How to stay slim

Your set weight. Or your body’s thermostat.

 

Do you ever wonder why some people manage to stay slim, and even if they gain weight, it goes right back down, while others seem to carry excess weight and even if they lose it, it goes back up?

 

Well, there is an explanation to that. And…. It’s not genetics. It is called “Body set weight”. If you have never heard of it, it means your body is programmed to carry a certain body fat percentage at any given moment.

 

Our bodies are pretty amazing machines. Nature is smart and installed a bunch of little thermostats in our bodies. When we are hot, our thermostat kicks in and we start to sweat to drop the body temperature down. When we are cold, the thermostat kicks in and we start shivering to increase our body’s temperature. We don’t need to think about it. The body knows what to do.

 

In the late 80’s I was taught that calorie is a calorie and it’s all about calorie in and calorie out when it comes to weight loss. After teaching weight loss for over 30 years, I can tell you that calorie from a cheesecake is very different from the calorie from a beef steak!

 

And that difference plays a main role in fat storing or fat burning. It influences your body’s fat regulating thermostat.

 

How does it do it? It does it through controlling your fat storing and fat burning hormones. Insulin and glucagon. One stores fat, the other one burns it. And just like the thermostat in your room, you can only adjust it up or down. That means you can store fat or burn fat at any given moment. You cannot do both at the same time.

 

Those hormones control your body fat percentage. Trigger your insulin more often and it won’t matter how hard you train (sumo athletes). Keep your insulin low and you’ll have glucagon doing what it’s supposed to – burn fat. The more often you keep your body in a low insulin state the easier it becomes to burn fat. Your thermostat is set on fat burning. The more often you spike insulin, the more you condition your body to be great at storing fat. Your thermostat is set on fat storing.

 

It’s all about your hormones.

 

And… It’s what you put in your mouth that controls those hormones. Yes, it is more about hormones than calories. As a matter of fact, I never counted calories for any of my clients. And I had some of them losing over 300lbs of body fat! It works.

 

So how do some people stay slim and have their body’s thermostat set on fat burning? They consume less fast burning carbs and they consume them less often.

 

I once heard a speech by a physique model. He went up on stage and his first words were – “Do I look like I eat bread?” The crowd went NO! Then he said – “Correct. It’s because I don’t!”

 

So, yes, eat steak instead of cake. Eat vegetables instead of fruits. (Yes, I said it) Eat fat instead of carbs. You will look great and feel awesome!