Weight Loss Help

Weight Loss Help brings you more informational posts on the process of losing weight and in this outing, we’ll look at how muscle and fat measure up to each other.

When you increase muscle density by prolonged exercising you increase the number of muscle cells. The body needs to feed those muscle cells in order for them to keep working efficiently and gain further strength and density. The body takes nutrients from sugars in your bloodstream (in the form of glucose) and these are burned up when the muscles exercise.

When the body has depleted the available sugars in the bloodstream, usually after about 20 minutes of continuous exercise, more sugars are produced by the liver to replenish the supply in the blood. As this process continues, the body begins to take stored fat and converts this into the sugars that are needed by the muscles doing the work.

When this happens, your fat stores start to get used up and your body shape improves as the “fat” look is reduced.

The good thing is that once you get to an advanced state of fitness then even when your body is at rest and you looking good, with greater muscle volume and density, your body is still burning more sugars to keep the muscle cells healthy.

Now to get to this state takes time and effort, there is no denying that. But the exercise you need to do to get to this stage does not have to be heavy, hard or seemingly unpleasant. Any exercise that significantly raises your heart rate and causes you to sweat is enough to make your muscles use up the available blood sugars and after 20 minutes of this then your body will begin to burn stored fats.

This exercise can be as simple as walking fast – not strolling but walking at a good, determined pace especially up and down hills. The muscles being used are mainly in your legs (which, incidentally contain some of the largest muscle groups in the body) as well as your back and torso and as long as you find yourself breathing harder and breaking into a sweat, then you are doing enough to set the process into motion.

After 20 minutes your body will start using up your store of fat and you will begin to lose body bulk. Now that doesn’t mean you’re going to lose weight right away. In fact you will either remain at the same weight or even gain a couple of pounds in the beginning as your body’s bulk shifts from being predominantly (lighter) flab to (heavier) muscle.

This is a good thing and after more time has passed with you doing your exercise on a daily basis, say a week or so, then you will begin to lose weight.

Not an earth shattering amount, but a steady pound or two per week which is the best way to do it.

Now I know there are many diet freaks out there who will wholeheartedly shake their heads in disagreement with these, citing that food is what makes you fat. Well they’re right about that up to a point.

If you eat too much and don’t burn it off, you will gain weight and keep gaining weight until you reach obesity. Fact.

But when you exercise daily for more than 20 minutes, then every minute after that is fat burning time. It is a slow process, admittedly, but the healthiest way to do it. What you eat after than still makes a difference, of course it does! You can’t go stuffing pizzas and burgers down your throat washed down with fizzy, sugary drinks and expect to lose weight. It ain’t gonna happen that way!

But as long as you eat sensibly and exercise at the same time you must get fit and thereby lose weight. Fact.

Now does any of that sound like hard work?

Weight Loss Help

The Gluten Free Diet Plan is an interesting kind of diet in that it was never originally intended for those wanting to lose weight, but rather those suffering from coeliac disease, in which sufferers have a bad immune system response to gluten. The diet is designed so that people with this condition can lead a fairly normal life by controlling the disease through their diet.

The spin off for those wanting to lose weight is that there is a huge collection of foods that contain gluten and most of them are the kind of foods that promote weight gain. By cutting these foods out of your diet altogether, there is a very good chance you will also naturally lose weight.

Gluten is a substance found mainly in wheat, although it is also present in barley and rye. Foods made from the flour produced from these products also contain gluten. Guess what the predominant type of food that are made from these, especially wheat?

Yep, cakes, biscuits, bread, pastries, pasta, pizza, burgers, hot dogs etc. The last two contain breadcrumbs. As do breadcrumb covered snacks like chicken nuggets, fish fingers, fish cakes, croquettes… oh the list is almost endless. And most of that food is bad for you because it is processed and contains a ton of additives, trans fats, high GI carbs, sugar and salt.

A gluten free diet plan is worked out so that all those foods are eliminated from the diet, leaving mostly fresh, wholesome foods in their place, such as fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts, berries, fungus (mushrooms etc) and rice products.

All very healthy and all very much a part of a low calorie diet that will both keep your calorie count down and boost your metabolism so that you burn more of the calories you do consume. All in all, a pretty comprehensive diet that works!

Weight Loss Help