How to Get Rid of Stubborn Fat
A friend of mine who I went to high school with is now in the Israeli army. He had started over a year ago, but when he started he had over 40 pounds to lose (not to mention a bunch of fitness tests to prepare for). By taking my advice, he was able to lose a good chunk of that weight, and now is much leaner, stronger and faster. But some areas of “stubborn fat” remain.
So today’s newsletter will teach you how to get rid of this stubborn fat. This is specifically for you if you’ve lost a significant amount of weight, but some parts of your body are slow to let go of fat. This is also for you if you’ve been lean for a long time, but just one or two parts of your body carry more fat than you’d like.
Original Source: Here.
Keep in mind that what I’ll explain below is overly simplified, and we might take a different approach if we were working with you in person, so if you’d like to get a more individualized and tailored approach, fill out this form to see if you qualify for our services.
Spot Reduction
Before we dive right in, let’s address spot reduction. Spot reduction is the idea that you can get rid of fat covering a certain muscle just by working the muscle underneath the fat. So if you have belly fat and you want a flat belly just do abdominal exercises.
In the old days, we would say “nuh-uh, no way, impossible.” Now we’re not so sure.
It’s true that you won’t get rid of the fat covering a muscle by doing exercises for that muscle, but there is some promise with a couple of different approaches.
Enhanced Blood Flow
Want to learn a word that will impress all of your friends? Repeat after me: “beta-adrenergic receptor” (adrenergic is pronounced: ad-ree-ner-jik).
This is a receptor that is present in all of the body. What does it do? It allows a hormone called “noradrenaline” or “norepinephrine” to bind to it. Think of a lock and key. It’s like that.
When the “key” fits in the “lock”, blood rushes to the area. When blood rushes to the area, it increases warmth specifically in that area, and so more fat is recruited from that area.
One of the reasons stubborn fat is so stubborn is that the area where the stubborn fat is has fewer beta-adrenergic receptors. So there’s less blood flow in that area, and therefore more fat.
Want proof? Here are two studies:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9781324
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10817155
How do we address this lack of blood flow?
Do 30-50 repetitions of an exercise for the area where you have stubborn fat. Follow that up with 20-40 minutes of cardio.
The high repetitions rush blood to the target area. The cardio afterwards increases blood flow even more.
This is a method I learned here from Dr. Lonnie Lowery.
The Hormonal Connection
I’ve mentioned this in numerous newsletters in the past and if you’ve been to my talks, you may remember this as well, but where you store your body fat can tell you about your hormonal profile. Here are the correlations:
Triceps = testosterone
Pecs (chest) = aromatase in men (this is an enzyme that converts testosterone to estrogen) and “bad” estrogen in women (there are actually 3 different types of estrogen, and it’s balance that’s important)
Subscapula (under the shoulder blade) = genetic tolerance for carbohydrates. The lower this measurement, the more carbohydrates a person can tolerate.
Mid-axillary (over the ribs) = thyroid
Supra-ilium (love handles) = insulin. The more insulin you secrete, the higher this area.
Umbilicus (belly) = cortisol (stress hormone). This is usually what most people want to reduce when they ask how to lose belly fat.
Knee and calf = growth hormone (my clients who’ve had the knee measured are laughing now. They know that if they’ve been drinking, their knees get fatter 2-3 days after)
Quadriceps and hamstrings (front and back of the thigh) = estrogen
Once we know your hormonal profile, we can adjust your exercise, nutrition and supplementation to your profile. This is a methodology called “biosignature modulation.” Different profiles require different approaches.
For instance, a person who stores fat primarily in the love handles will need a different method of training, slightly different foods, and different supplements than somebody who stores fat primarily in their buns and thighs.
There you have it. Two different approaches to helping you lose stubborn fat. If you’d like professional help in figuring out how to lose stubborn fat by combining exercise, nutrition and supplementation, fill out this form to see if you qualify for our services.
