Dr. Curtis McElroy

Tag: fat

  • Making Fat Part Of Your Weight Loss Plan

    Eating Fat to Stay Slim

    You may have heard the advice that if you want to stay slim then you need to give up eating fat. The opposite is actually true. You need to eat fat in order to stay slim. When you eat foods that are high in carbs or high in sugar, this creates a reaction in your body that makes you crave more of the same.

    So you begin to hold onto fat and the more fat your body holds onto, the more you weigh and the more you’ll battle hunger and cravings. Without enough fat in your diet, you can get caught in an endless cycle.

    Trying to lose weight while eliminating fats is a blueprint to diet failure.

     

    When you consume more fat, your body in turn lets go of stored fat. The types of fat that you need to consume matter.

    When you plan your meals, you want to make sure that your carbohydrate portions are not as great as your fat. You’ll want to cut out processed foods and eat things like plenty of fish and chicken as well as fruits and vegetables.

    By creating an eating plan that uses a healthy balance of fat and carbs, you can spur your body to lose fat and pounds. It works based on the science of Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) which basically means that it’s your body’s currency.

    When you need energy, your body will use fat to fuel that energy through oxidizing the fat. If you eat more carbs than fats, your body uses the carbs instead. Which means you burn calories but not fat.

    To slim down and lose fat, you have to eat fat to give your body that fuel. That doesn’t mean that all fats are equal. Some are pretty bad for your overall health and especially for your heart.

    Fats are listed under the umbrella of being either saturated or unsaturated. The fats in foods will be found in one of these groups. Unsaturated fats are the ones that you want to look for.

    These are the fats that are best for your heart health because they help keep your cholesterol levels low and they’re also good for weight loss.

    Other fats in this group contain omega-3 which is good for the heart.

    You’ll see this in fats that are in vegetable oils and certain types of fish such as salmon.

    Olive oil is a good oil to consume for helping you to stay slim.

    Good fats are found in things like some types of seeds, nuts, avocados and olives.

    Fats that you should limit or avoid when you’re watching your weight because they’re bad for your heart as well as unhelpful when it comes to losing pounds are things like the skin of some meats, solidified fats, cookies, potato chips and other kinds of junk or fast food.

  • The Benefits of Strength Training for Women

    The Benefits of Strength Training for Women

    There is a quote that’s often tossed around in the fitness industry – “Lifting weights doesn’t make women huge. Eating cupcakes makes women huge.”
    While amusing, this quote is true. It’s often thought that strength training also known as weight training is a man’s domain and that women will get muscle-bound and manly if they did weight training. That’s why you often see most women hitting the cardio machines in the gym while the men grunt away at the free weights corner.

    The truth of the matter is that strength is not only for men. Weight training has many benefits for women too. It won’t make you big or manly. The woman’s physique and lack of testosterone prevents her from packing on massive muscle mass. It just doesn’t happen without performance enhancing drugs.

    Now that we’ve cleared up this misconception, let’s see why you absolutely must start weight training as soon as you can. The benefits are just too good not to.

    * Prevents muscle atrophy
    Strength training prevents muscle atrophy. Both women and men lose lean muscle once they reach their thirties. Every year they lose some muscle mass. Weight training will prevent this from occurring and may even reverse the process. If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.

    * Slows the aging process
    Weight training retards the aging process. As mentioned earlier, you’ll lose less muscle, be stronger and healthier. A healthy body is more capable of handling the ravages of time. Women who engage in weight training often tend to look younger than their years.

    * Reduces subcutaneous fat
    Strength training increases blood flow to the muscles that are being worked. If you have thighs that are fatty or a belly that’s flabby, just place your palm on these areas. You’ll notice that they’re generally colder than other parts of your body that are leaner.

    The reason for this is blood circulation. Areas that have excess fat have lower blood circulation. Weight training will recruit the different muscle groups and your body will be forced to draw blood into these areas. Your blood circulation will improve and this indirectly leads to a loss of subcutaneous fat.

    What is subcutaneous fat? It’s the fat that’s just under your skin. Women usually have more subcutaneous fat on their buttocks, thighs and hips. Another reason why you should get rid of this fat is because it causes the appearance of cellulite.

    No lotion or brushing can get rid of cellulite. Only a clean diet and weight training can help burn off the excess fat and diminish the appearance of cellulite.

    * Reduces visceral fat
    Visceral fat is a very dangerous type of fat that covers your internal organs. There are a lot of toxins in visceral fat and it’s an easy type of fat to gain. Dieting will not remove visceral fat. You MUST engage in weight training and cardio activity. Over time, your body will burn off the visceral fat and you’ll be less likely to get diseases and become sick.

    * Boosts metabolism
    It boosts your metabolism so that you burn more calories while at rest. You’ll be less likely to gain weight easily.

    * Combats osteoporosis
    As women age, they’re more prone to osteoporosis. Strength training will prevent this because it stresses the bones and this will force the body to deposit more bone which in turn fights osteoporosis. Isn’t weight training amazing?

    By now you should know just how fantastic this form of training is. Besides the points mentioned above, working with weights will also prevent diabetes, lower your cholesterol, boost your heart health, improve your posture and balance and prevent back pain.

    While all this is well and good, the one benefit of strength training that most women will love is that it will transform your body into a picture of health. Your body will become more feminine because of the tone and any curves will look better. You’ll look great naked and when you’re at the beach, you’ll really rock that bikini.

    Strength training is the answer you’ve been looking for.

     

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