There are many theories heard about the adventures of fat in the human body. Ordinary people who have not delved deeply into the topic most often believe in the theory of “pumping fat into muscles.” It is very attractive (the fatter you are, the greater the potential for muscle growth) and logical (according to the law of conservation of mass of matter).
Unfortunately, our body does not have mechanisms to convert fat into muscle. Thus, the theory is flawed at its very core. And I really wanted a miracle - I went to the gym, pulled weights and turned my fat into muscles. Yeah, keep your pocket wider!
More advanced comrades believe that fat is converted into pure energy and heat. But this is already something from the field of physics at the “ E=mc2 ” level. Man is not a thermonuclear reactor for this kind of transformation. Otherwise, everyone losing weight would be a potential nuclear bomb, because even the smallest mass of matter is a huge amount of pure energy. For example, the mass of a AA battery in the form of energy is equivalent to 250 billion of the same batteries that release their energy in a standard way.
So where does fat go and what does it turn into when we lose weight? Let's figure it out, since understanding the processes occurring in our body will allow you to build your training schedule much more effectively to lose excess weight.
Myths are entrenched deep
I am not exaggerating the myths about fat burning in our body. Moreover, this applies not only to ordinary people, most of whom are far from issues of sports and nutrition. Experts also often believe in strange things.
So, in 2014, the British Medical Journal published an entertaining study by scientists Andrew Brown and Reuben Mirman , who asked 150 therapists, nutritionists and fitness trainers about the topic mentioned.
As you can see, more than half of the experts promote the theory of “clean energy”, easily turning those losing weight into walking nuclear bombs. A tenth of the trainers and nutritionists surveyed have no assumptions at all regarding the ways in which fat disappears. Most of the other comrades believe in complete nonsense. Among them there are clearly many who like to wrap a client in cling film and put him on an exercise bike.
Hunger is not a thing...
It’s worth saying a few words about fasting. Even in fitness and bodybuilding, despite the obsession with food, there are supporters of periodic fasting. There are studies that show the positive effects of short-term fasting on the body.
Think for yourself, our ancient ancestors periodically experienced hunger. In those days, food was not sold in supermarkets, but had to be caught. This was by no means an easy task. With this example, I want to say that fasting is a natural process to which the body, over millennia of evolution, has been able to adapt and even benefit!
But it is worth considering that you need to fast no more than once a month. After all, as the saying goes: everything is good in moderation!
During fasting, the rate of weight loss is approximately the same as without fasting. But by introducing the body into some kind of stress, systems that increase immunity and normalize cholesterol and blood sugar levels are activated. In addition, periodic fasting teaches you to control your hunger.
As you can see, there are not so many factors leading to fat burning. More precisely, there are only three of them. How to use them is up to you. Some people lose weight well with a large calorie deficit and a tiny amount of carbohydrates in the diet, but for others it is contraindicated to greatly reduce carbohydrates. In general, we are all individual!
I’ll say goodbye to you with this. I hope the information was useful and you will definitely share it with your friends on social networks. See you soon!
What Really Happens to Fat?
First, let's turn to the school curriculum and the law of conservation of mass of matter in particular. It was substantiated by Mikhail Lomonosov back in 1748: “The weight of all substances that enter into a reaction is equal to the weight of all reaction products.”
Now let's look at the chemical formula for the oxidation of a fat molecule:
When burning fat, it is its oxidation that occurs, that is, a reaction with oxygen. In fact, the same processes occur when burning paper, firewood and other organic matter, with the only difference being that in the latter case a high temperature is needed for the reaction of oxygen with the molecules of the mentioned substances, and in the body the role of a match and fire is taken on by special enzymes and proteins.
Simply put, under the influence of oxygen, fat breaks down into carbon dioxide and water, simultaneously releasing energy . Carbon dioxide is eliminated through the lungs, water is excreted through sweat and urine, and energy is used to power the body.
A more visual example is shown in the diagram below:
Let me explain: to get rid of 10 kg of fat, you need to inhale 29 kg of oxygen, exhale 28 kg of carbon dioxide and remove 11 liters of water from the body. And one more important detail - to implement such a daring plan it is necessary to spend more than 90 thousand kcal.
That is, you won’t be able to breathe a lot and get rid of fat in this way, as some breathing and weight loss techniques like bodyflex promise. Oxygen is only one of the conditions for burning fat, but it is not the trigger for its extraction from fat cells.
To start fat burning processes, you need hormones and a number of conditions for their production. If they are not met, then muscle burning processes will begin. In this case, the result on the scale may be good, but in the mirror it will be terrible. There is also a possibility of causing harm to the body, and in the future, regaining lost kilograms, but not in the form of muscles, but the same ugly fat and excess water, that is, edema.
