Fat Burning Hormones and Weight Loss

Fat Burning Hormones and Weight Loss

by Dr. George Best

Your body's fat burning hormones and fat storing hormones battle each other to determine whether you gain fat or lose it. The balance between these hormones is the determining factor in the success or failure of an individual's weight loss efforts. Though there are more fat burning hormones than fat storing hormones, the fat burning hormones individually are weaker in their effects than the individual fat storing hormones. As a matter of fact, the effects of all of the fat burning hormones combined can be completely blocked by high levels of insulin, the strongest of the fat storing hormones.

By understanding how the fat burning and fat storing hormones interact, and the factors that control their effects, you will be better prepared to identify and correct the mistakes you may be making in your weight loss program and thereby obtain the most efficient fat burning.

For the purposes of this article, I'm going to concentrate on maximizing the effects of the fat burning hormones. The primary ones are adrenaline, thyroid hormone, growth hormone, glucagon, testosterone, and insulin-like growth factor. While a detailed explanation of how each of these hormones works is beyond the scope of this article, there are some basic factors that will promote the fat burning effects of these hormones.

To stimulate the release of the fat burning hormones and to maximize the action of them, there are three major factors to consider. These are diet, exercise, and sleep.

With regards specifically to your fat burning hormones, the diet aspects may not be what you are expecting. When it comes to the hormones that stimulate fat buring, the most important thing is promoting the health of the liver. The liver processes and activates many hormones, including the ones that promote fat burning. An overworked liver becomes less effective in processing hormones and the effects of the fat burning hormones may decline as a result. Of course, drinking too much alcohol or consuming too many medications will hurt the liver, but many people are unaware of the damaging effects to the liver of a diet that is too high in fat and/or animal protein.

For example, perhaps you or someone you know has tried the Atkins diet and did well at first, but then reached a point where they stopped losing weight or even started gaining weight. Unfortunately, the Atkins diet is very hard on the liver when you stay on it for a long time. Despite the fat that the low-carb aspect of it is good in general, the high consumption of fat and animal protein combined with the lack of healthy nutrients and dietary fiber from vegetables and fruits will gradually overwork the liver, reducing its effectiveness in processing and activating the fat burning hormones.

Minimizing the effects of the fat storing hormones requires other dietary considerations, but when it comes to enhancing the effects of the fat burning hormones, the priority is to maintain the healthy function of the liver.

In addition to diet, the proper form of exercise is critical to maximizing the work of the fat burning hormones. There is some controversy about what type of exercise is best to promote fat burning. While scientific research indicates that low intensity, high duration exercise at the "target heart rate" is the most effective type of exercise for fat burning, we need to make a distinction between the fat burned during an exercise session and the overall fat burning effect of an exercise session.

Low intensity, long duration exercise does burn more fat than high intensity, short duration exercise or interval training during the exercise session. But because of the hormonal effects of high intensity exercise, the overall fat burning effects of high intensity exercise are considerably greater than for low intensity exercise, even when the low intensity workouts are much longer. High intensity exercise significantly enhances the function of certain fat buring hormones and raises the body's metabolic rate for 12 to 24 hours, so increased fat burning continues for up to a day after the workout is completed. With low intensity exercise, the fat burning effects mostly stop at the completion of the workout. So, a single high intensity workout can produce many times the fat burning effects of a low intensity workout.

The effect of sleep is closely tied to the effects of high intensity exercise on fat burning. High intensity exercise stimulates the release of growth hormone, which we mentioned earlier is a fat burning hormone. The liver converts growth hormone to another fat burning hormone called insulin like growth factor, which causes the body to burn fat to maintain your blood sugar levels when you go for long periods of time without eating. The usual time when people consistently go the longest without eating is when they are sleeping. When you do not get enough sleep, you don't produce as much insulin-like growth factor, and don't burn as much fat.

For most people, about 7 hours of sleep per night is enought to provide maximum effects from the fat burning hormones. Because of the effects of light on the pituitary gland (which produces growth hormone), nighttime sleep results in better production of growth hormone, and therefore results in better fat burning effects. Night shift workers are advised to make their sleeping area as dark as possible for their daytime sleeping.

To sum things up, in order to maximize the effects of your fat burning hormones, the best action steps are to eat a healthy diet that supports the function of the liver, to do high intensity exercise, and to get adequate sleep. Failure to do so will decrease the effectiveness of your fat buring hormones and frustrate your efforts to lose weight.

About the Author:

For more information about how lose fat and how to increase the effects of your fat buring hormones, visit Dr. Best's website and get his free Ebook, The Total Solution For The Weight Loss Impaired.

