All Fat Does Not
Jiggle
By Joanne Lee
"She's not Fat,
she's just a Big Girl"
If I could just have a dollar for every time I have heard a girl
say that she doesn't like to train legs because they get too big,
or a gentleman tell me how he's not fat, he's just solid. I have
news for you all ... it is FAT!
There are different ways in which our body stores fat.
1. SUBCUTANEOUS... The most obvious in fat that is held underneath
the skin. This subcutaneous fat (under the skin) is what we see
as rolls or that dimpled cellulite. It has mind of its own and you
cannot flex it or suck it in. You cannot hold your breath and have
a double chin tighten or a flabby arm feel firm. This fat is the
ugly stuff that is shunned by society.
2. IMTG ... INTRAMUSCULAR TRIGLYCERIDES. Droplets of fat can also
be stored in muscle and it gives the appearance of a more 'solid'
physique, it is this fat that is often mistaken for muscle. Fat
is also stored in the not so pretty muscles, like your heart and
other organs.
Men and women matched for training experience and performance ran
for 90 minutes at 65% of their VO2 max. 42% of the calories used
in the women were from fat, of the calories used by the men only
20% came from fat (Tarnopolsky et al 1990)
Interestingly women are known to burn more fat (as a percentage
of total energy expenditure) than men during exercise.
We are able to know this as we can test the 'Respiratory Exchange
Ratio' (RER). The RER tells us the rate of carbohydrate and fat
utilization based upon how much carbon dioxide is produced in our
breath compared with how much oxygen we consume.
During exercise up to 50% of the fat used as energy comes from
fat that is held within muscle (IMTG) the rest comes from that fat
held under the skin and from the fat in our blood. In women there
is strong evidence to show that women use a greater amount of IMTG
during exercise. This will all be explained when I discuss how fat
is actually broken down and vanished from the body, but for now,
consider this. If women do indeed burn more intra muscular fat during
exercise than do men, then wouldn't that explain the frustration
that we feel when we see very little difference for all our hours
of training. We only see that subcutaneous fat that sits as rolls
underneath our skin and we are less appreciative of the fat breakdown
that occurs within the muscle.
VISCERAL FAT You cant pinch it and it wont jiggle or have dimples.
Visceral fat sits deep inside the abdominal cavity and it surrounds
your vital organs.
It is absolutely the most dangerous fat to have,
yet ironically it is not the 'stubborn' kind of fat that hangs
around despite all efforts. Duke University concluded that moderate
exercise (30 minute brisk walk) can keep visceral fat at bay and
by increasing the intensity you are able to get rid of the toxic
tissue all together.
Sedentary people will see visceral fat accumulate year after year,
this is no joke. It might be great to balance your beer can on but
visceral fat is undisputedly a precursor for Insulin resistance
(and so Type II diabetes), hypertension and cardiovascular heart
disease. This is the stuff that will affect your quality of life
and ultimately the length of your life.
There seems to be a strong hormonal influence with multiple endocrine
associations being linked to visceral fat. Elevated cortisol and
insulin levels are the villans but they are accompanied by higher
androgen levels (in women) lower testosterone levels (in men) and
lower growth hormone levels in both men and women.
Both men and women have androgens. Androgens are thought of as
steroid hormones that are responsible for the masculine traits,
but everyone has them and they are in fact a precursor for all estrogens.
However in some women the androgen levels may be higher and then
we see more of the 'apple' shape, the women with slimmer hips but
wider waists. It is therefore also linked to estrogen levels and
when estrogen levels drop (menopause) women experience the 'middle
aged' spread when they add weight to their mid section, an area
where they had been unaccustomed to holding onto weight. Estrogen
hormone therapy can reverse this affect but the shift to abdominal
weight is a common occurrence in both men and women as they age.
As we age men see their testosterone levels drop and women experience
a drop in estrogen. In both cases our own growth hormone levels
are declining from about the age of 30 onwards. While this downward
shift is taking place we might unknowingly be adding to the problem
with elevated insulin and cortisol levels.
Cortisol in the simplest of terms is our stress hormone. Stress
can be emotional and/or physiological. As cruel as life can be sometimes
both of these hormones prove challenging as we age. Stress with
work, family, health and the environment adds up and our bodies
ability to deal with insulin can be reduced also. Poor diet exacerbates
the insulin issue with the sugary foods and sodas creating an enormous
strain on our physiological well being. You can read a lot more
about insulin in by Carbohydrate E bood (www.joannelee.com) but
to drastically summarize, Insulin is produced in response to a rise
in our blood sugar. When we consume high carbohydrate foods (especially
refined sugars) we elevate our blood sugar and insulin is produced
to regulate and bring our blood sugar back down. Inactivity and
poor nutrition demand an unhealthy overproduction of insulin, eventually
even insulin cannot deal with the problem and we become insulin
resistant ... Type II diabetes.
The problem as I see it is that people don't think that they are
sick unless they have something tangible, like a cough or a broken
bone. The most dangerous conditions are fermenting on the inside
and as a society we are happy to take a pill if the doctor says
our blood pressure is too high and maybe another pill is our cholesterol
is a concern. The problems linked to type II diabetes include blindness,
kidney, nerve and heart disorders. Type II diabetes used to be called
'Adult onset Diabetes' as it was a condition linked to advancing
age. It is outrageous that it had to be renamed to Type II diabetes
as too many younger people were being struck down as a result of
lifestyle choices.
Visceral fat is dangerous; it has strong links to hormonal changes.
Specific conditions because of their hormonal challenges are linked
to visceral fat, conditions such as Polycystic ovary Syndrome, menopause,
growth hormone deficiency, depression, Cushing Syndrome and of course
aging. The avoidable conditions include smoking, excess food and/or
alcohol and lack of regular exercise.
The good news is that, unlike 'stubborn' fat, visceral fat is much
more responsive to exercise. 175 men and women (all overweight and
sedentary) were split into four groups. All of the people in the
study were starting to show signs of fat accumulation problems.
Group 1 ... No exercise
Group 2 ...Low dose moderate (walked 12 miles per week)
Group 3 ... Low dose intense activity (12 miles jogging
per week)
Group 4 ... High dose vigorous intensity activity (20 miles
jogging per week)
No one in the study changed their diets
The study lasted 6 months for the inactive group, the other 3 groups
had to do 8 months as they spent 2 months getting fit enough to
participate in the study.
(Duke University author Dr Chris Slentz) The study concluded that
there was no significant difference in visceral fat levels in the
low dose exercise groups but as the intensity increased the faster
they lost their visceral fat. At first it was thought that to ask
inactive people to run 20 miles per week might be too much, but
all of the people in group 4 were able to get to this level quite
easily.
Group 4 saw visceral fat levels drop by 6.9% in 6 months; they
also lost 7% of their subcutaneous fat (the jiggly stuff under the
skin) Group 1 didn't change anything and all participants gained
visceral fat!
As a general rule then we can say that if you don't want to add
to the visceral fat you have already then daily moderate exercise
should be implemented, but if you want to lose that deadly pot belly
then it's time to turn up the intensity and not to be held back
by preconceived ideas of what you are capable of.
http://www.joannelee.com
Joanne@joannelee.com
Personal & Corporate Wellness
Online Interactive Nutriton
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