OK...so...I have been reading today about how bad it is to have fat around the middle regardless of whether you are overweigh or not...but some of us are going to have a larger waist regardless of our weight loss due to genetics and/or menepause so my question...

If you have a tummy tuck or Liposuction to remove the fat around your waist, does that help to reduce the health risksassociated with having an apple shape? Could it be that simple? I'm not talking about using the surgery for weight loss...but to improve your health.

My understanding is that lipo does not appear to help reduce those risks. The last time I heard a study done on the matter was several years ago, however.

Hi Djay! Coincidentally, I read a study about precisely that question recently and the answer was no, that lipo can't remove the fat that causes health issues. Lipo sucks off surface fat but the kind of fat that causes problems is the deep fat that surrounds our internal organs. Apparently the only way to get rid of that deep, internal fat is good old diet and exercise.

I'll see if I can find a link to the study.

the last thing i read on the subject (which was a while ago) in something along the lines of a health related readers digest said that the fat in the midsection was not so much the fat on your misection but more along the lines of the what surrounds your organs. like beer drinkers have a beer gut? along those lines.

Here's an article from Time magazine about lipo and abdominal fat: Liposuction's Limits.

As for a tummy tuck, that's primarily for the removal of excess skin. Even though some surface fat might be removed with the skin, it wouldn't touch the deep fat around the organs.

In terms of diet and exercise, many women find that carbs, especially refined carbs, lead to excess fat in the abdomen so sometimes restricting carbs can help with ab fat. And exercise really seems to be the key to keeping weight off around the middle as we get older. I wish there was another way but sadly, I don't think we've found it yet.

I am in agreement with Meg. The "old" me was a carbaholic with a lot of scary internal fat around my middle. While I didn't go "low carb", I did balance my carbs (40/30/30) which added a lot of protein to my diet. Combined with faithful exercise, I was absolutely amazed that I could lose so much abdominal fat even though I was post-menopausal. It was a very pleasant surprise! Really mixing up the exercise helped a lot. Pilates, weights, resistance bands, aerobic dance, yoga, fitness ball, walking - the more different kinds - the more I enjoyed it and the better it seemed to work And - it still does - even though my weight has stabilized, my body is still changing - getting stronger and fitter