Although there are thousands of products and advice columns on different methods to lose body fat and gain muscle, there are only three simple rules for fat metabolism and muscle gain. If you follow them, you can lose weight in 30 days.
Rule one: excess calorie intake is stored as fat. Through the complex metabolic processes of digestion, carbohydrates are converted into glucose that fuels the body. Every cell in the body uses glucose as its preferred energy source. What is not used is temporarily stored in the liver and muscles as glycogen for later conversion to glucose to be used for fuel. But what if the glucose and glycogen run out? The body then turns to fat for fuel first, and then begins to break down stored protein in muscles, organs, and other tissues. Starvation diets cause the body to literally eat itself. It is not a healthy thing. If we all had the perfect balance of calories and calories used, we would stay at roughly the same weight.
But that’s not the reality of modern sedentary life with oversized meals. Every additional calorie that is not used, whether from carbohydrates, protein, or fat, is stored in the body as fat. This is a coping mechanism developed over thousands of years of evolution when humans didn’t have a constant supply of food on pantry shelves. They spent long winters with little or no food, and their bodies burned off stored fat during times of plenty. Nowadays, it seems that we have moments of abundance every day without respite and the kilos increase.
Rule two: to lose weight you have to burn more calories than you consume. Easy. Every bite of food, every drink you ingest goes towards your daily calorie intake. If, at the end of the day, you consumed more calories than you burned. Guess what? You are in excess of calories and the body stores them as fat. The fastest way to burn off that fat and lose ten pounds is to increase your exercise and decrease your calorie intake. Remember, we are establishing new habits for life, ones that will keep the weight off for the rest of your life. So be moderate in what you do. Starvation diets never work long term. You ruin your health, you can’t maintain a severely restricted diet, and the weight comes back quickly.
Rule three: you build muscle from exercise. Period. No supplements or excessive protein intake. Muscles form when you use your body. So head to the gym, hit the track, join a walking club, ditch the car on sunny days, and work in the yard. Movement builds muscle while burning calories.
Overly complex routines and hard-to-remember strategies tend not to become lifelong habits. These three simple rules can help you get started on your weight loss goals and easily become something to incorporate into your lifestyle. If you follow them, you can lose weight in 30 days.
