In this post, my hope to take a bunch of this ‘science’ stuff and articulate it so it can be easily understood and applied to turn your body into a fat burning inferno of glory. Then I will be giving specifics on what foods have allowed me to experience this.

Okay back to the topic at hand: weight loss vs. fat loss. As you recall, we want to lose fat, not weight. What keeps us from doing this? It comes down to having a system that is imbalanced. Specifically, the hormones that are running the show; insulin and leptin.

First of all, let’s take a look at leptin. What is it? Leptin is a hormone produced by the fat cells. It is present in the blood stream and its level is in direct proportion to the amount of body fat a person has. i.e. the more fat, the more leptin is produced. Leptin’s primary function is to act on the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls appetite and satiety. It tells the hypothalamus to reduce appetite (because fat stores are high), which results in decreased food intake. So in other words, it is what’s controlling your appetite, the AMOUNT of food you desire. Ever wonder why the heck you’re always hungry? Ever wonder why you want to over eat and every time you sit down it’s a will-power battle to excuse yourself from the table?

Check out this little article (with pictures :) “Portion Size, Then Vs. Now”

So what’s going on here? Are human beings just more gluttonous then ever before? Hardly.

Leptin is accurately described as an anti-starvation hormone because low levels lead to increased hunger. In the past it was described as an anti-obesity hormone but researchers have since discovered that obese people (who produce large amounts of leptin) are RESISTANT to its action. This is in a similar way that some people are resistant to insulin.”
The bottom line is this: Leptin is the hormone, that if you’re beginning to put on too much fat, when functioning PROPERLY, suppresses your appetite. The killer is WHEN FUNCTIONING PROPERLY. If you have trouble controlling your the amount of food you eat (portion control), you probably have leptin resistance going on. Which means your hypothalamus has become de-sensitised to the action of leptin. The perfect analogy is the boy who cried wolf (for those not familiar here’s a little video, for those of you who have ADD and need a break from reading, it’s here for you too). When leptin is constantly telling the hypothalamus to suppress the appetite, soon the hypothalamus essentially responds “you little jokester you, leave me alone.

Read More→

Let’s cut to the chase: no one really wants to lose WEIGHT! NO ONE. If you think you do, you’re mistaken. Almost everyone wants to lose FAT, and INCHES. What the arbitrary scale says is pointless, the mirror is what counts. When it comes down to it, we want to get the rolls off and look more shredded up. We don’t want to be a skinny fat kid (someone who looks decent in clothes because of their size, but when you see them in a bathing suit they are soft and pudgy).

Losing weight is easy. It really is. All you have to do is eat less food. Here’s how you do it: go on a low calorie diet, using every ounce of willpower you have for a few months, and watch the number on the scale drop. But what happens? At the end of your low calorie diet, are the rolls gone? Are you looking any better? Or are you basically a smaller version of the same chubby self. When you sit down are the rolls gone? haha YEAH RIGHT!!!! You may have lost weight, but you really aren’t looking much better.
Read More→