How to reduce dangerous visceral fat

Visceral fat, found in and around the organs, can be a serious danger to your health. There is a hormone called adiponectin that will prompt the body to reduce visceral fat and increase lean tissue. 

A quote from The Secret Life of Fat:

"Exercise increases adiponectin, the hormone emitted by fat tissue that moves fat away from the viscera to the limbs and hips. It improves insulin sensitivity, too, leading to lower blood glucose and triglyceride levels. The added benefit of most of these hormones is that they won’t just burn fat, they’ll increase lean tissue, which also leads to higher metabolism. So even at rest, we’ll burn more calories."

The best way to increase adiponectin levels?   According to one study: “A progressive high intensity exercise program demonstrated increased adiponectin concentrations in overweight and obese children.”  Another study concluded: “The results show that high intensity interval training (HIIT) positively changes blood lipids and adiponectin variables in obese adolescent girls, resulting in improved insulin sensitivity, as attested by a lower HOMA-IR, and achieving better results compared to moderate-intensity exercise. “

The hormones of your endocrine system can work against your fat loss efforts, or they can make fat loss more achievable.   In addition to adiponectin, HIIT simulates a cascade of fat-burning hormones; among them testosterone, human growth hormone, and irisin.

HIIT is what we do at New Orleans Personal Trainers and Austin Personal Training.   For those who are extremely out of shape, all you have to do is a little more than you are used to handling.  Each week you will improve, and soon your hormones will work for you rather than against you.

Testosterone..., kind of like shampoo

Testosterone is vital to both sexes for controlling fat, boosting metabolism, and maintaining lean muscle mass. Testosterone increases the body’s fat burning ability, as fat decreases testosterone increases. Repeat this positive cycle for best results (kind of like shampoo!?). A quote from the book, The Secret Life of Fat:

“Testosterone, which is critical for both sexes, also decreases, causing a reduction in lean body mass and energy, ultimately leading to slower metabolism. Though we tend to think of testosterone as the male hormone, there is more of it in a woman’s body than estrogen at most times of the month, and certainly during the perimenopausal or postmenopausal years... Testosterone is perhaps the most potent fat burner we have."

Another quote:

"Testosterone is important for everyone's weight management because it helps build and maintain muscle mass."

And this:

"The relationship between fat and testosterone in men is circular - lower testosterone leads to and increase in fat, particularly belly fat: in turn, higher fat lowers testosterone."

One can increase testosterone naturally. From This study, Effect of altered reproductive function and lowered testosterone levels on bone density in male endurance athletes:

"Relatively short duration exercise bouts at maximum or near maximum intensity appear to increase serum testosterone levels.

Near maximum intensity can be problematic for those with injuries or those who are out of shape. At New Orleans Personal Trainers and Austin Personal Training  we use MedX exercise equipment with special rehab features, and we use an exercise protocol that is safe for those with limiting conditions.  For those who are extremely out of shape, all you have to do is a little more than you are used to handling.  Each week you will improve.  You will start the positive cycle and burn more fat.

High intensity activity affects fat loss

From this study, Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity and Weight Outcomes: Does Every Minute Count? comes this quote:

"What we learned is that for preventing weight gain, the intensity of the activity matters more than duration," says Jessie X. Fan, professor of family and consumer studies at the U. "This new understanding is important because fewer than 5 percent of American adults today achieve the recommended level of physical activity in a week according to the current physical activity guidelines. Knowing that even short bouts of 'brisk' activity can add up to a positive effect is an encouraging message for promoting better health."

The recommended number of minutes of exercise a week is 150 minutes. Fewer than five percent of American adults today achieve the recommended level of physical activity in a week. The recommended program might be a great program, but if next to nobody does it what good is it? People exercising with greater intensity for far less than the recommended 150 weekly minutes have achieved really amazing results.

At Austin Personal Training and at New Orleans Fitness Trainers we can help you gradually build up to a high intensity regime that is safe, effective, and efficient for your age. Our oldest client is 88. Using such a program you can expect to feel better and have a dramatic improvement in your health.

Lose weight by lifting weights

Strength training can have a positive role in fat loss. If one goes on a diet with significant caloric restriction the body's response of self preservation is accomplished by lowering it basal metabolic rate. The body does this by catabolizing lean body mass. The weight loss will be both fat and muscle. If one strength trains the body receives the message that lean body tissue is vital to survive the demands placed on it. Rather than losing lean body mass the body preserves it and adds to it.

From Men's Health magazine article 5 Reasons You're Not Losing Weight:

"In a study at the University of Connecticut, we put overweight men on a 1,500-calorie-a-day diet, and divided them into three groups — one that didn't exercise, another that performed aerobic exercise 3 days a week, and a third that did both aerobic exercise and weight training. Each group lost almost the same amount of weight — about 21 pounds. But the lifters shed 5 more pounds of fat than those who didn't pump iron".

