Overlooked Fat Loss Factors

Here’s a summary of an article I came across on http://www.askmen.com/ that I thought you might find of interest.

Overlooked Fat Loss Factors
By Joel Marion

When determining the effect of your eating on diet, we're often told you simply need to burn more calories than you eat and you’ll lose fat. However the truth is that the actual “number” of calories you consume is not the only factor that affects your fat-loss efforts. There are other things that should be considered that are sometimes overlooked as fat loss factors.

1- The thermic effect of the food you eat - measures the amount of energy that is required to support the processes of digesting, absorbing and assimilating food nutrients as well as the energy expended as a result of the central nervous system's stimulatory effect on metabolism when food is ingested. Of the three macronutrients, protein carries the highest thermic effect. Eat more protein; burn more calories.

2- The fiber content of the food you eat - Due to its chemical makeup, fiber is classified as a carbohydrate; however, it is unlike other carbohydrates in that it is an indigestible nutrient. Even though each gram of fiber contains four calories, these calories will pass through your intestinal tract undigested.

3- The glycemic and insulin indices of the food you eat - are scaled numbers that refer to how quickly a particular carbohydrate source enters the bloodstream as sugar and how much insulin is needed to rid that sugar from the bloodstream, respectively. When high levels of insulin are present within the blood, fat burning is halted.

4- The different macronutrients present in the food you eat - Since eating carbohydrates stimulates a large insulin response and fat ingestion gives rise to blood lipid levels, when the two are consumed together, they promote the greatest fat storage.

5- The size, frequency and time of the meals you eat - Eating smaller, more frequent meals will result in an increase in metabolism and utilization of the ingested nutrients. If you consume large, infrequent meals you will tend to promote storage of the ingested nutrients, as the body is unsure as to when the next feeding will take place. Large amounts of carbohydrates before bed spikes insulin, deters nocturnal thermogenesis, and increases fat storage during sleep. Calories early in the day does not bring about this problem and are more ikely to be used as energy to support daily activities.

So . . . . you could be eating a small amount of calories daily, but at the same time be promoting a great deal of fat storage by:

1) Making poor food choices
2) Combining macronutrients in a nonproductive fashion
3) Consuming food infrequently and at inopportune times

Joel Marion is an internationally recognized fitness expert and the author of The Cheat to Lose Diet (Random House, 2007). To learn more about Joel’s top-rated Body Transformation Coaching program and to download a free copy of his latest fat loss report, The Secret Fat Loss Hormone, visit http://www.joelmarioncoaching.com/.

To read the full article go to:
http://www.askmen.com/sports/bodybuilding_200/248_fitness_tip.html