How do I know I have the type of abdomen fat that can be removed with lipo (or even the noninvasive "lipo"s)?

Your question is very common and is best answered during a consultation with a Plastic Surgeon. Everyone has visceral and subcutaneous fat. The proportions and their distribution determine the best strategy for looking your best. Deciding if liposuction or non-invasive fat reduction options are good for you requires a consultation. Best regards,Dr. Mosher

   A physical exam would be necessary to make this determination.  The good news is that it is rare for a person to have substantial visceral fat and very little subcutaneous fat amenable to liposuction.Find a board certified plastic
surgeon who performs hundreds of liposuction and liposuction revision
procedures each year. Then look at the plastic surgeon's website before
and after photo galleries to get a sense of who can deliver the
results. Kenneth Hughes, MD Los Angeles, CA

You can usually tell how much subcutaneous fat you might have by
grasping and rolling skin and fat together with two hands. You may have
to slump forward to keep the skin loose enough. If you are able to
grab these layers, and especially if you can slide the whole thing up
and down, you're holding external fat. The fullness that
doesn't move, that is deeper than the layers you are holding, is the
abdominal wall. (Clench your abs to be sure.) This group of muscles
contains the internal or visceral fat. If most of your fat is external,
rather than internal, you can have it removed by surgery or nonsurgical
methods. Surgery could include liposuction and or abdominoplasty.
CoolSculpting is our preferred nonsurgical method.You are
correct that plastic surgery cannot remove visceral fat. A final
consideration is abdominal wall looseness. Some abdomens are relatively
firm and won't change much with deep muscle tightening, while others
improve dramatically with suture tightening during abdominolasty.
"Sucking in your stomach" can give you some idea of the amount of change possible. After
you've made your own diagnosis, consult an experienced board certified
plastic surgeon and seek his or her opinion and recommendations.