Everyone walking on the face of this earth has an abundance of fat cellsSo what is the real solution? It's simple – you must understand how fat cells work and how to get past the plateau phenomenon and defeat this last bit of body fat, that we often call stubborn fat.
I have worked with many clients and I would say most of them have a good amount of stubborn body fat. This fat is literally "programmed" to be very difficult to lose. It seems to remain on our bodies no matter what we do, hence the word stubborn fat. Modern diets and weight loss programs almost all seem to work in the beginning, but then they never really address this crucial part of fat loss – the last bit of stubborn fat.
Stubborn fat develops when your hormonal pathways are broken down. Age does play a role in this: Fat deposits increase and become more resistant to fat loss methods as you get older. This you have little control over, but some things that lead to stubborn fat development are under your control. Yo yo dieting is one of them. Losing weight on crash diets and then regaining it – often known as the "rebound effect" – will only increase stubborn fat in the long run. A decrease in exercise and activity level also compounds the stubborn fat problem. This is why people who crash diet on low calories and refuse to exercise and move their bodies, often have the worst stubborn fat problems of all.
Our ancestors really never had to deal with this problem because they moved and engaged in physical labor as a regular part of daily life, whereas technological conveniences and the modern lifestyle have caused many of us to become lazy and inactive
Stubborn fat is metabolized extremely slowly and is resistant to the hormonal
process that takes place while the fat burning process is started up. To burn
fat, the adrenal hormones better known as adrenaline and noradrenaline, attach
to the fat cell receptors and essentially "open them up" so the fat can be used
in the energy pathways. There are two kinds of receptors in your fat cells: one
is alpha and the other beta. The beta receptors are much more active and respond
to adrenal hormones. To lose body fat, the adrenal hormones switch on and the
body begins to use fat as energy. However, in the case of people with stubborn
fat, this does not occur, so no body fat is lost.
According to my good friend and colleague Ori Hofmekler, author of the warrior diet, "stubborn fat" has a lower ratio of beta receptors to alpha receptors." Therefore, your body's hormonal "fat dissolver," adrenaline, will not be able to enter the fat cell and open the door. Ori also points out that "to make these matters worse, stubborn fat has more estrogen receptors which cause even more stubborn fat."
If all this sounds bad enough, what makes it even worse is that if you indulge
in the typical modern diet and sedentary lifestyle, this often results in
reduced insulin sensitivity (read my past article on Insulin Sensitivity for
more information). Added on top of everything else, your fat tissue becomes so
incredibly resistant to your attempts to lose it, it seems like you will be
stuck with it forever.
Diets fail because they only look at the caloric reduction side of the equation. You need to understand the other variables in the equation – exercise and lifestyle. You need to understand the deeper issues you are really dealing with. Getting rid of stubborn fat is not nearly as simple as just slashing calories and dieting. Stubborn fat is the result of a complex interplay of biological and hormonal processes – all of which are affected by how you eat, how you move and the type of lifestyle you lead.
Now that you understand why you have stubborn fat, right down to the hormone and receptor level, the question is "How do you alter your nutrition, exercise and lifestyle to get rid if this resistant body fat?" The answer will be found in part two. Stay tuned.
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