Apr2015_YOUR BODY BY DESIGN on FAT and CARDIO
For years we have been led to believe that to lose fat you need to do cardio. The more the better, in fact. This is old science, taken out of context. What it should really say is this: By doing this you are teaching your body to store fat.
This is because when you do cardio, your body reacts to the stress by suppressing a very important hormone that is produced by the thyroid to burn fat. When this hormone, called T3, is suppressed, your body starts gaining and storing fat immediately.
It’s because the body needs fat to function, and its automatic response to stress is fat storage for survival.
Doing the same intensity aerobic conditioning or cardio, will make your body more efficient at burning calories at that pace. Your body adapts and becomes smarter in how it uses its fuel.
If your goal is to burn fat, you definitely don’t want your body to become more efficient. Less efficient equals more fuel used/calories burned.
Muscle is active tissue that burns 3 times more than fat. Muscle loss equals a slowed metabolism and fat storing. The average person loses around 500 gms of muscle a year anyway. That’s 2.5-3.5 kgs a decade.
The news is even worse for women. As we approach menopause, the rate at which we lose muscle doubles, which is why so many women begin to gain weight right around that time of life.
If you want to lose fat you need to increase your metabolism by lifting weights and signal your body to burn fat with short high intensity bursts or sprints.
Not only will you save your joints, protect your heart, look younger and feel better, you will do it in half the time!!
Leanne Laing
Your Body by Design.
0412 353 427.
