Gaining

I have a question for men who have a lot of subcutaneous volume, and less visceral - so if you have pudge and rolls, but not a large ball belly:

How do you think you achieved that?

Which advices would you give to someone wanting more subcutaneous fat?

I hear it is mostly genetics, but I doubt that. I hear it is a question of time, which is very possible. What do you guys think?

I'm sure there are people here who are far more qualified to give advice, but I've actually been developing pretty much the exact body type you're aiming for. I've gotten noticeably softer lately, and seem to be getting softer still. And apparently, other people have started noticing too, haha.

There's actually quite a bit of info on this exact topic in several other threads around here too, but here's what I think has worked for me:

- Healthy surplus with room to cheat: Try to maintain a moderate calorie surplus without gaining weight too quickly (which can be hard to resist, haha). Eat plenty of nutritious foods, including healthy fat sources like nuts and avocados, but absolutely allow yourself to indulge in some "sinful" cheat foods now and then.

- Keep training: Regular exercise, especially lifting weights and cardio, helps maintain muscle mass and can be particularly effective at reducing visceral fat (the fat surrounding your internal organs). Interestingly, visceral fat often responds more readily to fat loss than subcutaneous fat, partly due to differences in how fat cells respond to hormonal signals. So you may be able to keep plenty of that soft, squishy fat while reducing some of the deeper belly fat.

- Stress management: Chronic stress and elevated cortisol levels have been linked to increased abdominal fat storage, including visceral fat. It's not quite as simple as stress sending fat straight to your organs, but keeping stress in check certainly seems worthwhile.

- A little bonus tip (highly unscientific, haha): Give those fat rolls a little massage and jiggle them around now and then. Does it actually do anything? Absolutely no idea. But psychologically, I swear it makes a difference! 😂

Genetics may play a huge part, and there's only so much control we have over where our bodies decide to store fat. But from my own experience, lifestyle absolutely seems to matter when it comes to *where* the fat actually sticks!

I’d say genetics applies in most cases. My ball belly is all hard visceral fat like most men. My wife’s double belly is firm on top but soft and subcutaneous on the lower part.

I watched a video about Sumo Wrestlers (focusing on their diet and fat distribution) a while back and took away a few interesting points. Sumos have a large amount of subcutaneous fat compared to visceral, so they seem like a good group to investigate.

Sumos get a good amount of exercise (3 to 4 hours worth) before they have their first of 2 main meals. After lunch, they sleep for 3-4 hours before waking up and doing light training. They then eat dinner at about 8:00 to 9:00PM before they go to bed.

Their diets are extremely carb heavy and typically range from 5,000 to 10,000 calories (kcal) per day. They also tend to drink a fair amount of beer.

The timing of their meals, exercise and sleeping seem to be as critical as the composition of their diet. The empty stomach exercise promotes hunger, allowing them to eat a huge lunch and the immediate rest causing the energy from the meal to be stored as fat instead of burned by the exercise. This may also cause visceral fat to be burned preferentially during that morning exercise.

I have been trying to follow some of this pattern as much as possible — primarily the carb heavy diet and trying to rest or sleep after meals. The heavy exercise is certainly not happening, but if I have to do something physical, I try to do it before lunch.

Since I’m eating 5000-6000 calories per day, I end up stuffing myself silly and having a hard belly and distended stomach in the evening, but I’ve been getting considerably squishier as I’ve been gaining.