THIS Is the Secret to Unlocking Your Fat Cells the Scientific Way!

Weight loss. Fat loss. Everybody chases it. Some try crash diets while others hop onto fad programs and intense exercise regimens to no avail. What is the secret to unlocking fat loss? Let us decode the science behind it. I will try my best to keep this as simple as possible but persist if it gets a little scientific in between. I believe that simply by understanding how the human body works, you will find your action plan.

The truth is that millions of people struggle with body fat. There could be several reasons why people put on this excess body fat. Of course, there are cases where it could be due to side effects of certain medications or treatments. In some cases, people with poor hormonal imbalances due to excess estrogen can also gain more weight. But when you fix it with your lifestyle, losing it is possible. We are excluding these cases.

You may notice this. When most people with excess body fat start working out, they lose fat from their face, arms, parts of their back, and legs. But the fat around their belly and midriff areas tends to hang on. Why does this happen?

What is the No. 1 reason why people put on fat?

To understand this, you need to know how insulin works.

Suppose you eat a meal and have carbohydrates on your plate. It could be white bread, rice, whole grains, jaggery, honey, white sugar, or ice cream. A carbohydrate is a carbohydrate. When you digest it, carbohydrates break down into sugar. This sugar enters your bloodstream, and your blood sugar levels go up. Perfect, that’s how the human body works.

When your blood sugar rises, your pancreas produces the hormone – insulin. Think of insulin’s job as knocking at your cell doors and tissues. Insulin pushes the extra sugar or glucose in your blood into your cells. Once the cells fill up, your blood sugar levels then come down. Everything works like it was designed to.

What is crucial to understand is that your cells and tissues can hold a certain amount of sugar. Think of them as storage tanks. So if you overeat carbohydrates, your cells are going to get full quickly.

When the cells are up to their capacity, your liver will take this glucose and convert it into glycogen for use later. When you need energy, the liver will break down this glycogen and put the glucose back into your blood to keep your energy levels up. A small amount of this glucose is also stored in your muscles which gets converted back into energy when you start working out.

But what happens when even your liver is full of glycogen? It starts to convert the glucose stored as glycogen into fatty acids called triglycerides. These are then stored in fat cells, also known as adipose tissues.

Your fat cells are limitless. It means that the more glucose or blood sugar levels you let get converted into fat, the more your fat cells will multiply. This is the stubborn fat you see hanging onto your abdominal and midriff areas. It is nothing but your adipocytes or adipose tissues storing more and more fat.

It teaches you two learnings.
1. Stop overeating carbohydrates.
2. Start exercising to build more muscle.

Why? Because the more muscle you build, the more glucose you can store. If you work out regularly, you can convert that glucose into energy and not fat.
We will discuss this in detail later.

How do pancreas play a role in managing insulin and fat loss?

Your pancreas have beta cells. Think of them as unique cells that produce, store, and release insulin. It is why when there is damage to your beta cells in cases of pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, or type 1 diabetes – you can no longer produce insulin. It is why your doctors have to give you shots of insulin.

On the other hand, the alpha cells in the pancreas produce a hormone called glucagon. For instance, your blood sugar levels drop because you have been eating very few carbs or you have missed a meal. The glucagon hormone will stimulate your liver to release the stored glucose (glycogen) into your blood so that your blood sugar levels go up for energy. This is the survival mechanism of the body to stop you from starving or collapsing. Does this mean you should adopt extremes like skipping meals or starving? No.

Avoid going ‘no carb’. Go low carb. When you do this and practice fasting scientifically, glucagon works to keep you alive and going. Also increase your protein and fat intake. Unlike carbohydrates – protein and fats don’t spike blood sugar levels. Athletes are on a high-carb, high-protein, and high-fat diet because they are burning that energy every day. Now if you are a layperson doing a one-hour workout or have a lot of body fat to lose, you don’t need them in the same amount.

Many say, “Luke, I am working out/gymming, dieting, and yet I am not losing weight.” The answer is simple: you need to unlock those fat cells so that excess fat can be burnt into energy. For this, your insulin has to be low. Think of your insulin as a key. When it is low in your blood, it opens the fat cell, and now you can burn fat. But if your insulin is high because you’re snacking before and after your workouts, insulin is still high. You haven’t burned fat during your workout. You could be sweating but insulin cannot unlock your fat cells. This is why we recommend fasted workouts or fasted walking in the morning if you are trying to shed that extra fat.

What are fasted-workouts?

You wake up. You haven’t eaten anything yet and your blood sugar levels are low. This is the perfect time to start working out, running, walking, or lifting weights, do what suits you. Know more about the benefits of fasted workouts here.

Because your blood sugar levels are low, the liver will first convert glycogen into glucose to give you energy. Once your muscles are engaged in your workouts, you burn it. When the existing store is over, your insulin drops and opens the fat cells and your workout is burning body fat. That is the secret. There is no other way. Fasting done the right way, not as a fad. When you fast, your insulin drops and opens up your fat cells and now you can burn fat.

Build lean muscle. Your age is your most limiting belief

There are a lot of misconceptions in our country. Many think that the older they get, they shouldn’t lift weights. You have been fooled for the longest time. The more muscle you build whether you are 50, 60, or 70, the better your longevity with stronger bones and a better metabolic rate. Everyone says, “At 40, my metabolism has changed.” It has changed because you haven’t changed or adapted to the new needs of your body. You are doing cardio and not building muscle. Muscle wasting happens after the age of 30. Your age is your most limiting belief. Weight training and building lean muscle beyond protecting and building bone health also improves balance, posture, coordination, prevents injury, reduces fat, and slows down age-related muscle loss. Learn more about why you should build lean muscle here.