How to build muscles and gain mass

How to build muscles and gain mass

by Vince Delmonte Review

So you've taken a whack at the treadmill and ripped up the weight room a few times, with little or no results. Or perhaps you,ve been in and out of the gym for years, always hoping that the world of muscle mass and serious strength was just around the proverbial corner - but never quite believing it. Your eyes were bound to drift, sooner or later, to the sweating, gleaming behemoths that seem to have all the size you could ever want, and wonder whether the problem was in your genes instead of your training methods. Just how did they manage to get so big?

Well, genes have a very significant part to play in the game of getting and keeping those much sought-after slabs youd like to add to your shoulders, back, chest, arms and legs. The good news is that having a spectacular physique is something thats within just about anybodys reach. Take a look at Lou Ferrigno. In his teenage years, he was puny beyond belief, but by dint of consistent effort he managed to give Arnold Schwarzeneggar a run for his money in that much celebrated Olympia pose-off so beautifully recorded in the 1975 documentary Pumping Iron.

Now, science has come a long way since the Pumping Iron days. Our understanding of the biomechanics of weightlifting, as well as of how the body utilizes various kinds of nutrition and chemical stimuli has progressed by light years. The science of size has never been more complete, or more confusing. Fact is, looking at the methodologies of those gleaming behemoths, of elite bodybuilders and so on, will be the most misleading tack you could possibly take. Their approaches, as is appropriate to one advanced in the sport, focus on intensity, on using a few simple exercises with colossal weight to cause maximum damage to muscles that have learnt to ride a wave of constant adaptation.

The optimal focus for a beginner in the gym is not strength so much as ROM (Range of Motion). A joints ROM is the range within which it can smoothly, in a controlled manner, move any substantial weight, be it ten kilograms or one hundred. Were talking about the ability to perform a full bench press without popping your shoulder, to get your chin up and over the bar, to lift your leg slowly into a kicking position rather than just throwing it up there. Once this initial active flexibility and control has been established, youre much more likely to get through those intense workouts without hurting yourself.

The best approach to developing a good ROM in crucial exercises like the squat, bench press, military press and so on, is to spend a good period of time stressing form while working with light to medium weights. Studies show that initial gains in strength from workouts occur more as a result of neurological training than muscles gains. Once youve made those initial gains, you'll be ready to start tackling real weight without the setback of constant injury. After that its a matter of working with the right dynamic exercises to develop mass. For an approach that offers more shortcuts to getting big once you've crossed the initial hurdles of flexibility, check out Vince Delmontes excellent e-book, No-Nonsense Muscle Building..

About the Author:

Before you do any weight training, make sure you check out free 'Insane Muscle Building ebook, and Vince Delmonte's Professional Online Training

Getting Rock Hard Abs The Fast Way

Getting Rock Hard Abs The Fast Way

by Chris Channing

Fitness experts and trainers are commonly asked what the best way to get abs is. The truth is that getting abs takes a lot of determination, and that the only way to get them is through strength and perseverance. Abs can be incredibly hard to obtain, and may take many days or weeks, depending on your situation.

The first step to take is to lower your total body fat if necessary. If you are already of stocky figure, you can skip this step. In lowering your total body fat you are able to make your abs more clear to others. In some cases you may already have defined abs, you just have body fat covering them up or taking attention away from them.

Exercise is the key part in obtaining abs. You will want to focus on the abdomen through various exercises your trainer can teach you. Generally you'll want to do an hour or less when beginning so you don't stress your muscles too much. Exercising too often may result in muscle degeneration, so take breaks.

If you are doing your abs routine correctly, you should see results in as little as a month. This is assuming you are going at an average or strenuous pace, so don't necessarily give up if you don't see results. If you have worked hard the past month and see no improvement, you may have to consult a nutritionist or trainer for further advice, tests, or information.

Learn more about how carbohydrates and sugars affect your body. You should eat carbohydrates earlier in the day, and avoid them at night. Some substances such as fructose should be avoided completely if you want results as soon as possible. Other tips such as having healthy meals three times a day or having your dinner at least three hours before bed should be followed as well for optimal results.

Being hydrated is important when exercising, since the act puts more strain on your body and requires you to drink more. When you feel thirsty, researchers say that you are already nearing dehydration. It is good to keep a water bottle around to sip on throughout your routine. Do be careful, as the human body has limits and too much water can actually lead to fatal damage to the body. You should consult a doctor for details on how much water your body mass would require.

Final Thoughts

Getting a set of abs will take a lot of hard work. You should be prepared to dedicate hours each week- at least 7- to your cause. Also stay hydrated and eat correctly to get the most effect from your efforts. Finally, see a doctor if you have any questions or concerns.

