You returned to this site and are determined to lose weight for a healthy, better-looking and energetic you.
Great!
In today’s article, we are going to explore fat loss strategies that will have you shedding those kg/pounds.
First, let’s summarise how fat mobilisation occurs. The more knowledge you have the more progress you will have in your fat loss efforts.
There are many metabolic pathways in the human body. We’re currently focusing on fat metabolisation and glucose control.
What is lipolysis?[1]
Fat or adipose tissue goes through the process of lipolysis which occurs after ingestion. It is then converted to ATP[2], the energy which our cells use.
Lipolysis is a metabolic pathway of the breakdown of triglycerides into fatty acids and glycerol[3] through hydrolysis[4]. The broken-down fatty acids are bound to albumin in the blood. It is transported around the body to be passed through a cell’s cytoplasm[5].
Once in the cytoplasm of the cell, it activates the acyl-CoA[6] and goes through beta-oxidation[7] and produces ATP. ATP converts interchangeably to AMP[8] (Adenosine monophosphate) or ADP(Adenosine diphosphate)[9].
Carnitine[10] located within the inner mitochondria shuttles these substances to the cell’s mitochondria matrix[11].
How does inulin affect lipolysis?
High levels of insulin inhibit lipolysis as it is the signal for cells to accept glucose. Insulin resistance cells are dependent on glucose from glycolysis[13] for energy (ATP) demands. Lipolysis is deterred for glycerol and fatty acid breakdown. Metabolic pathways of gluconeogenesis[14] or glyceroneogenesis[15] will not be activated for the production of ATP.
Gluco- what? Guacamole?!
Gluco-neo-genesis and Glycero-neo-genesis are the reverse states of Glycolysis. The conversion of non-carbs precursors (compounds i.e. glycerol -> pyruvic acid) to glucose. It’s the body’s maintenance system of blood glucose when glycogen is low and no foods are ingested[16].
This doesn’t translate to fat loss until the energy is spent because the process above converts glycerol back to glucose during fasting. Note both of these metabolic pathways do not occur anywhere else except in the liver and kidneys.
How does exercise affect insulin?
When we exercise we produce the hormone called glucocorticoids[17] and catecholamines[18] (epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine).
Glucocorticoids is a steroid hormone that is secreted by the Zona fasciculata[19] of the adrenal gland[20] in the kidneys. It is a key hormone that works with our immune system to lower the effects of inflammation. It also has a myriad of physiologic functions contributing substantially to the maintenance of resting and stress-related homeostasis[21].
Now the problem for glucocorticoids in medicine is it is produced as a synthetic compound[22] for treating inflammation from insulin. There may be instances that may lead to raised insulin levels[23].
In order to combat high levels of insulin in the bloodstream, it’s best to leave the body to secrete glucocorticoids naturally through exercise. Once your insulin levels are down lipolysis can function normally when your cells become insulin-sensitive.
Blood sugar will also decrease when skeletal muscle cells are starved for energy.
Sometimes you wonder why jumping about is so much fun! Your catecholamines are involved and there’s dopamine in it!
How does building muscle come into play in weight loss?
When we lift weights the Zona fasciculata will secrete catecholamines due to the stress of weight lifting. There is a study that catecholamines (epinephrine/adrenaline) give an acute stimulation effect of lipolysis[24]. So muscle activation with stress leads to a higher lipolysis rate.
Could we sprint?
You can sprint, it’s one of the best exercises for fat loss. But if you’re starting out on your fitness journey it is not recommended to sprint as it may result in knee or leg injury.
This exercise also depends on how confident the individual is in their leg muscles. Even the best sprinting athletes go through resistance training for years and manage it for less than a minute.
So the best exercise for optimal stimulus on lipolysis, and maintaining a steady state would be resistance training. You could walk but the fat mobilisation isn’t as great as resistance weight training. Walking for an hour will burn at up to 147 cal / 616 KJ. A weight training session will burn up to 487 cal / 2038 KJ depending on the effort and intensity in an hour.
Note to morbidly obese people: Best to avoid any strenuous exercises for the time being and get your body weight down to manageable levels. Brisk walking up a hill or swimming is a much better option than sprinting and jogging. Heavy body weight combined with the force of gravity and excessive force will make you more prone to injuries. Once you’re down to 30% body fat then you can go with resistance training. Seek help or advice from a qualified physiotherapist or personal trainer.
Why are you so persistent in telling us that resistance training is the best exercise to lose fat?
