Back to the basics
Many of you who are regular at any gyms has heard this trendy term Fat Loss. The good hearted trainer will always explain to you the difference between weight loss and fat loss. You nod your head in the knowing and you work hard, try to eat right, your weight goes down a bit too, but when you get on your fat scale, you look at it with your mouth wide open and ask yourself rather the trainer what the hell went wrong? How did I get so fat?? So does this sound somewhat similar I am sure many who’s reading this article right now has faced this dilemma sometime or the other, when your fat percentage just stubbornly refuses to descend , all it wants to do is climb up higher and higher .
Yea, this happens to every one of us at one point of life or the other.
So this article is going to try to help you with really how the Fat works and how we can try to effectively trim it down.
Before we go there, it is always better to get educated first, remember the saying pen is mightier than sword. So in order to bring your enemy down you need to study him first, know what he means and what is business is . That gives you an edge over him. Similarly with our bodies, we jump into any diet or exercise routine without knowing a thing about our own body or what do we really need. so kindly give it a moment to go through the next section mindfully understanding in depth what and how fat works.. I am sure that’s all you need to know to bring about the change.
What is Fat?
Fat is a tissue that is needed by the body for a wide variety of functions such as temperature regulation, shock absorption, etc.
Purposes Of Fat
Fat is a tissue that is needed by the body for a wide variety of functions such as temperature regulation, proper reproductive capabilities (particularly in women), shock absorption, the regulation of other nutrients and to maintain healthy skin, hair and nails.
In comparison to men, it is true women naturally are prone to carrying more fat. Get the facts here about what fat is, who has more, hormonal effects, and more.
The amount of required body fat for the body to stay living (essential body fat) is around 3% for men and 9% for women. Going below these percentages and you will be asking for problems to occur. Women in particular start to see menstrual irregularities when their body fat drops to single digits such as when preparing for a fitness competition. This will put them at risk for problems such as osteoporosis and should be avoided at all costs.
Types Of Fat
There are two types of fat that you can have on your body, white fat and brown fat.
White Fat:
White fat is important for energy metabolism, heat insulation and cushioning of the bones and organs. The white fat cells that make up this fat are large cells that do not have a great deal of cytoplasm. Instead, one small fat droplet composes about 85% of the cell, while the nucleus and cytoplasm make up the rest.
What Is The Nucleus?
Specialized structure occurring in most cells (except bacteria) and separated from the rest of the cell by the nuclear membrane. The nucleus controls and regulates the cell’s activities (e.g., growth and metabolism) and carries the genes.
What Is Cytoplasm?
The material within a biological cell that is not contained in the nucleus or other organelles.
Brown Fat:
Brown fat on the other hand is found most often in newborn babies and is located between the shoulder blades. This fat’s purpose is to generate heat to keep them warm. Its cells are smaller and contain a great deal of mitochondria and thus are more metabolically active. They also contain numerous small fat droplets as opposed to one large one seen in the white cells.
What Are Mitochondria?
Mitochondria: The spherical or elongated organelles in the cytoplasm of nearly all eukaryotic cells, containing genetic material and many enzymes important for cell metabolism, including those responsible for the conversion of food to usable energy. Also called chondriosome.
Fat Development:
An important point to make is that after you have developed all your fat cells, usually occurring around puberty, you no longer produce any more fat cells as they only become larger (and for the majority of people all that is left now is white fat cells).
Fat Storage
So now that you know what fat cells are, I bet you are wondering how they are stored in the body.
When you consume food that has fat, the triglycerides enter into the blood stream and get taken to the intestines. There, they get mixed with bile salts from the gall bladder and then form smaller molecules called micelles. After this happens the pancreas secretes enzymes that are called lipases that then target the micelles, breaking them down into their counterparts of glycerol and fatty acids.
Pancreas
The pancreas is a glandular organ that secretes digestive enzymes and hormones. In humans, the pancreas is a yellowish organ about 7 in. (17.8 cm) long and 1.5 in. (3.8 cm) wide.It lies beneath the stomach and is connected to the small intestine at the duodenum. Most of the pancreatic tissue consists of grapelike clusters of cells that produce a clear fluid (pancreatic juice) that flows into the duodenum through a common duct along with bile from the liver.
These new molecules then get absorbed back into the intestine and are reassembled together in a package that has a protein lining. This new molecule is now called a chylomicron. These are then released into the lymphatic system which eventually brings them to your veins and then into the blood stream.
They cannot enter directly into the bloodstream once the chylomicron has been formed because they are too large to cross the wall of the capillary.
Now that they have entered into the bloodstream, the next process is to be stored in the body as the dreaded body fat. These chylomicrons stay in the bloodstream for a short time period, usually lasting around 8 minutes because the enzyme, and then lipoprotein lipase breaks these fat molecules into fatty acids once again.
Insulin:
Whether or not these enzymes are present to break the fat molecules down however depends on yet another substance, insulin. Insulin is a polypeptide hormone that is secreted from the pancreas that helps to regulate the metabolism of carbohydrates and fats.
