Why belly fat is so dangerous – and how to get rid of it

This text comes from the stern archive and first appeared in January 2022 in stern PLUS.

The belly had to go. And not just any belly, but mine. Because where it had once been firm and muscular, a bulge was now forming – getting a little bigger every year. I can still remember the feeling I had one morning after a shower, wet and naked, standing in front of the mirror, looking at myself from the side. How I talked myself into something I had already seen: Oh, it’s OK, I’m not overweight. But what was still going through my head was: Is my little belly still harmless – or already unhealthy? That day was three years ago. Since then, I have been thinking intensively about bellies – my own and those of others. There are big ones, round ones, soft ones, flabby ones and firm ones. And because I wrote in Stern and on about struggling with my belly, people confided their stories to me – readers, relatives, friends, distant acquaintances. The stories were similar. Only the number of kilos in question varied. Sometimes it was three, sometimes fifteen.

Many women and men struggle with their weight. The desire to get rid of the belly is great. You only have to look around a pedestrian zone in Germany for five minutes to see that one in two people is too fat. In the paralyzing months of the pandemic, many have gained weight again. According to statistics, 67 percent of men and 53 percent of women are overweight. Millions suffer from the fact that their midsection has become more voluminous over the course of their lives. And more and more are tormented by the question: How do I get rid of the excess weight again?