Stubborn Fat Sucks! 4 Strategies for Losing It For Good

Belly fat, thigh fat, hip and butt fat…Here’s how to lose stubborn fat fast.

Fat loss is simple enough–consume less energy than you burn every day–but trying to lose stubborn fat frustrates many.

Have you ever noticed that certain areas of your body get leaner quicker than others, and that some fat just refuses to go away?

If you’re a guy, chances are you’ve struggled with your stomach area (and particularly the lower part of your abs and your obliques), and the lower back region.

If you’re a woman, chances are you’ve struggled with your belly, thighs, hips, and butt.

Why is this and what can you do about it? Read on.

The Science of Stubborn Fat...

To understand why it’s so dang hard to get certain areas of your body lean, you need to understand how and why fat is stored and mobilized.

When you eat food, your body breaks it down into various substances, one of which is glucose, or blood sugar.

Your body also releases the hormone insulin, which tells your liver, muscles, and fat tissue to take the glucose from the blood and store it.

Your liver and muscles store the glucose as a substance known as glycogen, and your fat cells store it as as a substance known as triglycerides.

The storage of glycogen expands the size of the muscle cells, and the storage of triglycerides expands the fat cells, which in turn expands your waistline.

When you’re in this “fed” state, no fat burning occurs. Your body uses the glucose in the blood for all its energy needs, and stores the excess. Depending on how much you eat, this state can last for several hours.

But, as the nutrients eaten are absorbed, insulin levels decline, and the body senses that its post-meal energy is running out. It then shifts toward burning fat stores to meet its energy needs. Day after day, it juggles these states of storing nutrients you eat, and burning its stores when the temporary supplies run out.

To burn, or “mobilize,” fat, your body produces chemicals known as “catecholamines.” The catecholamines travel through your blood and “attach” to receptors on fat cells, which then trigger the release of the energy stored within the cells so it can be burned off.

Fat cells have two types of receptors for catecholamines: alpha-2 and beta-2 receptors. To keep this simple, beta-2 receptors speed up fat mobilization, whereas alpha-2 receptors hinder it.

So, here’s the big difference between “regular” and “stubborn” fat:

Fat that is easy to lose has more beta-2 receptors than alpha-2, and fat that is hard to lose has more alpha-2 receptors than beta-2.

This ratio of alpha-2 and beta-2 receptors in individual fat cells determines how easy or hard it is to mobilize the energy stored inside.

So, if that’s the science behind the stubborn pudge on your stomach or thighs, what’s the science of defeating it?
4 Strategies to Help You Lose Stubborn Fatr
While women tend to have it rougher than men in the realm of losing fat, often times nothing special is needed to lose stubborn fat beyond a proper diet and exercise routine, and some patience.

That said, there are certain things you can do to lose weight to speed up the loss of stubborn fat. I’ve gotten down to the 6 – 7% range both with and without employing these strategies, and I can definitely vouch for their effectiveness in speeding up the process.

#1 Fasted Training

Your body is in a “fasted” state when insulin is at a baseline level, and your body is relying on its energy stores. For a moderate-sized meal, it takes 2 – 3 hours for your body to enter this state.

Exercise done in this state accelerates fat loss. Weight training a fasted state is particularly effective. As an added bonus, research has shown that weightlifting in a fasted state results in an improved anabolic response to a post-workout meal.

In addition, blood flow in the abdominal region is increased when you’re in a fasted state, which means the catecholamines can reach the stubborn fat easier, resulting in more stubborn fat mobilization.

Fasted training first thing in the morning has an added benefit, as fasting for longer than 6 hours increases your body’s ability to burn fat.

Fasted training does have one significant drawback, however: accelerated breakdown of muscle tissue. Fortunately, preventing this is simple.

You should supplement with BCAAs 10 – 15 minutes before training, which will suppress muscle breakdown during your workout.

#2 Caffeine

Ingesting caffeine before exercise increases catecholamine production, resulting in greater fat mobilization.

The amount you should take depends on your tolerance. If you’re not a regular caffeine user, 150 – 200 mg will get you pretty pumped. If you are, it might take upwards of 400 – 500 mg to feel anything.

#3 Yohimbine

Yohimbine is a substance found in the Pausinystalia yohimbe plant, and it acts as an alpha-2 antagonist (opponent) in the body, meaning it interferes with the function of alpha-2 receptors in the fat cells. As alpha-2 receptors block fat loss, blocking their activity speeds up fat loss.

Research has shown that .2 mg per kg of body weight is sufficient for these purposes. You should also know that post-meal insulin spikes completely negate the weight loss benefits of yohimbine, so it should only be used in a fasted state.

NOTE: As with anything, excess doses can have negative side effects. Don’t go crazy with this.

#4 Green Tea Extract

Green tea extract is an herbal product derived from green tea leaves. It contains a large amount of a substance known as a “catechin,” which is responsible for many of tea’s health benefits.

One of these benefits relates to weight loss. Research has shown that supplementation with GTE accelerates exercise-induced fat loss, and can help reduce abdominal fat, in particular.

Based on the studies cited above, you want to take 600 – 900 mg of catechins per day to realize their weight loss benefits. The average GTE product contains about 300 mg of catechins per pill.

Summary

Depending on your genetics and circumstances, stubborn fat can take longer to lose than you like, even when you apply the above strategies. Or it can go very quickly.

Either way, rest assured that you CAN get rid of it, and I hope this article helps you get there!

Have any questions, or want to share what’s helped you lose stubborn fat? I'd love to hear from you at my site, www.muscleforlife.com!