Carbohydrate Metabolism!
Like all things, there is much debate about the amount of carbohydrates one needs. One’s carbohydrate intake should be decided after taking many other factors into consideration.
When you eat rapidly digesting carbohydrates, insulin has a tendency to sharply increase and when you eat slower digesting carbohydrates along with complete sources of protein and fat then insulin levels stay more stable.
Now, when insulin levels are high, for instance if you just ate a bag of gummy candy, these lipoprotein lipase enzymes are going to be high as well, thus enhancing fat breakdown and storage. This is a significant reason why eating a food that has very simple carbohydrates along with a great deal of fat (think Big Mac along with a large Coke) is not ideal since you are virtually enhancing the chances it goes to fat (assuming you are not in a caloric deficient and the calories are needed at that time for fuel energy).
Overeating Carbs Or Protein:
Keep in mind that it is also possible for the fat cells in your body to also take in glucose and amino acids from protein and carbohydrates that you have consumed. This process is by no way limited to only fat molecules, therefore eating to much of any food, be it carbohydrates, proteins or fats is not a good idea if preventing fat is a concern.
Ok so this was all about Fat and what and how diet can influence us in maintain optimal fat percentage of the body.
So again will summarize in points about the kind of diet you need to keep your fat percentage optimal:
- Completely avoid junk food and sodas of all kinds.include fresh fruits and veges instead.
- Have more complex and slow to digest carbs rather than simple ones. Very less of sugar and salt. Add fiber to all your meals.
- Eating balanced meal ,.spreading it throughout the day in small portions
- Staying very mindful of portion sizes.
- Including more lean protein, plant or animal.
- Including good fats such as flaxseeds, omegas, nuts, olive oil . and so on ( in small portions)
- Never starve ( this definitely leads to fat storage)
- You can do intermittent fasting or a day fasting, its good for fat metabolism, but you must know the right way to do it . do some research and then plan for it.
- Eat slowly and mindfully.
- Drink a lot of water , lots and lots .. it will shed fat and keep toxins away .
Now that we have a checklist for what to eat , we come to our most asked question what kind of exercise will help me lose more fat ?
Sorry to disappoint you guys but there is no one kind of workout available to lose body fat.
Like we already know this each of us have a different body type with different amount of fat and muscles and bone densities … none are alike , we are all unique in that sense also to some length our DNA matters in where we gain and store more fat .but regardless of all this we can and must work hard to reduce our overall fat percentage as having more fat can only be helpful if we were living in the north pole .
Guidelines for effective workout routine :
- To lose body fat doing intense short circuits and interval training is a must.
- ADD endurance training atleast twice a week such as cycling, running, swimming , power walking ..
- 3 – 4 times strength training a week , start lifting heavier , less reps. Do compound workouts.
- Do core and back training daily
- Include stretching , balancing and flexibility
- Add plyometrics and isometrics , helps a lot when you have less time .
- Always try and engage as many muscle groups as you can in one set of routine.
- Do HIIT intervals atleast 2 days in a week alternate it with only body weight exercise on the other day
- Sit less and more more .
Basically you need to stay active , build more muscles and do some really kick ass high intensity workouts several days in a week to burn body fat more efficiently .
I have included this chart below of ideal body fat percentage from ACE.
Ideal Body Fat Percentage Chart #1: ACE
The chart below from the American Council on Exercise (ACE) is one of the most commonly used body fat charts.1 As you can see, women have a higher body fat percentage relative to men for a given level. Women have more fat because of physiological differences such as hormones, breasts, and sexual organs. In addition, women need a higher amount of body fat for ovulation.
In my opinion, I think body fat is one important measure of health, but stating a certain body fat level is “unhealthy” doesn’t give the whole story. In fact, some overweight people who exercise can be healthier than their leaner non-exercising counterparts. Conversely, to imply that anyone who has a six pack (below 8% body fat for men), is very athletic, and eats well is “under fat”, or “unhealthy” is a stretch. We all have different shapes, sizes,
and fat distribution profiles, but I think the chart above is a good starting point.
The limitation of the ACE chart is that while it takes into account gender differences, it does not take into account your age, which is exactly why I included the next chart.
You may have noticed as your age increases, your acceptable body fat within these ranges increases as well. Why you ask? In short, these charts are based on statistical assumptions. Older individuals tend to have a lower body density for the same skinfold measurements, which is assumed to indicate a higher body fat percentage. Older, athletic individuals, however, might not fit this assumption because their body density may be underestimated.
Conclusion
So now that you understand what fat is and how it works, hopefully you will be able to use this knowledge and apply it to your own situation to not only promote better health but also a better physique.
But as always remember numbers are not everything so this is only a guideline which you can use for your reference , rest depends on knowing and understanding your body and giving it exactly what it needs is the right way to a better, and healthier lifestyle.
Hope this article has been helpful in providing the necessary information regarding your health .
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