The Perfect Body: Facts, Myths, and a Can of Tuna

Monday, August 22, 2005

Fat mobilization... is spot reducing fat actually true?

the answer is simply no! BUT!! here's something that'll help you understand why you aren't burning fat in the areas you really want to.
Okay, let's say you have a lot of fat in your love handles and thighs. don't you wonder why they're the last bits of fat your body burns after it gets rid of all the other fat stores? well, i did a bit of research and i was amased by the information i've come across. I used to think it was all due to genetics... well, it is to some extent. Enough with the small talk. catecholamines (adrenaline and noradrenaline) are responsible for fat mobilization (by way of increasing cAMP levels). what's fat mobilization? it's breaking down fat cells into Free Fatty Acids (FFA) and dump them in the blood stream to use as energy.There are 3 adrenoreceptors in your fat cells that are mainly concerned here (4 receptors when you were a baby). those receptors are named Beta-1, Beta-2, and Alpha-2 (the fourth one Beta-3, which is only in brown "baby" fat, and animal fat). when catecholamines bind to Beta-1 and 2 receptors, they increase cAMP levels and mobilize fat from that area. But, when they bind to Alpha-2 receptors, they decrease cAMP levels, which inhibits mobilization. Now, research has shown (the research was only done on women) that stubborn fat areas (hips and thighs in most women) contain 9 times more Alpha-2 receptors than Beta-1 and 2. Hence, they are "stubborn" and very hard to mobilize.
What to do? well, i'm trying some (unproven) methods that basically inhibit the Alpha-2 receptors, which leads to more fat mobilization from stubborn areas. "does this mean i can spot reduce fat?" NO!!!! lets say (the numbers won't make sense, but it's just to get it in your head) you burn 1 lb of fat from your arms, 1 lb of fat from your thighs and nothing from your love handles in one week. if you inhibit Alpha-2 receptors, you'd probably lose 0.6 lbs from the arms, 0.6 lbs from your thighs, and 0.6 lbs from your love handles.

Since i am in no position to judge if this method works or not (i'm less than 5% fat and the only fat i have left is in my lower abdomin and lower back, which is the most difficult to burn for me), i will test it on my subjects and provide the results in a couple of months.

1 Comments:

At 12:39 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Burning fat when you are less then 5% ? lol. Be sure you leave enough for your internal organs :)

 

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