5 Reliable Ways to Lose Fat

Fats been everyone’s concern. A lot of misleading information and tips on ways to lose fat are available. It could work, but not for a long run. The thing is that fat are essential for survival, and thats what our body know. So if we are dieting or following an intense workout routine… what happens is we go against our survival instinct. So our body starts slowing down our metabolism (burning processes).

If you read stubborn fat?! post, you’ll know that I wrote briefly on hoe to lose weight but scientifically… However, I know this isn’t what you need to know 😉 we need to know what we should do to target some of the annoying areas to be fit, healthy and tight…

for sure, exercising by its own isn’t the solution. and same goes with dieting… these two should be done in a way that makes our body understands WE NEED TO LOSE FAT, and not we are starving so it slows the metabolism…

For us to lose FAT, not water, and not muscles, we need to raise the levels of a hormone called Hormone Sensitive Lipase (HSL). This hormone speed up the release and the breakdown of fats. You will know how to raise it as you read this post 😉

Proper diet routine

One thing that needs to be in mind… both works TOGETHER…

Keeping in mind, there is no magic food that helps in burning fat. Don’t let anyone fools you claiming that a drink can make you lose fat. There is no such a thing…Another thing that needs to highlighted… Eating fats does not make you fat 😉

Anyhow, since our aim is to release HSL to burn fat…eat whatever makes your insulin levels under control. What I mean is watch out your carbohydrates intake. The problem with Carbohydrates nowadays is the constant intake that does not allow the insulin levels get back to normal… we rely a lot on this macro-nutrient. The breakfast does include carbs, then lunch, and I’m sure that it does have big portion of carbs. And same goes with the dinner. Not forgetting the snacks. And that will obviously favor fat storing in our body.

What you can do instead, try to have at least one meal with no carbs. Not including vegetables… there full of fiber and that an exclusion. The carbs that I’m referring to are sugar, bread, rice… the ones that spike your insulin levels. And by the way, insulin inhibits the action of HSL !!!

Furthermore, include proteins in your meals. Meat, eggs, legumes, any protein you like and move…exercise to build muscles. and when I say build muscles, I don’t necessary mean body building.. this is too extreme 🙂 Anyhow, it will help in fat breakdown. Read more in How protein boost your metabolism?

Exercise

Exercises raise adrenaline levels which in turn raise HSL levels that helps in burning fat.

Whether you are following light intensity workout routine or high intensity, you will lose fat. As long as your body is switched to fat burning mode. And thats achieved when your physiological state is favoring fat usage. Meaning, insulin levels are normal. HSL is available and high. Sugar in glycogen is depleted….. The best thing I think you should do is mixing between the both. However, focus on the high intensity exercises. These exercises keep your body in the burning mode even after the exercise.

Resistance training also helps in burning some fats. Remember, it helps in building muscles and therefore, increase fats breakdown.

Don’t take it hard on yourself. Start slowly and lightly…. then gradually increase the intensity of your workout… we don’t want you to get hurt ;).

Fasting

Fasting is a religious habit. Many regions fast for different reasons. And now it is confirmed to be healthful. I believe you are familiar by now with intermittent fasting and its benefits on health. intermittent fasting is when you eat at certain times and you fast the rest of the day. Whats common is you eat for 6 hours and fast for 18 hours.

What happens in our body is, that when we fast, the body looks for any storages to make energy. It starts with sugar storages and then… when sugar storages are depleted… it starts to burn fats for energy. Moreover, since your body is sugar-poor while you fast; as result your insulin levels are low and HSL levels are high…Remember, we need this raise in HSL for the body to understand that we need to lose fat. Therefore, it facilitates the usage of fat stores as energy. Fasting alters your hormones which makes everything favors the release of your fat stores, ready to be broken down to energy.

Fasting has other benefits “if it done right” like detoxification, treatment for obesity, blood glucose control, reduce oxidative stress and inflammation which in turn helps in the treatment of diabetes.

I just it has to be done right. Because fasting, doesn’t mean when you, you can eat everything… careful we don’t want to overeat neither eat emotionally… these are the biggest mistakes when it comes to health… we don’t want to feel guilty after our meals.. food should be enjoyable, satisfying and pleasured… read more in 8 Tips For Healthy Eating post

Sleeping!!

Yes, sleep….isn’t it surprising?!!!

What is common is getting enough of sleep is one of the elements to be healthy. We have to get enough sleep, in order to stay healthy. However, How it helps in losing fat?

According to Amy Paturel, she shared in her article, if you are sleep-deprived. Your brain is tired, so it loses control. Sleep is like food to brain. Which then, makes you crave food… any food you find it satisfying and most probably SUGAR, high carbs and energy dense food.

I think it is not the only reason why we crave food. If you are staying up… time is passed since you last meal and you are getting hungry 😉

But How we lose weight or fat by sleeping? when you are sleep-deprived, your cortisol levels spike ( a hormone released when you are under stress). This hormone favor fat storage :0 Additionally, it increase your appetite and cravings…

Many evidences are available assure the importance of proper sleep. As it guarantee the success of a weight loss intervention and should be taken into consideration when one decides to start a diet. Its explained during your sleep, your growth hormones are high. Which in turn increase the HSL levels.

and here is an extra tip 😉 eat your last meal early. At 6-7 PM. DON’T SLEEP till 10 PM or even later. And try to walk for 15-30 min before bed. No need to exaggerate. light walk… At that time your body is depleted with all sugar storages which raises the HSL levels that forces the body to uses fat storages for energy.

Breathing

Breathing is a component of healthy lifestyle. It reduces stress, improves attention and other health benefits. It is found that breathing suppress appetite.

Many studies concluded with a reduction in body fat after following breathing exercises or yoga exercises.

A nutrition coach, I really respect, once shared from a chemistry perspective what breathing is essential for fat burn. Digging into chemistry briefly….

Fat consists 3 elements. They are Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen. And for it to be burned, you will simply exercise… When you exercise, you sweat. This sweat is basically water. Which means it is H2O. The Carbon is still in our body and should be released… So our body makes the carbon leaves as CO2… Which is a compound that we normally release when we breath 😉 Thats why breathing is important during exercise.

In sum,

Fat are tricky when it comes to losing them. our hormones needs to shift in a way that favor the usage of fat storages. and thats happen if you followed the above ways… keeping in mind that it takes time… you will probably see results in 4 to 6 months. If you read stubborn fats?! post, you will know why…

References

• https://www.webmd.com/diet/sleep-and-weight-loss#:~:text=Researchers%20found%20that%20when%20dieters,and%20their%20energy%20was%20zapped.
• Chaput, J. P., & Tremblay, A. (2012). Sleeping habits predict the magnitude of fat loss in adults exposed to moderate caloric restriction. Obesity Facts, 5(4), 561-566.
• https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/intermittent-fasting-and-weight-loss#bottom-line
• https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/breathing-exercises-for-weight-loss#bottom-line
• https://fitbod.me/blog/how-does-cardio-burn-fat/