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HORMONES

Hormones determine how you think, what you feel and for a big part what you want to eat. It is almost always a lost battle for willpower against hormones. So instead of forcing yourself to eat less in order to lose weight, try to reset your hormonal system so that your cravings and energy levels are balanced. By choosing clean and good food to eat your cravings for high carb, tasty food will become less and eventually even disappear. Another thing is that you should never restrict your calorie intake too much. Your metabolism will slow down and in the end eating to little will make you gain fat. Or make you regain fat. Work on preserving and gaining muscle tissue, that will help your metabolism take it up a notch. And in order to maintain or gain those muscles, your protein intake needs to be in check. For fat loss you will need to fuel your body with at least 1 gram of protein for every pound of lean body mass. So for instance, if you weigh 180 pounds as a male and your fat percentage is 30% that means your lean body mass is calculated as such:

fat%= 180 x .30 = 54

lean body mass = 180 – 54 = 126 pounds

protein needed = 126 x 1 gram = 126 grams of protein per day

2 hormones to highlight are insulin and cortisol. Insulin is a muscle building hormone when in cooperation with testosterone but a negative acting hormone for fat loss when combined with high cortisol levels. Eating high glycemic foods like sugar and starchy carbs cause a rapid rise of blood sugar levels which triggers insulin to release shiploads to restore balance. Spiking the blood sugar level often can cause cells to become insensitive to insulin which provokes the body to release even more insulin every time. In the end diabetes type II may develop.

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