It seems to make sense on the surface, if you want to lose fat, then you need to cut fat out of your diet. After all, “you are what you eat” right? Actually it’s a little more complicated than that. Yes, fat is often stored as fat on our bodies, but that’s not the complete story. If you want to know how to lose fat, you will have to spend some time learning how your body processes it.
Fat is simply another form of tissue in your body. It’s also known as adipose tissue and it’s found in different locations on your body. For the most part, it’s just beneath the surface of your skin. This is why most weight loss tips suggest pinching a small fold of your skin and measuring your body fat. There are also concentrations of fat around some of your internal organs, which is why the caliper method of body fat measurement isn’t 100% accurate.
Most of the fat in your body started of as triglycerides, which comes from fat and carbohydrates. This is why it’s very important to not see fat as the only culprit in your fit for fitness. Many of the carbohydrates you ingest will get converted into fat which is stored for later use. Remember, carbohydrates are where your body gets it’s energy. Think of a drive in your car from one side of the country to the other. You know it’s going to take you about 100 gallons of gas, but your car can only hold about 15 at a time. This means you need to either 1) get more gas every once in a while or 2) attach a much larger gas tank.
When you give your body more energy than it needs, it stores it in that special place for later use. That’s called fat. So, to make sure you don’t store more fuel than you need, you need to look at how much you burn each day. Once you have that down right, you could even break it into smaller chunks. For this reason, one of the best things you can do is break up your meals into 5 or 6 each day. Give your body the fuel it needs WHEN it needs it and NO MORE than it needs.