How Long Does It Take Fat To Reach Your Waist?

Ever feel like your waist gets instantly larger after a big meal?  After a big Thanksgiving dinner I've heard people say, "I need to work out tomorrow to burn this off."  Can that work or is a day later too late?

University of Oxford researchers have discovered the average person can add up to three teaspoons of fat to their waist in just a few hours after eating their meal.  The time it takes from fat in a meal to convert to fatty tissue turns out to be far shorter than researchers originally thought.

Fat from the meal reaches the blood stream within an hour after consumption, and by the time 4 hours have passed, most of the fat has already been incorporated in our adipose tissue, mostly in short-term fat stores around the mid section.  Therefore your waist can get bigger much faster than originally thought by researchers. Yikes!

The researchers further found that the fat in those short-term storage areas around the waist could be used for energy during exercise, however if people continue to eat a lot of fatty foods the fat would transfer to the rear, thighs and buttocks for long-term storage. Let's face it: that is definitely not our goal! So what can you do?

Strategies to Help Trim Your Waistline

Exercising within a couple of hours after a fatty meal can help to prevent it from settling on your waistline.  Timing of food intake is important.  Right after a weight training session your body is burning at an incredibly high rate, burning calories and fat.  If ever there is a time to get away with eating a candy bar, you can do it right after a workout and you'll burn it off.

Other prevenative strategies:

• Never miss breakfast
• Try to eat dessert before 2pm as opposed to evening hours: give your body time to burn off fat
• Drink some protein before bed to help your muscle repair themselves overnight
• Read The Tiara Diary to see how my nutrition and workouts transformed my body!

Not sure if your waist is too big? Check out our Body Fat Calculator