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How does weight loss actually work?

A little more "complicated" about our body's ability to absorb and lose weight.

Many of us think that counting the calories consumed and ingested is enough for our body to lose less calories than it consumes. This is or is not the truth, or more precisely, part of the "truth".

 

What determines the amount of calories consumed?

There are only three components:

  • Basic metabolism (or metabolism), which provides energy for life processes and consumes the most calories;
  • Level of physical activity;
  • Ensuring digestive processes.

The basic metabolism usually exceeds the amount of physical activity many times over - so when trying to get rid of extra pounds, it is worth paying special attention to it. Speeding up your basic metabolismfor example, for 7%, an increase of up to 15 % in total daily energy consumption can be expected. Of particular note is the fact that calories will be burned even at rest and even during sleep. Muscles play an important role in speeding up basic metabolism. 1 gram of muscle fiber at rest consumes up to 17x more calories than 1 gram of adipose tissue.

In addition, 1kg of muscle takes up at least 2x less weight than 1kg of fat and a trained body also looks much better compared to an untrained body of the same weight.

 

Fat or muscle

The human body is designed to resist fat loss - in the early days of humankind, the ability to store fat was a matter of survival. The primitive people could not plan their meals, so survival required the accumulation of fat in order to do without food for some time. Fat was important for the human body to survive.

We store fat easily and we have to work hard to build muscle.

Depending on the nature and extent of exercise, our hormones determine whether we lose muscle or fat. Prolonged running, aerobics or intense mention of the bike's pedals will definitely cause you to lose muscle mass and possibly even be depressed. testosterone formation processes. Repeatedly such training can lead to chronic fatigue, decreased metabolism and weight gain.

On the other hand, 30 minutes of strength training will stimulate muscle growth, testosterone production - will increase the basic metabolism, which will be manifested by an increase in strength. Increasing your basic metabolism, in turn, will burn extra calories even at rest.

Muscle maintenance is very important, as mentioned above, the energy consumption of 1 gram of muscle tissue at rest is up to 17 times higher than the energy consumption of 1 gram of adipose tissue (Kcal). Studies (eg Chambel et all.1994) show that with an increase in muscle mass of 1.3 kg, metabolic activity increases by 7% and daily caloric intake increases by 15%.

Subject to the so - called fad diets muscle mass is mostly lost because it is easier for the body to convert it into energy. As muscle mass decreases, metabolism slows down, making it even more difficult to get rid of fat, as muscle mass that consumes more calories decreases, and fat mass that consumes almost no calories remains the same.

That is, as the metabolism slows down, it becomes more difficult to lose weight - even if the diet is followed, a person may become fatter and become physically weaker.

The sex hormone system and the insulin system play a key role in the weight loss process. Together with growth hormone, these two systems are the most effective in the process of losing weight. Different nutrients and exercise cause chain reactions in these systems that affect the body's functions, from energy stores and appetite to elements of quality of life such as libido. The tips summarized here will help you stimulate these systems with exercise and correction of eating habits.

 

Sex hormone system

The male sex hormone - testosterone and the female - estrogen, are found in both the male and female body and are responsible for many important processes in the body, this time we will focus on two. And these are the stimulation of muscle tissue synthesis and the burning or accumulation of fat.

Estrogen has a very high fat storage capacity. Because women have higher levels of estrogen than men, they have more natural body fat. Estrogen not only promotes fat accumulation, but can also inhibit the process of weight loss and fat loss.

Testosterone, on the other hand, has an excellent ability to promote fat burning, which is a natural advantage for young men over women when it comes to reducing excess weight. Men under the age of 30 can get rid of excess pounds quickly and effortlessly. Boys, especially adolescents with particularly high testosterone levels, can eat an unlimited amount with minimal weight gain. Testosterone helps to increase and maintain muscle mass, so the number of calories burned increases even at rest. The same hormone that gives young men their strong sex drive also helps them stay slim.

As you get older, sex hormone levels gradually drop from the age of thirty to forty. Adults who do not do strength training lose between 3 and 5 kilograms of muscle mass every 10 years (Forbes 1976 / Evans, Rosenberg 1992). As muscles weaken, injuries, injuries and back pain occur more frequently, excess weight increases, metabolism slows down and excess weight increases again.

