A specific protein called glucocorticoid receptor helps the stress hormone cortisol control how fat is stored and broken down in body fat. This receptor is more abundant in the deep belly fat than in the fat under the skin.

Chronic elevation of cortisol preferentially promotes central adiposity due to the higher density of glucocorticoid receptors in visceral adipose tissue compared to subcutaneous depots.

Fat cells found deeper in the belly (visceral) have more cortisol receptors than fat cells under the skin (subcutaneous), so they respond more strongly to the stress hormone cortisol by taking in more fat and growing faster.

Your belly fat around the organs (visceral fat) has about four times more receptors that respond to stress hormones than the fat just under your skin, which might make it more sensitive to those hormones and affect how your body stores or burns fat.

The fat around your organs has four times more receptors that respond to stress hormones than the fat under your skin — which might explain why belly fat is harder to lose when you're stressed.

When someone has too much cortisol (the stress hormone) in their body, like in Cushing syndrome, the fat builds up in the belly area but disappears from arms and legs, giving them a distinctive body shape with a big belly and skinny limbs.