Ah, it’s for those who are not aware or for certain countries with cultures that are insistent that resistance training will make them look like THE HULK. 🤨
The myth still persists today. 🤣
Increasing muscle mass is very difficult because of the calorie/kilojoule deficit. Unless the individual is able to judge their nutrient intake, it is widely known that muscle mass is built on a calorie/kilojoule surplus.
Weight training will help maintain current muscle mass while on a calorie/kilojoule deficit.
Besides I am giving out many good reasons with evidence to get into resistant exercise.
Now with the basics out of the way move on with the weight loss strategy.
The fat loss strategy.
Cut down on your meal frequency, for those who are over 3 meals a day it is better for you to stick to 3 meals as you need to bring down your insulin levels. This will stimulate the gluconeogenesis or glyceroneogenesis metabolic pathways as described above.
If your meals consist of food that follows The Australian Standard diet it’s not optimal for decreasing insulin levels – it needs to change.
The standard diet is inferior!? What should be in my meals?
Let’s take a look at the Australian Standard Diet in the image below:
There are many things wrong with this visual representation for a dietary guideline as it’s full of carbohydrates and refined carbs. We know that the majority of carbohydrates are easily digested and cause spikes in insulin levels.
With major swings in our blood sugar, we experience brain fog, mood swings and fatigue after an hour or two. For obese, overweight, insulin-resistant and diabetics this staple diet is a no-go. This modified version should be on your palate.
Wait Joe isn’t carbs important? Why did you cross that out?
No!? Aren’t you eating the same stuff expecting changes in your fat loss but your efforts didn’t amount to anything? Haven’t your weight loss efforts ended up in a yo-yo?
Your fat loss problem persists because of high carbohydrate intake. The standard diet puts your insulin and blood sugar out of balance. Besides each gram of carb in your body, you will retain 2-3 grams of water weight.
Removing high carbs and getting your insulin levels into balance is the first step.
But what about complex carbs?
Okay, let’s take a step back and think. When you are currently obese, overweight, insulin-resistant/type 2 diabetic and have grains for your breakfast how is that going to solve your insulin levels?
Don’t complex carbs take longer to digest for the body? Don’t you want to lower your insulin and blood sugar by getting lipolysis back to normal so lipids can go through gluconeogenesis and glyceroneogenesis?
If you agree with me read on.
What do I do next?
You must clear out any food packages in your fridge and pantry which contains:
- no 100% raw ingredients
- candy
- flour
- refined grains
- grains
- refined sugar
- beans
- noodles
- potato chips
Put them in containers then give it all away or chuck them into the bin.
Next, refer to the corrected standard diet image when purchasing your groceries. Do note your carbohydrates must only come from leafy green vegetables and one serving of fruit per day. Make sure most of your food sources are natural and not packaged or canned food.
These packaged foods contain preservatives, salt and sugar in substantial amounts. (This is why I crossed out canned fruit, and canned meats, in the Dietary Guideline).
What we’re doing is practising a method of avoidance rather than resistance. There is evidence which goes by changing your environment you’re forming good habits. It’s one of the best ways to get started.
Note: If you are having trouble I suggest clearing out the sugary foods and candy would be a good start. Keep 2 of your favourites, then clear out the grains. Then move on to the processed meats. Make sure you make adjustments every 3 months and buy more nutritious whole foods. Again it all depends on your willpower and lifestyle. You can be stoked and get it all done if your will is strong.
Meat and saturated fat.
Meat isn’t the cause of LDL-cholesterol, inflammation of the liver and organs caused by hormone imbalance is the cause of LDL-cholesterol. You need saturated fats to raise your HDL cholesterol and maintain LDL cholesterol.
Make sure your meats and seafood are made up of 100% raw meat and ingredients and from non-processed sources. It’s fine to get meat with skins on them. Animal skins contain collagen the protein to combat aging.
Bacons are fine if the package says it is smoked and salted.
Avoid burger patties, and sausages that contain soy as fillers and other substances. Same for Deli meats which contain many fillers and substances as hidden calories.
What are the good fats?
Do not be afraid of fats even though they are high in calories/kilojoules they satiate your appetite and make your food tasty. It lubricates your joints and prevents arthritis, improves cell regeneration and provides hormonal balance.
Good fats are avocados, butter, tallow, fatty fish, nuts, coconut flesh, coconut milk, cheese, offals, eggs, greek yogurt, olives, cacao, and chocolates(70%).