Benefits of losing weight
Let's first determine why overweight men and women need to lose weight.
- Excess weight puts additional stress on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Which leads to increased heart rate and shortness of breath. I think even these two factors are enough to start losing weight
- Your risk of diabetes increases as your waistline increases.
- The greater the body weight, the greater the load on the joints. It’s especially hard on the knee joints
- In addition to subcutaneous fat, there is visceral fat. It is more dangerous for the body, as it accumulates inside the abdominal cavity. It can compress internal organs and disrupt their function.
- Extra volume makes you a less mobile person. You have difficulty running, climbing stairs, or even tying your shoelaces
- Excess weight is not aesthetically pleasing, which is especially important for women. Clothes don’t fit the way we want, the dress we like doesn’t fit, we are forced to wear one-piece swimsuits rather than open bikinis, and then there’s the wagon and a small trolley of inconveniences.
Are these reasons not enough to convince you to pull yourself together and lose those extra pounds? Yes, you'll have to work hard. But the result in the form of a toned body and ease of movement will compensate for all your costs!
I hope I at least motivated someone.
How to turn your body into a fat burning plant
I wrote a lot of articles about this in the Healthy Lifestyle section and spoke about it as part of the BeardyBuilding podcast, so I won’t go deeper into the topic, but will only clearly demonstrate the mechanism for setting the body up to work effectively. This will help beginners avoid mistakes, and experienced comrades will help change their current training regimen if their results stagnate.
The first condition for fat burning
A balanced diet with a reasonable calorie deficit so that the body needs to make up for the lack of energy from its reserves. I talk about this in detail in the video below:
Second condition
The release of fatty acids into the blood from adipocytes , that is, fat cells. After all, to meet energy needs, the body does not take fat directly from the abdomen and other loin areas. First, fatty acids enter the blood and only then are used to benefit the cause, or are returned back to storage places if the need for energy does not reach certain heights.
They enter the bloodstream under the influence of adrenaline and norepinephrine, the production of which is a response to physical stress in the form of working with weights. That is, you need strength work in the gym , and it gives a lot of other advantages besides what was mentioned. Three strength training sessions per week is usually sufficient.
Beginners losing weight even build muscle mass in the process (and this ultimately results in a beautiful body shape). More experienced comrades preserve muscles during drying, not allowing the body to waste them along with fat. Plus, this is an additional energy consumption, since glycogen (muscle fuel) is spent, which is then restored, including from body fat reserves. Plus, metabolic processes are accelerated, the rate of protein synthesis increases - all this also increases energy consumption.
The third condition for effective fat burning
Cardio at low and medium intensity (pulse 120-160 beats/min, calm deep breathing). Strength work gave a large amount of fatty acids in the blood, but it is not a fact that all of them will be used. Yes, some will be converted in a roundabout way into fuel for high-intensity work, and some will be stored in the muscles for low-intensity work. The remaining fatty acids will either return to storage or be used during cardio.
An hour of work on a treadmill or orbitrack on days off from strength training or 20-40 minutes after them is enough. In general, the ideal schedule is three strength training sessions per week and two one-hour cardio workouts.
Fulfill all three conditions and turn your body into an efficient fat-burning plant. How effective? With reasonable training, a balanced diet, periodization of the load and changing training programs as needed, you can completely change yourself in 4-6 months.
How fast can you get rid of excess fat?
There is a reasonable limit for weight loss. This limit is 1 kg per week. In this case, your body loses a minimum of muscle and does not harm itself. But remember, the lower the percentage of subcutaneous fat, the slower it burns. For some, losing 0.5 kg per week will be optimal. In this case, your body loses a minimum of muscle and does not harm itself. With the right diet, aim for exactly this value, although everything is individual.
Often plump girls are interested in the question - how long will it take for me to be slim and beautiful? If you do not have serious problems with metabolism and everything is in order at the hormonal level, then the approximate period can be calculated. Let's say you are the girl from the example I gave earlier. Let me remind you that you are the owner of 10 extra kilos. Considering that you will lose 0.5 kg per week, then ideally it will take you 20 weeks.
But when you are just a few kilograms away from the coveted flat stomach, the fat burning process may slow down. As a result, we get 5 months. During this period, you will be able to get rid of excess weight with maximum benefit for yourself. With accompanying training, of course!
Desired forms
Don’t turn the “90/60/90” model standards into an end in themselves. By and large, the attractiveness of a woman does not lie in the size of her clothes, but in her inner confidence in her own irresistibility and charm.
