CALORIES OR HORMONES? Who's Responsible for Weight Loss/Gain... PART 2

As you read along, please remember that perfection is not the goal, rather it's your ongoing pursuit. Value the process and let the near win or the almost getting it, motivate you to continue pursuing... You just can't perfectly get it, but a Deliberate Effort to keep trying is what a Deliberate Fitness success looks like.

HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE

Just as the name suggests, this is the hormone that facilitates growth and assists with protein synthesis. High levels of growth hormone will increase fat release. Think of it like the  building hormone. When building is happening energy is required. This energy will not come from protein as it will be directly used in the building and neither will it come from carbohydrates, they won't provide enough fuel as it  that requires a constant supply of energy therefore it can only come from stored fats. 

To increase the Growth Hormone you'll need to perform short, intense exercises and exercises that are weight training dominant. ( Lift Weights, perform sprints on a treadmill or a bike) Weight training tears the muscles and puts stress on the bones. These are then repaired and rebuilt to become stronger and bigger. This is the building that I'm talking about and it requires energy (Fat).

Ladies do you still need reasons to sprint or perform resistance training exercises(Lifting weights or your own body weight)?

CORTISOL

It's popularly known as the Stress Hormone. Think of it as the responsive hormone, like an ambulance or the emergency department. Anything that poses a potential threat to the body will result in cortisol being called in to help. Cortisol just like stress can either be good or bad depending on the circumstances. During exercise, you want your levels to be high as it works with your other fat burning hormones like adrenaline and growth hormone, to increase fat release. You also want your cortisol levels to be low when you're not exercising.

Again short intense exercises will increase cortisol levels and performing slow relaxing exercises like leisure walking after an intense exercise will lower cortisol levels.

The idea is to balance when you need to, find when your cortisol levels should be high and when they should be low.

INSULIN

Think of this hormone as the sugar hormone. It gets released when there's high sugar levels (and this could be from any carbohydrate food- vegetables, fruits, rice, milk etc)  in the blood stream. The brain communicates that the blood sugar levels are very high or more than enough, so let's store some of it. It does this by releasing Insulin which in turn promotes storage of fat in an effort to deal with the high blood sugar levels.

Low blood sugar levels in the blood promotes the release of glucagon, which in turn helps in fat burning to increase the blood sugar levels, because the brain communicates that there isn't enough, so let's break down some stored fats to get the energy.

To control insulin levels just avoid the blood sugar level spikes. The right carbohydrate choices, the ones that will allow slow release of glucose after breakdown is the right way to avoid insulin spikes. Rich protein foods will also help release more glucagon and less insulin.

Avoid getting really hungry to a point when the blood sugar levels are low. These are the times when you feel you're craving something sweet. When you're extremely hungry you're more likely to go for a quick(usually unhealthy) meal rather than going home to prepare something.

Solution is just keep eating and drinking small portions of food & water throughout the day.

In conclusion, weight loss is about hormone balance. Hormonal balance will ensure that you actually communicate to your body what you really mean. That's all, you just mean what you say. It doesn't matter how much fat loss you desire, how well you communicate it to the body is what will bring results.

Cheers!
Nduta Maina