About butter
Some kinds of butter have added fillers i.e. canola oil which contains a high amount of PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acid). These should be avoided. The only butter that is good to consume contains milk cream and salt.
About chocolates
Most chocolate products have high sugar content in them. Get cacao powder which has good anti-oxidant properties. If not the next best choice would be 70% – 80% dark chocolate. These have their sugar content reduced and increased cacao mass and cacao butter.
About Yogurts
There are many kinds of yogurts on supermarket shelves. The ones that you have to watch out for are fruit-filled yogurt, flavoured yogurt, skimmed or low-fat yogurt. These have high sugar content and are made worse with preserved fruit in them.
The best yogurts are Greek yogurt/natural yogurt, add your own fruits for extra taste.
About cooking oils
Most cooking oils should be avoided. The only good cooking oils I have tried so far are olive oil and coconut oil. You can opt for other oils but make sure they’re pressed oils.
However, if you’re really undecided, butter or tallow are completely fine.
Consuming high amounts of fat for your calorie intake of the day will not make you lose fat. You will be in a calorie deficit when you perform an exercise session but consuming an extra 300 cal/1255kj of your energy expenditure will be hard on your fat loss goals.
What are the bad fats?
Fats that are highly processed from their raw ingredients are:
Margarine, vegetable oil, canola oil, rice bran oil, soybean oil, corn oil, grapeseed oil (lack of research but highly processed).
To summarise what are bad fats? If an ingredient of that said oil/fat is not able to liquidate while cooking that’s not good fat at all.
Salad dressing and sauces should I add them?
Again these are packed with hidden calories of sugar, preservatives, and carb thickeners which are not mentioned in detail on their labels. Many have poly-unsaturated(PUFA) in them. You do not want them to include them in your salad or meal.
A better option would be to make your own sauces or salad dressing. If you’re unable to do it stick to salt, pepper, some honey and spices.
Fruit juices should I drink them?
No, don’t buy them.
The amount of fruit used to make a litre of juice would be 10x over than the ordinary fruit. Besides by drinking the juice you’re missing out on the fibre in the whole fruit and some essential nutrients. Pulped juice isn’t an option either. Both do not make you satiated.
Let’s not forget additional fruit consumption does add to your daily glucose and calorie/kilojoule intake. This doesn’t help lower your insulin levels. Besides it’s hardly believable that 100% fresh juice is fresh as the label claims.
I mean come on? How is it that you think the juice tastes the same for every bottle on the shelf and every season compared to the real fruit?
When you buy real fruit in a box you’ll find some will taste sweeter than the rest and some have no taste at all.
Diet or light version soft drinks?
Stop mucking around.
Intermittent fasting.
Once you’re used to your reduced meal frequencies, you can start implementing intermittent fasting.
There are many fasting protocols that you can try. These are the 24-hour fast, the 5:2 Diet, Alternate day fasting, meal skipping and warriors diet.
Pick one that will suit your schedule and no fasting is not starvation. Your body can last more than 21 days or more without eating depending on your body fat percentage.
Why fasting?
You are trying to activate 2 metabolic pathways, gluconeogenesis and glyceroneogenesis from lipolysis as explained above.
Plus you will be consuming less which allows you to stretch your food supply, save money and help the environment by reducing waste.
Click here for training tips on intermittent fasting.
Handling cheat meals.
Okay, this might be difficult for some to accept but I got to hand it to you.
A cheat meal will feel like a cheat meal if you treat it like one. It’s good that you have cleared your apartment/house from bad food influences. It prevents you from unconsciously picking up that candy/cookie lying around and stuffing it into your mouth.
However, the real test comes when outside influence can really disrupt your diet. It is okay if you’re able to maintain healthy eating for as long as possible.
If you make mistakes or have an unexpected guest inviting you out. Don’t have to kick yourself too much about it. Plan ahead and take note not to repeat them. However, if you find yourself binge eating on that particular day you should include something more of it in your diet. (i.e., binge eating on fried chicken. Your regular meals need to include grilled chicken with spices).
If you apply the suggestions above your willpower will rise from the practice of fasting by resisting hunger, and the environmental effects of sight and smell of food.
Along with the knowledge of what is good food choices for a meal, you are able to build a healthy relationship with food for your fat loss goals.
Whatever you do, do not give up.
You may notice a significant increase in weight and fat loss you if apply some or all the tactics above. However, do note that fat is not tied to weight. Weight will fluctuate due to the changes in diet, water retention, food intake and muscle growth. Worry about your waistline, use the mirror and compliments from your friends.
