Surprising Fat Loss Facts
I often tell clients in Houston, Tx that the more they know about getting and staying fit, the better chance they have of being fit. That’s why I love to do these blogs, to provide that information. Here are some fat loss facts that can help you in your effort to shed weight. You may already know some of them, but others might be contrary to what you heard or knew. Use this information to arm yourself on the road to fitness and weight loss.
In order to lose body fat, you need to eat protein, carbs AND fat.
Most people think that just giving up fat will help them lose fat, but that’s not true. Your body needs fat, but only the healthy kind. Fat comes from other sources besides the marbling of a steak. Avocados, fatty fish like salmon, nuts and even butter made from milk from grassfed cows. Fat is important for your body’s health. In fact, the brain is 60% fat! Your body needs fat to make some vitamins available. It also uses fat for protection for organs, helping protein by acting as messengers, aiding in building muscles and starting the chemical actions in the body to run the immune system, the reproductive system, brain health, cell growth and basic metabolism.
No matter how many ab exercises you do, unless you lose weight, you won’t get a six pack.
Focusing on spot exercises will definitely build your abs, but nobody will see them if there’s a layer of fat covering them. Unfortunately, many people think that doing spot exercises, such as leg lifts, will burn the fat off the abs. That’s not true. In order to show off those beautiful abs you’ve been working on so hard, you have to shed body weight and there’s no way to make it come off just one spot on your body, it comes off the whole body. A healthy diet and exercise can help you get the abs you want.
Once fat cells form, the cells never go away, just shrink.
When you workout, you don’t turn fat cells into muscle tissue. You simply shrink the fat cells and build more muscle tissue. Sadly, studies show that fat cells are created quickly, but never go away, just shrink. It’s why people often have the problem of regaining the weight they lost. The regaining of weight is caused by the fat cells expanding to store excess calories consumed. Even though they’re always there, you can keep them from growing with exercise. Exercise builds muscle tissue, which requires more calories, so it won’t be stored in the waiting fat cells. That’s why making lifestyle changes is so important.
- People often think that running or other cardio is all they need to burn fat. The body doesn’t differentiate where the calories come from, so lean muscle mass is also burned. Strength building exercise build muscle tissue while burning fat. The more muscles you have, the more calories you burn.
- If you’re trying to lose fat, don’t choose low-fat/fat-free alternatives of whole foods. These foods can actually cause you to become fatter by stimulating insulin production.
- After strength training, the body burns more calories for up to 24 hours and the biggest percentage of those calories come from fat.
- HIIT—high intensity interval training—also burns high amounts of calories and continues to burn them after the exercise ends, just like strength training. However, that afterburn increases fat burning up to 24%.
Don’t get overwhelmed by trying to do everything at once. It’s one of the major problems I see in the clients in Houston. Fitness can start with small changes and have just as much of an impact as jumping into a program that changes several aspects of your life. The concept of fitness is a broad category with each person requiring a different focus. For the twenty year old, being able to run ten miles might be his or her idea of being fit, but for the senior, it’s probably something totally different. That’s one reason working with a personal trainer is important, just as identifying areas of your life that need improvement. There’s no right or wrong approach. It’s all about what’s right for you and it can begin with small changes at first.
If you’ve tried to lose weight before and failed, you know it’s extremely depressing. Now, you’ve added one more reason to the list of reasons why you’ll never be fit. Maybe you weren’t realistic or maybe, your goal wasn’t focused on specifics. You need both to successfully reach any goal, whether it’s fitness or not. Consider people that go to college to attain a degree. Most of them start with a specific program that suits their interest and understanding. They follow a program with specific classes necessary as the core. If you are a genius in science, but have no musical background, getting a degree in music isn’t realistic. Neither is getting that degree in two months. However, switching to a major based in science provides a realistic goal and each individual class is one step toward it, bringing you focus.
There’s a lot of discussion about whether you should workout on an empty stomach or eat a light meal or snack before you workout. One thing is certain, if you’re going to have a full meal that contains a high amount of protein, fat and carbohydrates, you’re better off eating it at least two to three hours before the workout. If eating at that time is not possible, as you get closer to the workout, make the meal lighter and simple carbs with some protein. Otherwise, you might find that you’ll have some stomach problems at the gym. Your stomach needs some of the blood for digestion, so both your workout and stomach suffer in the process.
Whether you live in Houston, TX or another part of the country, want to come to the gym or prefer to workout at home, you can transform your body with my help and the aid of modern technology. There’s no limit to where you can be when you use the magic of today’s technology and my helpful app. It will get you fit and swimsuit ready in no time. It’s created to help you reach your fitness goals no matter what they are.
If you’re reluctant about working out when you’re sore, you may have reason to worry. Then again, you may actually need to workout and get through the discomfort. The immediate thought is to take a rest, but the key to whether workout or not is just how sore you are. If it’s extremely painful to move, not only do you need to set aside your workout, you need to seek medical attention. Unbearable pain is not part of the program and may indicate a serious injury that needs care.
In Houston, Tx, we focus on both healthy eating and exercise. We also pay attention on what you drink, because it affects your body as much as what you eat. Of course, I highly recommend water and preach constantly to avoid sugary drinks like soft drinks. One other drink I often promote is green tea. There are benefits of green tea for both weight loss and health benefits that everyone should consider when checking for the best beverage with their meals. Some studies show that drinking green tea helps decrease body fat. It can significantly reduce not only body fat percentage and body weight, but also belly fat and waist circumference.
One healthy behavior most people fail to achieve is get adequate, consistent sleep. In fact, many people often think it’s almost noble to work too hard and burn the candle at both ends. The candles doesn’t last nearly as long that way and neither do people! Inadequate sleep is actually a health risk. The amount of sleep necessary varies from individual to individual, but it’s between 7 and 9 hour for adults with a rare few requiring only 6 hours sleep or at the other end of the spectrum, 10 hours.
Eating healthier and getting plenty of exercise is the starting point for having a healthier family and a healthier you. However, if you want to cover all bases, you need to create a healthy home, too. While Houston, Tx is still cleaning up after Harvey hit, with the flood waters hitting the petrochemical area and releasing tons of chemicals in the Houston area. While the government is investigating the full effect and steps to take on big issues like that and checking for mold and damage from the storm is part of recovery, there are things you can do to make your home healthier, even if you weren’t affected by the storm.
