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Things have changed over the last couple of decades with regards to losing weight. The old way was to go on a calorie-skimping diet and do lots of deadly boring calorie burning exercise sessions in some mythical 'fat burning' zone. If you are still doing these things as your weight loss strategy and you are not getting the results you desire you may be doing yourself a disservice. You might need to set aside for now what you think you know about losing weight especially if what you have been doing up to now has not worked for you. A fresh approach is needed taking the emphasis of your body weight and putting it on strength and fitness improvements as well as nutrition so you can harness the power of your body's hormones. This will take your body from a fat storing one to a fat burning one. For a deeper understanding of why losing weight is not just the simple well known mythical 'calories in, calories out' equation that we have previously believed now we need to consider how our hormones are affected with our strength and fitness and can help us in the weight loss battle. For starters strong fit people have lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Having high levels can trigger cravings and overeating and cause your body to store fat more readily. The hormone insulin also drives your appetite and is the result of a diet of refined and processed foods that include highly refined sugars and fats. So the first thing you need to do is get rid of as much processed 'so called' food from your diet as possible. Anything in a pretty box or packet is not for you if weight loss is your goal. The chemicals in processed food throw your appetite control hormones 'out of whack' and will cause you all sorts of grief with uncontrollable cravings. Replace these imitation foods with natural whole foods and cook them from scratch. The next thing you need to do is get started on a proper strength training program so you can rebuild and re-tone lost muscle tissue which will have caused your metabolism (your bodies engine) to slow and pile on excess body fat. Increased strength will in turn lower stress hormone levels. When you work your muscles against a resistance you will become more insulin sensitive so less is needed to get glucose from your blood stream into the muscle tissue so it can be burnt for energy. Less insulin means less fat storage and less food cravings. As you lose excess body fat your estrogen (a fat storing hormone) levels will also decline and your thyroid function stabilizes which all contribute to a leaner body.. Previously having high levels of body fat can tip the hormonal scales in your disfavor so it is important to bring them back into balance so weight can be lost for the long haul. As you increase strength and fitness hormonal fluctuations will become less dramatic and are less likely to cause you to fall off the wagon by overeating and abandoning your exercise program. This will make the battle of the bulge as easy as it can possibly be.
Discover how to create a leaner, firmer, younger looking body when you speed up your metabolism in 30 days or less. Carolyn Hansen is a certified fitness expert and fitness center owner whose goal is to show you how to burn fat - without starving yourself - by combining strength training exercise with the right foods that will increase your metabolic rate, decrease food cravings and get and keep you trim. Visit http://HotMetabolism.com
Carolyn has just released her latest healthy eating system designed to assist people with achieving their fat loss goals, one meal at a time. Come visit http://21DaysToHealthyEating.com to find out how it is done
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