Overcoming The “Fit But Fat” Syndrome
Training for a half marathon but cant lose weight? Cycling several times per week, but carrying excess weight?
The calories you burn during workouts are inconsequential to your overall body weight or body fat content! Instead, it is how well you use your exercise time to reprogram your daily physiology that matters.
“Many people say that, as they age, they eat and exercise the same amount but still gain weight. One of the main causes of this is loss of muscle mass. Genetically, women have less muscle than men, and as a woman ages, the preservation of lean muscle becomes vital. By the time you’ve hit 30, muscular strength begins to head south. But the majority of the decrease occurs after age 50, when it falls at the rate of 15 percent per decade. “Tom Holland, Exercise Physiologist
“By Your mid-30s, most people still look young, but are already experiencing the BIG Three of aging: deteriorating lean muscle mass, worsening posture, and crumbling joints” say Robert Forster, Physical Therapist, PT and developer of the 24 Fit Workout.
Have you experienced a Monday morning bloat after a weekend of great workouts? Ever look in the mirror and see a pudgy, bloated you and the scale says you’ve gained a pound or two for all your hard efforts?
The “Fit But Fat” Syndrome is attributable to poor daily nutrition and improper training schedules. Common problems:
- Poor daily nutrition habits
- Working harder and harder, not smarter
- Too many intense workouts creating a metabolism dependent on carbohydrates not fats
- Calorie restriction causing your metabolism to idle
- Ill advised training programs dictated by whim and not science
Solutions:
Chow Down and Eat Clean
Eating too little will force your body into “starvation mode,” which will cause it to store added fat for energy (out of fear of not being fed) rather than burning fat and keeping your belly taut. To lose weight you need to consume fewer calories than you expend. However, if you don’t maintain good levels of macro and micro nutrients, you may find you are never satisfied after eating, or still lack energy, making you reach for products such as sugary drinks, biscuits or other unhealthy snacks. These foods can cause an energy spike (rise in blood sugar) followed by an energy crash (fall in blood sugar), which leads to further fatigue and hunger. Skipping meals, especially breakfast may seem like a good way to cut calories, but it can leave you feeling tired and hungry long before your next meal. Take two Herbalife shakes and one balanced meal containing lean protein to lose fat.
Strength Training
“Adding strength training to your workout routine builds muscle and helps you burn more calories during and after your workout”, says Tom Holland, author of Beat the Gym. In fact, researchers found that women who did strength training increased their resting metabolic rate (the calories your body needs to get through the day) for as long as 16 hours post-exercise.
Start with Low Intensive Exercise
Longer, low intensity aerobic exercise forces your body to burn fats better and improves the way your body processes sugar as well. For athletes and the general public, aerobic activities reprogram your body to use fat as its preferential fuel and will enable us to work harder for longer periods of time with less fatigue. Robert Forster teaches via the 24 Fit Workout Programme how to become a more efficient calorie-burning machine, so you are going to burn fat all day – whether you are at work, at play or even whilst you sleep. 24Fit gradually increases in intensity so you dont workout harder you workout smarter.
Keep Cardio in Check
“Muscle is more metabolically active than fat, which means the more you have, the faster your metabolism is and the more calories you burn all day long—all key for a whittled middle. Resistance training builds this quality lean muscle, so do two to three total-body strength sessions a week”, says Tom Holland, exercise physiologist. “For fat-melting cardio, all you need to do is your weight, he adds: If you’re 145 pounds, do 145 minutes a week, broken up however fits into your schedule—say, 60 minutes Saturday, 45 Tuesday, and 40 Thursday”