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.

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.

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.

Fat cells before they fully form have special receptors that can detect stress hormones like cortisol, and these receptors work about the same way as they do in other parts of your body — meaning they’re ready to respond when needed.

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.

In women, the fat cells around the belly have fewer receptors for stress hormones than the fat cells under the skin, which might explain why belly fat builds up differently than other kinds of fat.