No! this isn’t an article about fruit, but it is about your body shape, known as having an apple or a pear body shape.

I have the apple shape, as I have a large tummy area, but have slim hips and legs. People with pear shapes have slimmer waists and wider hips.

You might be thinking it does not really matter what body shape you are, as we are all different aren’t we?

Unfortunately for us apple shapes, there is scientific evidence, that, our body shape does matter a great deal.

The body normally stores what is known as subcutaneous fat that lies just beneath the skin. This is healthy normal fat, but when we have excess subcutaneous fat under our skin due to weight gain, then this is considered to be unhealthy.

If you are overweight and you are an apple shape, then it is possible that you might also be storing another different deposit of fat, called visceral fat. Visceral fat is said to accumulate around the internal body organs. Really it sounds very unpleasant all round. Excuse the pun!

However this type of fat is much more harmful then subcutaneous fat and hangs stubbornly, around the tummy area. This fat gives a person the typical apple shape of the abdomen area. Commonly mostly known as the ‘beer belly’ in a man.

At this point you might know already by looking at yourself whether you are a typical apple shape or not but if you want to check, then the best way to do this, is to measure around your waist.

Place a tape measure around your stomach and across the level of your belly button. If you have a waist size above 31in for a woman and 37in for a male then you have, what is termed as having abdominal obesity?

This is a serious concern for us apple shapes as visceral fat is associated with metabolic syndrome, that is linked with having a number of health problems; heart disease and type 2 diabetes and fatty liver, being the more serious ones. Once you have this visceral fat it becomes very difficult to remove it.

Moving the visceral fat

If you are an apple shape and have this visceral fat then it is recommended that you should ideally try to reduce your waist size. By reducing your waist size it is thought that you will immediately be reducing the health risks by consequently breaking down the visceral fat.

It is not possible to reduce your waist size by exercise alone. It is recommended that you combine some form of cardiovascular exercise with restriction in food intake.

Interval training is one of the most effective methods for fat burning. This is easy to undertake as interval training can be done in 10 minute bursts of activity and does not require a membership to a gym.

By checking your waist measurement weekly, you will be able to monitor your success and ultimately your health gains.