i see many people with pretty big bellys, and many that are fairly skinny other than their gut.
however, for instance, my dad has one but it is solid! his stomach protrudes from what used to be his natural waist about 4-6 inches i guess. but it is not all fat! only the outer 1-2 inches or so feel flabby. i mean, if it was all fat, it would not protrude outward so far, but rather it would tend to “droop” down first and foremost, correct?
what’s the deal? does he have impacted feces? does he have backed-up undigested food in there??? are his organs enlarged? stomach muscles stretching out from not being used for years, letting his organs droop out? what’s the deal?
It’s densely packed fat. Put enough of that crap in a small space, and it feels solid.
I’m pretty sure that most of the fat is on top of the muscle. However, there is fat under the muscles of your waist, but that’s not as bad as the fat under your skin (I think).
I’m so ashamed for posting something that I know damn well isn’t true in GQ. Please excuse me.
That being said, I don’t think you’re going to receive a better answer than the one that mangeorge has already supplied.
On a related note, some studies have shown that a “beer belly” (which is more accurately called “central obesity”), is related to insulin resistance, and is an indicator of a higher risk of type II diabetes.
dense fat? i’m not an expert, but i have to say that doesn’t sound right. i think fat is always a certain density, isn’t it? at least for a given individual, he won’t have some dense fat and some not so dense… just doesn’t sound right. anyone know?
I don’t think fat its self varies a whole lot in density, but people can retain water (exactly where/in what tissues or skin layers I’m not sure) resulting in a swollen and very hard, tight feel to the area. I’ve felt this before and can say it feels even tighter and harder than obviously lean well muscled areas on others - since the skin seems so tight it doesn’t have that loose feel to it (like when you make a fist with one hand, then grab your forearm with the other and twist it so your skin slides around).
So going strictly by feel isn’t a very good indication of how much muscle a person has; you’ll be able to find literally “tighter” calves on a 60 year-old overweight woman with fluid balance or circulation troubles than you can at a Mr. Universe contest.
You can see this condition on the lower legs of such people fairly easily; I beleive it shows up there first since it’s a natural pooling area for fluids that the heart/veins can’t quite pump back up to the top very easily. They often have thickened ankles too, and their legs look sort of like so:
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I’d say that if you can’t see the outlines of the muscles in a person’s belly, it simply can’t be “all muscle”. We all have stomach muscles of course, but a muscular human midsection has more or less a six-pack pattern to it, not a christmas turkey look.
Another thing that can cause a swollen but tight feel to the gut is simply being stuffed! If you ever eat so much you have to undo your pants and lay down for a while, feel your belly - it’ll feel pretty tight and not give much.
I don’t know exactly what fills up the space inside the beer belly of an otherwise skinny guy other than fat, but I’m quite sure that a guy who looks and feels on the outside like he’s swallowed a basketball is full of it if he tries to tell you it’s all muscle (and I’ve met some who’ve tried).