About the Author:

Learn more on Mike Geary Truth about Abs and Mike Geary.

Develop Your Weight Loss Mindset

Develop Your Weight Loss Mindset

by Joshua Seth

Are you seriously thinking about losing some weight. Its got to be the #1 New Years resolution of all time. Here's the problem, most people simply have the wrong mindset for weight loss.

Want immediate results? Do you focus on the sacrifice of giving up the food you love?

Change your belief that when you lose weight you are not sacrificing anything; you are gaining everything? How would that change your attitude about losing weight from now on?

In hypnosis we call that reframing, which is a way of empowering your beliefs so you can make the changes you desire.

Most people tend to go on diets to help them lose weight. Unfortunately, diets are ineffective about 90% of the time. You can read about this at www.WeightLossHypnosisSystem.com

Diets focus on the external not on the internal; they focus on the food that you eat. In my New You Total Weight Loss System, you learn to focus on the internal; what you think and how you feel about food and yourself.

This gets to the core of the issue, after all there are innumerable reasons to lose excess weight, and virtually no good reasons to keep it on, except your mindset (your fears, your beliefs, and your self-esteem).

Your mind is incredibly powerful - much more powerful than your body. Your mind can cause you to eat to excess, without even realizing it, and your mind can also cause you to feel completely satisfied with only a small amount of food. It all depends on your internal programing, your mindset.

Your mindset can help you attain all your targets in life, or doom you to fail miserably at them.

It helps to have a system that keeps you highly motivated to lose the weight, help you set goals for yourself, and address the emotional issues which often keep us from losing weight and keeping it off for good.

Of course, you still need to follow a healthy eating plan. When you follow a proven plan you drastically increase your chances for success. Without a plan its hard to achieve anything.

Here's your Weight Loss Plan:

1. Whats your plan for losing weight this year?

2. How much weight do you plan to lose?

3. By what date will you lose it by?

4. What are you going to get there?

Answer these four questions, and you start improving your health today. By doing so youre taking the steps to do something good for yourself, as well as the people who love you. Youre taking charge of your health and your life. The greatest gift you can give yourself and those who love you is good health. Why wait any longer? Answer these four questions and start today.

About the Author:

If you would like to hear more regarding losing weight by using hypnosis, claim your Free Report Here. Joshua Seth, the author of "The Weight Loss Hypnosis Solution" will give you the first 40 pages for free when you claim your free 7 weight loss gifts at Weight Loss Hypnosis Solution

Upper Abdominal Exercises Versus Lower Abdominal Exercises

Upper Abdominal Exercises Versus Lower Abdominal Exercises

by Andrew Tan

In fitness training, most people are not clear about lower abs exercises and upper abs exercises. So let me clear the misconceptions here. The muscle which is originally to be discussed in such abs exercises is the rectus abdominus. Rectus means straight, and abdominus refers to the abdomen. So simply put, the rectus abdominus runs straight down the abdomen. The rectus abdominus is also the muscle that gives a lean person that six pack look.

The rectus abdominus is 1 muscle, but it has tendinous intersections that separate muscle fibers forming distinct sections. Many argue that rectus abdominus is a single muscle and you can't isolate certain parts of the muscle. Yes, you can't isolate only one section but you can emphasize one area over another.People confuse the words isolate and emphasize and come to the conclusion that rectus abdominus cant be trained in isolation.

Our nervous system has thousands of intricately designed nerve cells and nerve ending which help us to move with grace, be agile, be accurate and lot more functions. The rectus abdominus is supplied by multiple nerves that work in a coordinated fashion to create a variety of movements. The multiple nerve supply helps us move in different ways, and the upper abs and lower abs are emphasized when we do different movement. The upper abs, which is the upper part of rectus abdominus is emphasized when we move the trunk forward like in a crunch or sit up. ball crunches are also a good upper abdominal exercises. The crunch machines and ab training muscles are good upper abdomen tightening exercises.The lower abs in addition to upper abs are trained while you do crunches. The entire rectus abdominus muscles is worked out, every time you bend your trunk or flex it.

The lower part of the rectus abdominus are finely emphasized when you do revrse crunch. In reverse crunch the pelvis moves towards the trunk. Leg raises and flutter kicks also work out the lower abs.Again, the upper abs work during reverse crunches and leg raises. There is just more emphasis on the lower abs when the legs are moving.

