Research

Energy balance

A 3-month low-calorie diet (1,200–1,500 kcal/day) significantly reduces the thickness of intra-abdominal preperitoneal and visceral fat layers in obese women, with preperitoneal fat showing the strongest correlation to overall weight loss.

If you are an obese woman aiming to lose weight, a strict low-calorie diet (1,200-1,500 kcal/day) for 3 months will effectively reduce dangerous intra-abdominal fat. While waist measurements might not change dramatically, internal fat layers shrink significantly. Use sonography if available to monitor this specific loss, as it is more accurate than waist-to-hip ratios for tracking visceral fat reduction.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
All the abdominal fat layers, particularly the intra-abdominal P fat, will decrease in response to loss of body fat by dieting.
Nuran Sabir et al. · Journal of Clinical Ultrasound · 2002

Why this rating

Randomized controlled trial design with objective sonographic measurements and statistical significance.

Source

Sonographic assessment of changes in thickness of different abdominal fat layers in response to diet in obese women

Nuran Sabir et al. · Journal of Clinical Ultrasound · 2002

DOI 10.1002/jcu.10129

cohort · n=40Cited 33×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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