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Austin Personal Training

New Orleans Fitness Trainers

Lift weights lose weight

From Men's Health magazine article 5 Reasons You're Not Losing Weight:

1. You Eat Fat-Free Foods

2. You (Still) Don't Eat Breakfast

3. You're Following Bad Advice.

4. You're Eating Too Much Sugar

5. You Don't Lift Weights

"In a study at the University of Connecticut, we put overweight men on a 1,500-calorie-a-day diet, and divided them into three groups — one that didn't exercise, another that performed aerobic exercise 3 days a week, and a third that did both aerobic exercise and weight training. Each group lost almost the same amount of weight — about 21 pounds. But the lifters shed 5 more pounds of fat than those who didn't pump iron".

This is more evidence of strength training's positive role in fat loss. If one goes on a diet with significant caloric restriction the body's response of self preservation is accomplished by lowering it basal metabolic rate. The body does this by catabolizing lean body mass. The weight loss will be both fat and muscle. If one strength trains the body receives the message that lean body tissue is vital to survive the demands placed on it. Rather than losing lean body mass the body preserves it and adds to it.

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Austin Personal Training     New Orleans Fitness Trainers

Burn calories long after your exercise session in over

We burn calories four ways. One of the ways is the burning of additional calories after the exercise session is over. Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) is a measurably increased rate of oxygen intake following strenuous activity. All forms of exercise produce EPOC and burn additional calories post exercise. Strength training produces more EPOC; high intensity circuit strength training produces more than lower intensity strength training.

In one study, Effects of resistance exercise bouts of different intensities but equal work on EPOC, two groups underwent strength training, one at low intensity and the other at a high intensity. The conclusion:

“High-intensity exercise (85% 8-RM) will produce similar exercise oxygen consumption, with a greater EPOC magnitude and volume than low-intensity exercise (45% 8-RM)".

Subjects lifting more weight fewer times burned more energy and had a greater metabolic boost after exercise. The amount of additional calories burned after exercise can be significant. One study demonstrated a ninefold improvement in fat burning with high intensity interval training (HIIT).

HIIT is the type of personal training we do at Austin Personal Training and at New Orleans Fitness Trainers. The personal training sessions are short (20 to 30 minutes) and infrequent (once or twice a week) but demanding especially in regard to calorie burning. For those who wish to do more exercise this personal training program will free up your time to do other types of calorie-burning activities.

What clients are saying: “I have officially lost 50 pounds"

Number thirteen in a series about what clients have to say about their workouts.

A recent conversation with one of our clients: Leif said, “I have officially lost 50 pounds. It has taken three years. Three years ago I was eating a whole bag of Cheetos in one sitting, and that is not good for someone who is taking shots for diabetes. I am so happy I heard your commercial three years ago”.

I said, “You know these last three years could have been different. Instead of losing weight you could have continued gaining weight.

He replied, “Something clicked and I knew this is something that I needed to do”.

People are in a hurry. They crash diet only to gain it back quicker. Leif's loss of 50 pounds was slow in coming, but he is much more likely to keep it off going forward. Ninety-five percent of those who lose significant amounts of weight gain it all back and more within five years. Why bother if you are not going to reap long lasting life-sustaining benefits?

The average renewal rate for most health clubs is around 30 percent. Of those who rejoin only about 30 percent of them use the club regularly. Those are not encouraging stats. People start out with good intentions and fall by the wayside when the results are not immediate. Where are you going to be health-and-fitness-wise three years from now? Most people make the choice to do nothing and at some point find themselves very out of shape. It is a common refrain we hear from new clients. - “I was exercising regularly until about two years ago.” “I have not exercises since 2001.”

At Austin Personal Trainers and New Orleans Personal Trainers we offer high intensity training (HIT). It is a full body workout. It takes about 30 minutes, and you do it once or twice a week. This is a workout that you slowly build up to, but it is doable at 30 minutes once a week. All you have to do is to keep improving, make modest changes in eating habits, and you will get to where you need to be. The other days of the week you are free to engage in activities you enjoy; there are not hours of drudgery in the gym. This is a workout plan most people can stick to for the long haul.

Previous blog entries in the series What Clients Are Saying:
1. @#%& incredible
2. Seems too good to be true, but it actually is that good
3. After each session, I always felt better on all levels.
4. This would not have happened to me if I had a personal trainer
5. This affects all aspects of my life.
6. I saw a remarkable change in my body
7. A Radical Transformation
8. I don’t think I would be alive today
9. Amazing and remarkable
10.My doctor said it would not be necessary to start taking drugs to preserve my bone density
11.What Clients Are Saying - "My years of strength training helped me survive cancer"
12. Under no circumstances stop exercising because that is what is keeping you going