Now, one thing that I must mention is that abs exercises do not magically melt away stomach fat. Doing upper abs exercises will not magically get rid of the fat on the upper part of your stomach, and doing lower abs exercises will not magically get rid of the fat on the lower part of your stomach. This is known as spot reduction myth. If you really want to get rid of those irritating fat content of your body adopt a comprehensive approach including diet control.

You must do abdominal exercises minimum 2-3 times a week. Include both upper and lower abs exercises, do various other abs exercises and from various directions to get a more balanced body.

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How to Burn 7lbs of Weight Quick!

How to Burn 7lbs of Weight Quick!

by Lyle Currie

Most trainers are getting more ingenious these days in coming up with intense exercises that break down large amounts of calories and truly give the metabolism a jump. This can support and increase the fat burned inside an established amount of time.

As you commence to employ high-level intensity workouts, you have to be on watch for overtraining and overuse, which may cause injuries. So, strict nutrition and an aggressive calorie insufficiency will have to be a huge part of any fast fat loss program.

Extremely low calorie dieting has its own dangers in the way of lean tissue loss, slower metabolism, extreme appetite, and increased chance of fat re-gain.

Long term fat control is to lose weight steadily with patients and follow a nutritional plan that is well balanced between lean protein, healthy fats and natural carbs, that doesn't minimize any of the food groups. To burn fat, you simply create a calorie need by burning more fat and consuming less.

The variation nature of the diet means after 3 - 6 days of an assertive caloric shortage and direct health plan, which you will create a high calorie and high carbohydrates day to re-nourish the body and increase the activity of the metabolism. This assist in shortening the starvation signals your body receives. Its also a mental break from the dispossession which helps better compliance and stops regression.

Increased protein intake can halt lean cellular loss and prevent hunger. In addition to that, a high protein health plan also helps by standing against dietary thermogenesis.

Plenty of greens, fibrous veggies and low caloric fruits can assist the energy scale equation in your favor as fibrous veggies are extremely low in calorie compactnes and most of the calories in fiber are not metabolizable. Good fats are added in adequate sums.

About the Author:

To get more information including free guides you can download, Visit Lyle Imya . Lyle offers great understanding on numerousways to avoid up and down diets and great Tips on loosing weight .

Treadmill Running - Home Fitness Routine At It's Best

Treadmill Running - Home Fitness Routine At It's Best

by Max Delongg

With adverse climatic conditions like rain or snow, many people find it as an excuse to skip the running and avoid training out in chilly and inapt environments. For more earnest runners, winter is the time for some indoor action.

The treadmill is a top home exercise pieces of equipment ofr a number of reasons. It is able to be adjusted to one's liking so that they experience a safe solid workout while in the comfort of their own environment. The controlled climate of your house is the number one reason people stick to running on that instead of outside.

Unlike a job outside in adverse weather conditions, running on a treadmill in the comfort of ones home is much, much easier.

Also if working out or running is like work to you, then one might use the bad weather or the heat as an excuse not to run. If the treadmill is in the comfort of your own home it makes these excuses even harder to make yourself believe.

An entry level treadmill for home fitness routine can be adjusted for speed, resistance and gradient. Advanced level machines have same features with automatic adjustment and greater complexity including heart rate monitors and pulse rate indicators.

A common face is that running outside on the sidewalk or street is more harmful on the joints and knees than running on a standard treadmill. One more downside is the lack of change in a treadmill, but one can overcome that by buying one that automatically changes at random intervals.

Sticking to solid home fitness routine on a normal basis by jogging on a treadmill will improve your posture and keep you fit in the years to come. But there are some things one must remember when running on a treadmill:

The Best Running Posture - this is very important because a bad running posture can do your body alot of damage. There isn't any reason to be leaning forward. And always put your heal down before the toe of your foot when running.

Level of Ascent - a very small incline while on a treadmill can give better results and a very good workout for the leg muscles

Best Running Equipment - A good pair of lightweight sneakers is best. Make sure they are able to tie best and they provide a little ankle support. Comfy socks is always a good addition.

Stay Hydrated - Replenish the body of fluids as often as needed.

Try not to look or stare at the gauges giving the speed or pulse as it can screw up the running posture and cause you to lose concentration.

Acclimatizing to a treadmill takes time so you may start with a walk and gradually increase the training period.

Try to stay as close to the center of the treadmill belt as possible in your home fitness routine

Before mounting on to a treadmill, go through the user manual and get a health check up done for yourself. You never can be too careful, sometimes exercising too much if you are not healthy enough for it, can do more harm than good.

So get ready for some grueling home fitness routine and stay fit.

About the Author:

Don't go buying anything online just yet, check out the excellent Home Fitness Routine report. There are many ways to stay in shape using our advice in your Home Fitness Exercises tomorrow.