Fat is a stored energy and it seems at first that a person who carries a lot of excess fat in his body would have a lot of energy.
It seems logical, you carry a lot of fat and your body can convert this fat into energy at any point you choose to.
But in reality, most patients who are overweight also complain of low energy. They have a lot of energy in a body stored as fat but are unable to access it. It’s like having a million dollars in your bank account but forgetting the pin. So, how can you unlock the energy stored as fat?
1. Focus on health instead of losing weight.
Weight is just a symptom. It’s a message from your body and sometimes even a cry for help indicating the presence of greater underlying imbalances. Like any symptom, it has a root cause. The same applies to excess fat. It’s a protective mechanism your body uses in order to compensate for underlying imbalances. When your focus is on creating health, correcting imbalances and eliminating the root cause, the body will naturally unlock that door for you and allow you to use the excess fat as energy.
2. Connect with the emotional part of you and have the right mindset.
Realize that there are two parts of your mindset: logical and emotional. Setting a goal and using willpower is not enough to achieve a long-lasting result. For a positive transformation to take place, the emotional part of you has to be congruent with the logical part. In fact, the emotional part is going to do most of the work. Only then can the transformation happen. If the emotional part chooses not to participate, it will sabotage, and you will not be able to unlock that energy stored as fat.
3. Increase your resilience to stress and choose to be in the parasympathetic “rest and digest mode”.
Heart Rate Variability is a measure of your resilience to stress. When your HRV is high, your body is able to tolerate more stress and recover from it much faster. When your body is in a parasympathetic state it is in a healing, repairing and regenerating mode. The body can correct imbalances, heal, and unlock energy only in a parasympathetic state.
4. Improve digestion.
For the body to use stored fat as energy it requires macronutrients, micronutrients and phytonutrients to correct the underlying imbalances first. For these nutrients to be delivered into cells and to be used as energy sources and building blocks, proper digestion has to happen. You can eat the healthiest foods possible but if your body has no ability to digest these foods, it will have challenges absorbing and delivering the necessary nutrients to cells thus leaving the body in a state of nutrient deficiency.
5. Eat low glycemic foods and keep your insulin low.
Insulin is a hormone produced by your pancreas. Its job is to keep your blood sugar under control. When your blood sugar increases, insulin helps carry glucose inside the cells. Naturally, insulin should increase slowly during eating, peak, then taper and diminish 2 hours after a meal. However, if you are consuming a high sugar diet, you’re overworking your pancreas to produce more and more insulin to drive the sugar into the cells. Insulin spikes but your cells have limited capacity to store sugar. As your blood sugar levels climb higher and higher, your liver takes over and starts converting sugar into fat which in turn causes you to gain weight.
Paradoxically, when your insulin level is elevated, your metabolism gets slower and slower while you store more and more fat. Insulin has an effect that increases the fat you store and decreases the fat you burn. As long as your insulin remains high you will fight a losing battle to release that energy from fat. It is only when your blood sugar decreases, and insulin drops along with it, will fat be released from the fat tissue and burned as energy. Many people who choose to increase energy and lose weight try high-fat keto diets and find that those diets are not sustainable because they end up eating too much animal protein and not enough plant-based foods. They feel tired because it takes a lot of energy to digest these types of foods.
6. Implement intermittent fasting.
When your body digests food, it uses energy to do so. Depending on the food you consume, the process of digestion requires more or less work and energy. The power of intermittent fasting is that it shifts your body from being a sugar burner onto being a fat burner. It takes around six to eight hours after you eat for your body to burn through the glycogen stores (sugar stores) in your body before you start burning fat for energy. Every time you eat, you replenish “sugar stores”, so to start using fat as a fuel for energy you have to wait six hours. Intermittent fasting frees up energy and time for your body to be able to repair, regenerate, and heal.
7. Reduce toxins.
One of the protective mechanisms your body uses to deal with the tremendous amount of toxins it’s exposed to is to wrap toxins into fat tissue. Most of the toxins are fat-soluble so they are going to be stored in organs with high-fat content including fat tissue itself. By decreasing toxic burden, you allow your body to release fat as it no longer needs to store toxins.
8. Reduce inflammation.
Inflammation is a part of your body’s natural defense system. When the body is exposed to toxins, pathogens, stress, allergens, or even inflammatory foods it mounts an immune response in the form of inflammation. Some inflammation is good and it is how your body heals. But when chronic inflammation continues 24/7, it is not good. Chronic inflammation is an underlying cause for many chronic inflammatory conditions including obesity and chronic fatigue. Incorporating anti-inflammatory foods in your diet and eliminating foods that promote inflammation is extremely effective in reducing inflammation, losing weight, and decreasing pain.
9. Make sleep a priority.
Sleep is one of the most crucial factors for your body to be able to unlock energy from fat. Sleep deprivation leads to increased stress, inflammation, and secretion of hormones that promote weight gain. Under stress your body shuts down normal maintenance, activates fat storage and triggers cravings for sugar and simple carbohydrates. As a general rule, adults need 7.5- 9hr of sleep. Most regeneration and repair happen between 10pm and 6am.
10. Incorporate joyful movement.
Exercise is great for you, but still a stressor on the body. If your body struggles to produce energy and still you push through and over-exercise it creates the same “ fight or flight” physiological response. Your body has to be in a calm and relaxed state (rest and digest) in order to unlock the energy stored as fat.
11. Reach for support.
When it comes to unlocking the energy, releasing weight and decreasing inflammation, having an accountability coach and a community of people who have the same goal is crucial for success. A coach will encourage you along the way, give constructive feedback and help identify the blind spots that you may not be aware of.
If you desire to reclaim your health, unlock energy stored as fat, have better fitting clothes and feel comfortable in your body you can learn about True Health, P.C. programs here.
