How do I know if I have visceral fat?

Measure your waist. Visceral fat sits deep in your belly, around your liver and gut, so you can’t pinch it or see it in a mirror. A waist over 40 inches for a man or over 35 inches for a woman raises your risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. A tape tells you more than your weight does.

Why it’s easy to miss

Two people can weigh the same and carry very different amounts of fat inside. A normal weight doesn’t rule it out. In a 2025 study of 471,228 adults in 91 countries, 21.7% of people with a normal BMI had a big waist. Compared with normal-weight people with a normal waist, they had 81% higher odds of diabetes and 29% higher odds of high blood pressure. That study counted a waist of about 37 inches for men or 31.5 inches for women as big.

How to measure

1. Stand up straight and breathe out.
2. Put the tape around your bare middle, just above your hip bones. Keep it level and snug, without pressing in.
3. Compare it with 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women, or use the waist check.

A waist tape is like a smoke alarm. It can’t show you the fire, but it’s cheap and it tells you when to act.

What about the number on my scale?

Treat a home scale’s visceral fat number as a rough estimate. In a 2023 lab test of 15 devices, the same scales missed total bodyfat by several points. A CT or MRI scan can measure visceral fat directly, but you don’t need one to act on a big waist.

Can you get rid of it?

Yes. A 2017 review of 89 studies found visceral fat falls by a bigger share than the fat under your skin when you lose weight, whatever the method. So the same plan that takes off any fat shrinks it first: eat a little less, lift and walk, and check the tape once a month.