Can Diet Pills Bring You Happiness? Which? Scientists have not yet invented such drugs. So don't focus on the unattainable. Just be cheerful, active and cheerful. Eat a balanced diet, move more and enjoy a full life. And forget the way to the pharmacy - you won’t need it anymore!
The effect of fat-burning drugs on the body lies in the presence in their composition of special substances that affect the reduction in the number of fat cells. Such drugs allow you to achieve a beautiful and slender body with sculpted muscles. They help get rid of internal and subcutaneous fat without losing muscle mass. These substances also provide additional energy to the body.
How to be
As you have just seen for yourself, any diet pills are fraught with danger. But before you fall into despair, answer yourself one question - what, in principle, needs to be done to lose weight? The answer lies on the surface - cleanse yourself of toxins, improve metabolism in the body and simply expend more calories than you consume. And you can do it yourself without resorting to expensive (and dangerous) means.
Your first assistants will be carbon tablets for weight loss (that is, the same activated carbon). Black coal is taken at the rate of one tablet per 10 kilograms of body weight, and white coal - in accordance with the instructions.
Since this medication is truly absolutely harmless, you can drink it for several weeks.
During this time, you will be cleansed of toxins and fecal deposits.
But now we need to improve metabolic processes in the body. The best diet pills in this case:
- Spirulina
. Microscopic algae saturates the body with useful microelements. - Karsil
. Cleanses the liver, disperses bile, which breaks down fats. - Iodomarin
. Helps normalize the functioning of the thyroid gland, reduces appetite. - Glycine
. Accelerates the body's metabolic processes. - A nicotinic acid
. Normalizes metabolic processes. - Vitamin complexes
(any). - Among the traditional methods, we recommend green tea and lemon juice
(half a fruit per glass of boiled water).
Cardio training and abdominal work
The effectiveness of cardio exercise in losing weight is so great that the word “cardio” itself has long become synonymous with fat burning. However, you need to do cardio wisely, especially while on a low-calorie diet. For example, regular jogging, which is considered the most popular type of cardio exercise, is almost the least effective. It loses in most respects, ranging from harm to the knee joints and lower back, to the fact that in addition to fat, it actively burns muscle tissue, which significantly slows down the entire process.
According to modern research, three types of training claim to be the most effective cardio exercise:
- HIIT (high intensity interval training);
- Circuit training including plyometric exercises;
- Alternate cardio sessions with strength work.
Today, the most effective cardio workout is HIIT. This type of training allows you to achieve maximum efficiency in a minimum amount of time, and also avoid the increased muscle loss that is the case with low-intensity, long running sessions. Moreover, you can diversify HIIT in any way you like. For example, you can use the following HIIT strength variation:
- Squats (without weight or with minimal weight);
- Pushups;
- Hanging leg raises;
- Jumping on a cabinet;
- Lunges;
- Bent-over barbell row (minimum weight).
For each exercise there should be 5-8 approaches with a minimum fixed rest, but the total duration of the workout should not exceed 10-15 minutes. You can also add more cardio movements, use sprints, plyometric movements, etc.
Circuit training is also a great option for effective cardio. They can be made as varied as possible by alternating strength, plyometric and aerobic movements. For example, the optimal program is a loop of:
- Squats;
- Pull-ups;
- Makhov with a weight;
- Standing press with dumbbells;
- Burpee;
- Lunges.
During a workout you need to do 3-5 cycles of 6-8 exercises.
The third option for effective cardio is a combination with strength work. Today this method is one of the most popular. It is based on the results of modern research, which proves that the effectiveness of cardio depends only on the total time. Simply put, 3 cardio sessions of 10 minutes per workout with a rest of 10-20 minutes will be identical to one half-hour session. At the same time, split cardio is much more effective, since this option is great even for people with a low level of physical fitness and does not lead to the destruction of muscle fibers. You need to train according to the following scheme 3 times a week:
- Cardio 10 minutes;
- Power section – 20 minutes;
- Cardio 10 minutes;
- Power section – 20 minutes;
- Cardio – 10 minutes.
Each cardio session should be different, for example, you can use a treadmill, running, exercise bike, stepper, etc. Strength training should also be different. For example, split into different muscle groups or split into upper/lower body.
Abdominal training is best done at the end. It is enough to choose 2-3 exercises to load different areas of the abdominal muscles. Among the most effective movements are:
- Hanging leg raises;
- Lying leg raises;
- Exercise "book";
- Raising legs while hanging with a twist to the sides;
- All types of twists.
