Why You Are Not Losing Fat – Part 1

By Marco Girgenti

 Marco lost 160 Lb. and has maintained that weight loss for over a decade!
Marco lost 160 Lb. and has maintained that weight loss for over a decade!

Okay, there can be many reasons as to why that fat won’t let go.

You are exercising, eating “right” and making an effort. So what gives?

In my debut series I will touch on several areas from food planning, mindsets and other pitfalls and successes.

After losing over 150 Lb and keeping it off for a decade, I can say with meekness and surety, that I “get” weight loss. What I am working on these days is the sculpting, so to speak. Those last 15-20 Lb. are fighting for me because they “love” me. Which brings me to my first point:

Your Fat Loves You

Have you ever hard of what happens when a mother bear senses her cub is in danger? Well, God help the cause of that danger, because momma will put herself between it and her baby, defending it to the death, if necessary.
That is how our fat works. It is a strange type of love hate relationship, but maybe looking at it this way will make it a little clearer.
When our bodies are underfed, especially when we have been at a particular weight for a long time, our “weight set point” senses a shift and, like momma bear, perceives this as danger and then it’s fat to the rescue! Fat exists for a number of reasons and one of them is to be our protector. If you were stuck in the wilderness without food or water, your body’s metabolic rate (the speed at which you process and burn calories) would slow down to “save” you, so to speak. The result? Our systems go into a protective mode and the body begins to resist weight loss and store fat. I like to say it does this because “our fat loves us.”

The Fat that Fought Back

So, how do those low cal diets look now? Just ask anyone that has ever been on one, because invariably the body rebelled and the fat fought back. Hey, I did call my book “Starving to be Fat,” for a real reason folks! At my heaviest weight, I was barely eating. It was not until I began to understand the concept of stoking my metabolism through regular intervals of eating, that the fat came off and stayed off.
Now, I am not saying we should get stuck on a rigid number of calories, but consider this; do you haveany idea at all as to how many calories you consume daily and from which food groups? Don’t you think you should? A guideline, at the very least is essential. Find a facility, perhaps a nutritionist that can calculate your BMR, Basal Metabolic Rate. The BMR is an equation based on a number of factors, such as percentage of lean tissue etc…that will tell you at what rate your body burns calories. Go over that amount without being active and you will gain weight, go under it dramatically and you will lose, then gain.

Remember; fat will always fight back, it is engineered to adapt to varying circumstances and to protect you. Don’t starve your body into gaining fat!