Two kinds of fat … and why your body stuffs it in our thighs, hips, and belly

I promised to explain HOW and WHY our body stores fat … and why it so stubbornly holds on to it (especially on the hips, thighs, and belly).

If what I said was true about fat moving in and out of our cells easily (and it is true) then burning fat and losing weight shouldn’t be so hard.

The problem is fat exists in two different forms.

The first form of fat is fatty acids. Fatty acids easily move in and out of our fat cells and they tend to be burned as fuel.

The more nebulous form of fat is triglycerides, which are three fatty acids that are “tied” together with another molecule called glycerol. Where this glycerol comes from will be extremely important when we get into the technical details.

Triglycerides are too big to move out of the cell. In this form they are locked inside.

Have you ever put together a piece of furniture in the garage only to realize it was too big to fit through the door?

What did you have to do?

You had to take the furniture apart before you could move it inside.

That is what we have to do with fat. One of the keys of weight loss is getting your cells to take your triglycerides apart so they can move out of your cells … and of course preventing your body from creating these molecules in the first place.

So what causes your body to make these triglycerides and how do we get the body to break them down?

The answer isn’t to exercise more. In fact after exercise there is a couple of metabolic shifts that occur that actually prevent your body from breaking down fat. Remind me to tell you about it sometime. I am not sure I will have time to get to it in this email series.

The answer is: HORMONES (and enzymes)

The best part is we can actually influence these hormones. This means that true weight loss is in our control.

Before I knew about these hormones I felt like weight loss programs were essentially a crap shoot.

In reality most weight loss programs are a crap shoot because they are not designed to effect the hormones that really make all the difference. Most weight loss programs facilitate some short term success but almost everyone puts on all their weight back on after the diet is over.

And it all goes to the thighs, hips, and belly 🙁

Losing weight is not a program or gimmick. It is a set of principles that leads to the optimal balance of the hormones and enzymes that allow us to break down fat and prevent it from being stored in the first place.

That’s it.

Weight loss is not a simple calories in and calories out phenomenon. That is a faulty premise.

I’ll get into all the technical details and science tomorrow.

For now just know that if optimize your hormones so it breaks down and uses fat and prevents the storage of fat then you will hit all of your weight loss goals.

Honestly it isn’t that hard. I hate seeing people struggle with programs destined to fail.

Consider yourself one of the educated few that is not going to have to do that.

Tomorrow we get a little technical 🙂

Until then,

Dr. Lidia Adkins

P.S. The question I get often is about concerned patients who are afraid they are going to lose too much weight. When you follow the right principles the weight just falls off. Eventually your body will reach it’s “set” point, the weight it really wants to be at. I love assuring someone that previously couldn’t lose weight that their body won’t drop below a healthy level. They are not going to literally melt away 🙂

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