Samantha Saint
See this? This is a Victoria’s Secret model. And guess what? Even she has little rolls on her stomach when she’s sitting up. Some girls think they’re going to never have anything on their stomach to “pinch” when they lose weight, and that’s an extremely unrealistic expectation. You have skin on your body to protect you. You’re always going to be able to get a pinchfull of skin no matter how much you diet and work out. It’s unnatural to not be able to. It shows you’re healthy.
So please, stop thinking your body will be like plastic when you’re done dieting or get to your UGW. You will always have areas that have some extra skin, no matter what. It’s because you’re healthy.
Adipose. Known by the English speaking world as: fat. So, let us learn a little bit about it and then learn how to reduce it on our bodies.
Adipose is stored by our bodies in times of excess to ensure our survival in times of need. An overweight person is more likely to survive long medical therapies like chemotherapy thanks to the excess of energy stored by adipose cells.
As a general rule, fat cells do not increase or decrease in number (note: it’s not impossible for either of these to happen, it’s just not common) instead they just grow or shrink in size. They are given excess sugar to store as energy by insulin and energy is removed for use in the body by glucagon (both produced by the pancreas.)
So, why the run down? I think it’s important (and super fun… because I’m a geek) to know a little bit about your body part of interest before you change it. :D
Since we now know that sugar is what is most commonly stored as fat, we can make a pretty good assumption on how to control our level of fat.
- Reduce your sugar intake. (No… NOT FRUIT!!! Fruit is fine thanks to all that fiber!) But other sugars should be reduced (they don’t have to be removed completely!) This includes white sugar, brown sugar, sugar in the raw, honey, maple syrup and agave nectar.
- Have a reasonable carbohydrate intake. Carbs break down into glucose and glucose is sugar. Now, don’t go all psycho on me and play the low/no carb game. That’s what we call a fad diet and as soon as you start eating carbs again, you’ll bloat up. Patience and moderation is needed when it comes to changing your body! Reduce your carbs to about 55% of your daily calorie intake. America is a carb loving country and many people do eat too many carbs… but it’s not an all or nothing system! (YAY!) So have your carbs, but learn to eat them throughout the day and try to not have it as the main course of your meal.
- Make sure you’re getting enough fat. Wait… what? Yup… fat. Eat it! Healthy fats. The unsaturated fats are your new friend, say hello! Olive oil, fish oil, nut and seed oils… you need essential fatty acids (EFA’s or the Omega 6 and Omega 3) to help you lose fat. Crazy, right? Well… not really, when you think about it. EFA’s aid in digestion, in the function of your thyroid gland, liver, kidneys and helps lower cholesterol. Your brain is 60% fat. Whoa! Ha ha, fat head. No, totally true. Your entire nervous system depends heavily on EFA’s. EFA’s cannot be synthesized by the body and must be found by way of a dietary source. Please don’t skip out on your fats!!! I actually take a supplement since some fats are only available from meat and dairy (like CLA.) Make sure you’re getting your fat!!!
- Exercise! Cardio is not the devil (okay, maybe it is… for some of you) but it’s not going to eat your muscles unless you do it to excess. Cardio is great for keeping your heart and lungs strong, and when done with the right intensity and for the right amount of time (this will vary greatly by person and fitness level) you will help kick the unwanted layers of adipose. Also ensure you are doing strength training. Muscle has a high energy demand and will help you to burn fat. So, what does that actually mean? your resting metabolic rate will increase over time and your body will eat up adipose easier.
Hope this helps my awesome anon who asked!
Cheers,
~Bonnie
