Featured image credit (the blue plate): Total Shape
You can find a ton of advice for losing fat on the Internet or elsewhere. And I’m sure you’ve tried some without success. These 3 fast fat loss facts will help you reach your goal this time. People see body fat as something awful and useless. Body fat is crucial to survival because it’s an organ that helps to create different hormones. When you see thousands of years ago, it was the element that kept our ancient ancestors alive.
Our ancient ancestors often traveled for several days without food. They went through a lot of starvation moments. They kill an animal, eat it, and their bodies store excess fat to have the energy to survive until the next animal.
This genetic programming is still within us, but our behavior has changed. Now we have non-stop access to food. And some companies are adding chemicals to make food “addictive”. This is why the number of overweight people is increasing.
You can’t reprogram your genetics, but you can lose the excess fat to have a healthy body fat percentage. It’s difficult and easy at the same time. The best way to reach your goal is to understand three facts about the fat loss process. This information facilitates your progress.
These three facts are:
- Energy balance
- Macronutrient balance
- Change your food consumption according to your body’s reactions
Fact 1: Energy balance
Eating more energy than you burn will make you gain weight. Eating less energy than you burn will make you lose weight. This principle explains the relationship between fat storage and fat burning. With it, you have the basics to find your energy balance and create your diet plan to reach your goal.
When you eat, your body goes into the postprandial state. It’s when your body digests food. Postprandial is two words: Post means “after” and prandial means “having to do with a meal”. It’s also called the “fed” state.
During the postprandial state, your body uses part of the energy from food to increase its fat storage. ” Fat-storing mode ” is the name of this process.
After the postprandial state (digesting) and stock fat, your body goes into the postabsorptive state. Postabsorptive means “after absorption”. It is also called the “fasted” state. In this state, your body uses its fat stock for energy.
Your body switches between fed states (digestion) and fasted states (after absorption) several times in the day. Your body stores small amounts of fat from meals, and, burns small amounts after food energy runs out. Now you know how your body stores fat, fat loss is easier.
Fact 2: Macronutrient balance
This is the way your body turns the food you eat into protein, carbohydrates, and dietary fat. When your goal is to lose fat and gain muscle, energy, and macronutrient balances are important.
Protein
Many studies show that a high protein diet is better than a low protein diet. Here’s the effect of eating more protein:
The amount of protein you eat increases when you exercise because your body wants more. Besides, when you have a calorie deficit to lose fat, you need to adjust your amount of protein to keep your muscles. The protein is also useful for sedentary people. With age, they lose a lot of muscle when they don’t eat enough protein.
Carbohydrate
Carbohydrates or carbs have four main forms. Here is the list:
- Monosaccharides
- Disaccharides
- Oligosaccharides
- Polysaccharides
Monosaccharides, start with the simplest. Mono means “one” and “saccharide” means “sugar”, so “a sugar”. They have a simple system. There are three monosaccharides: fructose, galactose, and glucose. Read What words to know in fitness (Part2) to have the definitions of these words.
Disaccharides mean “two sugars”. You can find them in nature as lactose, maltose, and sucrose. Read What words to know in fitness (Part2) to have the definitions of these words.
Oligosaccharides are fragments that contain many monosaccharides linked like a chain structure. Oligos means “a few”, so “few sugars”. You can find some oligosaccharides in fiber plants. And you can also find them in vegetables in the form of fructooligosaccharides. Fructooligosaccharides contain a small chain of fructose molecules
Polysaccharides are a long chain of monosaccharides (10 or more of these sugars). You often eat polysaccharides in the form of starch and cellulose. Starch is the energy store of plants and cellulose is a natural fiber found in many plants. Your body converts starches into glucose. But, the cellulose passes intact into your digestive system. Your body converts all these types of carbs into glucose. Except those that are not digested.
Dietary Fat
You need to eat enough to stay healthy, but you don’t need to have a high-fat diet. Here are two types:
- Triglycerides
- Cholesterol
Triglycerides are the main body fat in humans. You can find them in different foods like nuts, seeds, meat, etc.
They have two forms: solid (saturated) or liquid (unsaturated). Your body uses them to create hormones, absorb vitamins, keep your hair and skin healthy, and more.
For instance, eggs, dairy, or meat have solid fats (saturated) and liquid fats are liquid oils.
Cholesterol is a waxy thing found in every cell in your body. Your body uses it to create hormones, and vitamin D, and to digest your food.
Decades ago, scientists thought that food containing cholesterol was bad. They thought cholesterol increased the risk of heart disease. But new studies have shown something different. For example, eggs have been more and less acquitted. Read this one, egg consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease. Proteins, carbohydrates, and dietary fats are the main macronutrients in your body. I hope this fact has helped you to better understand how your body works. Fat loss and/or muscle gain are on your way.
Fact 3: Change your food consumption according to your body’s reactions
Change the number of calories and macros you eat often for these two reasons:
- The results of the formulas to calculate your macros and calories are indicators. Your body may need a little more or less than the result of the calculation to start the process.
- The great skill of your body is adaptation. Something that worked before can’t work overtime.
For point A, your metabolism may be slower or faster than expected by the formulas. You can have many spontaneous activities that you think of such as making a phone call and walking. Or your hobbies/work can burn more energy than you think. Usually, you underestimate your energy expenditure, so don’t hesitate to adjust often.
For point B, your body can react to stop your weight loss and slow your metabolism in case of calorie deficit. This is the first reason why weight loss programs stop working.
The same thing in the case of a surplus of calories. Your body can react to stop weight gain and speed up your metabolism. This is the first reason why weight gain programs stop working.
It’s a lot of information but don’t worry. The good news is that you don’t have to do it all when you start losing weight. The simplest way is food consumption. Change your macros and calories based on your body’s reactions. If you want to lose fat and can’t, try moving more or eating less. If you want to gain weight and you can’t try to eat more. Don’t hesitate to change your food quantities to continue the fat-loss process.
Share this article if you think it can help someone you know. Thank you.
-Steph