can have three typical body shapes - upper body fat, lower body fat and both upper and lower body fat. Men usually only get upper body fat. The upper body stores fat in times of stress and some people can lose and gain weight rapidly in the upper body.

The lower body fat in women responds to female hormones such as estrogen and progesterone and stores fat for breastfeeding with a newborn baby. Women who have both upper and lower body fat will lose their upper body fat first. Women with more upper body fat tend to have more muscle than women with lower body fat and will need more protein in their diet to help control their hunger.

Losing weight is harder if you have lower body fat rather than upper body fat, but the medical benefits of losing your upper body fat are greater. The upper body fat around the intestines, which is seen on the outside as an increase in waist size and on the inside with special x-rays called CT scans, is very specialized in function. This fat tissue sends fatty acids to the liver and causes changes in your insulin levels that affect how much fat you store versus how much fat you burn.

When you have too much of this fat in the body, it can also cause inflammation in many tissues, including the heart. Losing weight around your neck, fact, chest and waist usually goes along with losing fat on the inside as well. So as you look better, you are also improving your health tremendously.

Discovering your shape

Finally, there are two more body shapes to consider. The shape you can change and the shape you can't change. It is important to know the difference and work on the shape you can change, while adjusting your wardrobe and attitudes to the shape you cannot change. People come in all different shapes and sizes. Due to low metabolism, many women with lower body fat can't lose weight just by cutting calories. These lower body-fat cells are resistant to both exercise and diet. Only a personalized program can help make sure you get enough protein to control cravings and build or maintain lean muscle.

- Source: Adapted from Herbalife Today Magazine by Dr David Heber, author of "The LA Shape Diet"