How frustrating is it, when you bust your butt for a few weeks, training hard and sticking to your diet, and your fat doesn’t seem to budge. It seems as though it doesn’t want to get burnt off. Why is that? Why is fat so stubborn and hard to lose?
The very answers to these questions will hopefully make your fat loss journey a lot easier.
To first understand why fat is so stubborn; we must know why it is stored on our bodies in the first place. The main reason why it is stored on our bodies is to prepare for times of starvation. It is our back up energy supply for when food is scarce. This was hardwired into our DNA thousands of years ago, when cavemen would have to survive days or even weeks grazing on whatever they could find until they made a kill.
The body is reluctant to use up its fat stores because it is our last ditch chance at survival when food is in shortage.
Problem is, dieting only makes this worse. The caloric restriction that comes with dieting makes our body fat even more stubborn. This is because it doesn’t know how long this period of food shortage is going to last for. So it is going to go out of its way to maintain its fat stores as long as possible.
The body then goes to extreme measures and breaks down muscle tissue to use as energy instead. This results in a loss of muscle, a slower metabolism and therefore makes fat loss even tougher.
So how then do we make our body want to lose fat?
It’s actually quite simple. Eat more. You see if the body sees that there is an abundance of calories coming in, it will think that it is pointless storing all this fat. It will then feel a lot safer at using up the fat stores for energy. Exactly what we want!
However, to successfully lose fat, we have to eat a calorie deficit. So to make the body feel a lot safer at using your fat stores, I recommend 3 solutions.
- Eat only slightly less total calories then you need a day. Cutting calories too far will only make our body fat stubborn. Just be patient. A good number would be to eat 15 calories per pound of bodyweight a day.
- Have a 1-2 cheat meals a week. Overeating once or twice a week, will again show your body that there is plenty of calories coming in, and there is no reason to panic.
- Burn a calorie deficit with exercise. Performing short, intense exercise is the best way to lose fat. It boosts our metabolism, and actually stimulates hormones that actually make our body want to get rid of our excess fat.
Hope this helps :-)
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