The biggest mistake to avoid to keep insulin low

Stop constant snacking

One of the biggest mistakes that most people make is snacking. Here’s a simple example, you just finished a meal. Your blood sugar levels are high. Just as your insulin is preparing to come down in the next hour or so, you eat a snack, and your insulin goes right up. When it starts to come down again, it’s time for your next meal. And it spikes again. If your insulin is high throughout the day, it can never become the key to opening the fat cells.

Stop eating late-night meals.

They wreak havoc on your insulin and blood sugar levels and increase the risk of fat storage, acidity, and indigestion, among other issues. Keeping a gap between dinner and bedtime allows better fat loss, metabolism, and digestion.

Stop overeating carbs

Reduce carbohydrates and increase your protein and fat intake, so you don’t feel hungry. Don’t starve. If you are hungry and frustrated, you will start craving more carbohydrates. It is not difficult, remember small wins. Even if you reduce your carbohydrates just a little in two to three meals, you will have an overall deficiency of carbohydrates which will allow your insulin to come down and enable fat loss. From having like four tablespoons of rice cut it down to two. From having three or four rotis cut it down to two.

Control triglycerides, the biggest enemy of the heart

Remember we spoke about the glycogen that was stored in your liver? If your liver doesn’t use it for energy, it will start to convert it into fatty acids called triglycerides. For those of you who have done your lipid profiles, you already know that uncontrolled triglycerides are dangerous for you.

When patients come to us with high triglycerides, we help them embark on the path to reversing it by simply going low carb and increasing their protein and good fats. By going low carb guess what you break down those fatty acids into energy. Adding exercise and good sleep to this helps them manage their triglycerides, unless in some cases if it is genetic and you have levels of 500 to 600, you may need medication at that point.

A simple hack you can try.

For instance, if I am stepping out right now to eat a tiramisu or a chocolate cake. I will eat it. My blood sugar levels will spike up. All of it cannot be stored in my cell, so may go to my liver and muscles. I am not going to be guilty about eating the chocolate cake but I will make sure I stay active for the rest of the day. If I am just lazing around and not stimulating muscles to burn that energy, that glucose will become fat.

Another step I will take is to ensure my next meal is only when I’m physically really hungry. And it will be low-carb. It will give my body enough time for the insulin to drop, and because I am active, stimulating my muscle will convert that stored glucose into energy.

Long story short, it all comes down to low carb, exercise, and building muscle.

Many people have two cups of chai with sugar. They have no weight problems or diabetes because they are active. Look at farmers. They have three or four cups of tea with sugar, but they’re so active they probably burn that sugar in the next 15 minutes of field labor. They also have high-carb breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But thanks to their activity throughout the day, their body never gets a chance to store or convert that glucose into body fat. Most of us, on the other hand, eat at the wrong time, eat too much, are sedentary, and do more cardio than muscle building. When we accumulate too much body fat, we start attracting a host of health issues, one of the most common issues being hormonal imbalances.

The bigger your body, the more the chances of your hormones going out of balance. You start to have more estrogen which in turn makes you put on more weight. It also leads to endometriosis, man boobs, fallopian tube issues, infertility, cysts, ER-positive breast cancer, and so on because you have too much of a hormone that you don’t need. Once your testosterone starts to drop, you cannot build muscle even if you are lifting weights or consuming more and more protein.

To sum it up…

• Keep your insulin levels low.
• Stop overeating carbs.
• Stop snacking continuously.
• Give your body time to digest each meal completely. Eat when physically hungry, not emotionally hungry.
• Move to have early dinners.
• Eat slowly and chew every bite because digestion starts in the mouth.
• If you are having dessert, ensure you’ve had your veggies and proteins before you reach the carbohydrate. This will ensure there are no big spikes in your blood sugar levels.
• Stay active, do cardio but also build muscle.
• Fix your hormonal imbalances.
• Practice fasting scientifically.
• Try fasted workouts.
• Don’t hop onto extremes. It doesn’t help with longevity. One commonality that we see in our people who live over the age of 90 is that they live in balance, not extremes.

These changes can not only help with fat loss but also in managing or reversing your triglycerides and type 2 diabetes.

What about diabetics on insulin shots?

Every time the blood sugar spikes uncontrollably, the doctor says to take one more insulin shot. Some people land up taking five to six shots of insulin. They put on weight because there’s always insulin in their blood. But if you address the root cause of the problem and drop your carbohydrates and start to build muscle, it can slowly come down and your doctor will reduce the amount of insulin because you don’t need it anymore. Yes, it is possible. With the right lifestyle changes and a personalized plan that respects your unique needs, you can come down from five shots to one shot. You will start to lose weight and reverse your type 2 diabetes. This is not a secret but how anatomy works. When you understand how the human body works you will already know what your solution is.

Truth bomb: This emotion can make you put on fat

Yes, your mind is connected with your body. Many men and women carry a lot of abdominal fat and side fat because of an emotion called insecurity. This is a scientifically proven fact. When you grow up with a lot of insecurities, your body tends to hold on to more and more weight. This weight then creates more estrogen and continues the vicious cycle we spoke about.

Know this. Your emotional path plays a huge role in your weight loss or fat loss. That’s why when you fast, build muscle, lower your carbs and address your emotions, these can be therapeutic ways for sustainable fat loss.

Move to action

It all starts in the mind. You don’t need excuses, or whining. Choose to move to action instead. It will change your life and health. Try this for the next month and give it your 100%. Read this article twice if required and chart your action plan. Do it with discipline and consistency and see the fat on your body shift.

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