Why You Are Overweight

We need to understand this about the human body. That for most of the time during its evolution food was scarce and as a result our bodies have become very efficient. Unused muscle tissue shrinks, unloaded bones lose density, thickness and strength. Unused tendons that hold things together lose strength and tear more easily. Unused brain neurons and nerves degenerate and die and red blood cell count goes down if oxygen demand is low.

The old adage is true that the human body is a use-it or lose-it machine. Muscle tissue loss, loss of aerobic capacity, overall decline in metabolism (the bodies engine), and becoming overweight are all lack of use related.

If you are overweight, your fat cells are already full and they don't want to store any more fat so they become less responsive to insulin. Insulin is the important hormone that transports blood glucose (sugar) to the muscle cells to be used for energy. But if the muscle cells have been allowed to shrivel from lack of use they cannot take up the extra sugar from the blood.

What would they do with this fuel anyway? If their owner is not doing enough muscle building and maintaining activity there is no need for fuel to be burnt for energy so every gram of it is stored as more and more body fat.

So, the simple solution to being overweight is to get started on a proper program of strength training exercise that works your muscles so they can burn off the excess fat. If the thought of working your muscles is not appealing to you then you need to get used to being overweight for a very long time. No amount of dieting or 'cardio' type activity such as walking, jogging or cycling will ever get rid of the fat and you will be very disappointed in your results if you try.

To support your exercise program so you have enough strength and energy to work hard enough to make the necessary changes to your metabolism you need to eat small meals. These small meals should each contain around 20 grams of protein and be eaten every 2-3 hours throughout the day.

This is the opposite of dieting and rather than cutting back on food just cut out the junk and the highly processed foods. Replace this with more raw and cooked vegetables and high quality protein sources. Eating this way will give you lots of energy so you can become much more active and actually enjoy your exercise program. This is impossible to do if you are not eating right, are missing meals or eating too much sugar and fat.

This is way more than a quick fix, it is a lifestyle change. Without doing this you will never be slim, it's as simple as that, but if you make these changes slowly it is much easier for your body and brain to accept.

Remember success is 100's of small steps and each time you exercise and each time you eat a healthy meal it is one of those steps. Each one taking you closer to that slim, lean, strong and healthy body you desire.