Unfortunately, from time to time, various activities of excessive aerobic exercise, which are combined with different diets, become popular. By doing so, the body loses muscle quite safely and as a result, the amount of Kcal needed by the body decreases. Poor diet and inadequate exercise are likely to make you fatter.

The addition of testosterone in the body is determined by many factors. Studies have found that, for example, during a football game, testosterone levels rise for both teams and fall to normal for losing teams. The same thing happens with men who are fighting for a woman's attention. Their body's testosterone levels increase. A man who favors a woman retains high testosterone levels, but a loser returns to a previous state. In women, testosterone levels rise during ovulation, prompting them to have sex and conceive, as sex hormones encourage reproduction at the most appropriate times.

However, testosterone levels can also be increased through well-thought-out strength training and stimulating testosterone secretion and following a healthy diet, which in turn will stimulate fat burning, energy flow and increased libido.

The right choice is to increase muscle mass by reducing your total body weight. This can be achieved through high-intensity short-term exercises specifically designed to maintain, build and increase muscle mass. Such strength training for 30-45 minutes once or twice a week, combined with a healthy diet, will allow you to use the power of natural sex hormones and improve your quality of life.

 

Insulin system

The insulin system plays a very important role in the fat burning process.

After eating, insulin levels in the body rise to release excess sugar from the blood and transport it to the muscles and other cells they use as an energy source.Carbohydrates causes a strong insulin response as they are converted into sugar in the blood, causing a rapid rise in glucose levels. As soon as the body has provided the muscles and other cells with enough glucose, the excess insulin begins to be converted into fat. As insulin "protects" and builds up our fat stores, burning fat can become an almost unattainable goal as insulin levels rise.

This risk exists if you have poor eating habits. If carbohydrates are used properly, insulin prevents obesity. The insulin system responds differently to different foods at different times of the day. If eaten at the right time, carbohydrates can build up in the form of sugar to help the muscles exercise. If you follow a diet to control insulin levels, you may reduce the role of insulin in promoting fat accumulation.

How to regulate the insulin system by absorbing enough nutrients to support life processes, maintain and strengthen muscles and at the same time promote fat burning?

  • Eat protein-rich foods to help release the hormone cholecystokinin, which signals to the brain that there is enough nutrition. An additional benefit of such a food is that it does not increase insulin levels or promote fat accumulation. When eating foods that increase insulin levels, you may feel fed, as these products are full, but they do not release cholecystokinin, and you may soon feel hungry again. This has a negative effect on appetite: firstly, it causes more food to be consumed and therefore more calories ingested, and secondly, insulin stimulation can lead to the accumulation of calories in the form of fat.
  • Eat high-fiber vegetables or lean protein products - you will completely quench your hunger, while consuming relatively few calories.
  • Choose the right meal and snack time - 1.5-2 hours before training, because when the stomach is empty, insulin levels are low. If you eat a sugary snack before your workout, your insulin levels may peak, and the higher your insulin levels, the harder it is to get rid of fat. Exercising on an empty stomach encourages the body to burn less carbohydrates and more fat. You don't have to give up your favorite foods, just plan your meal time properly.
  • It is important to take 4-6 meals a day to keep your blood sugar and insulin levels independent of your insulin. You should not go without food for more than 3 to 4 hours, because if you have not eaten for too long, the body perceives it as an anxiety, a possible start to fasting, and insulin begins to actively build up fat reserves. Skipping a meal almost certainly guarantees that the body will build up reserves in the next meal and you will not lose weight, but in a moment it will have increased.
  • When you start strength training and change your eating habits, the change in weight does not matter, as it is likely to be a change in the amount of water in your body that returns quickly to normal within a day or two. It is purposeful to buy electronic scales that show the percentage of body fat and follow the dynamics of fat reduction over a long period of time.
  • Continuing strength training and the principles of healthy eating, from the third to the fourth week of weight loss should not exceed 500 grams per week. Weigh, for example, on Mondays in the morning after going to the toilet. Do not weigh every day - it only creates additional tension and does not reflect the dynamics of fat burning, but only the various conditions of the body's life support processes - the amount of water, intestinal filling, which is very volatile during the day. Too rapid weight loss is associated with many risks and side effects, which often lead to the opposite - weight gain.

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