There is a tremendous amount of important information in the following program that
you must learn and understand to gain control over your long-term health and fitness.
To maximize your opportunity to benefit from this program, view it in the following manner.
First, watch the three-part program in its entirety and take breaks as suggested.
Second, review the accompanying guide booklet and take notes as necessary.
Third, view the program a second time to gain a much clearer understanding of metabolism and how it can be altered.
Fourth, you may even find a third viewing helpful to thoroughly gain the knowledge necessary
to make intelligent decisions about diet, exercise, and health.
The time you invest to truly master this information will directly impact your health, fitness, and overall well-being.
Results. Isn't that what we're all after? To look better, feel better, and be our personal best.
Well, that's what Lifetime Fitness is dedicated to, helping you achieve your health and fitness goals.
The information in the following program is designed as an operating manual for the human body.
It will provide you with the information you must know to achieve your desired results.
This program is not a gimmick or a fad. It's a lifestyle change that empowers you to take control of your life.
From a medical standpoint, a lot of the science and medicine behind nutrition is very complicated,
but this video tends to make it into a simple, easy-to-understand language that the average person can take and use to their benefit.
I'm now 135 pounds. I was close to 170 when I started.
It's comforting to know that you found a method that you can be fit, really, the rest of your life if you want to.
At my age, you need everything you can get, so I appreciate it very much what he's done. It's a wonderful program.
Welcome to Master Your Metabolism, the first videotape of the Health Enhancement Series created by Lifetime Fitness.
Brahm Akrati, the founder, president, and CEO of Lifetime Fitness, has made it his personal mission to provide people like yourself
with the necessary tools to achieve optimal health, fitness, and longevity.
Over the past 18 years, he has designed, developed, and operated dozens of multipurpose health, fitness, and recreational facilities throughout the country.
These clubs have positively changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of members.
He has traveled throughout the country conducting seminars to help people understand the benefits of an active lifestyle.
In this videotape, Brahm has created a comprehensive program to teach you how your body works and how to manipulate it to your advantage.
There are eight key points you'll learn as you view this videotape.
First, you'll learn about the potential of the human body and why this potential is not achieved in most cases.
Second, you'll learn how your body metabolizes food to give you energy and power.
Third, you'll learn how metabolism can slow down and how it can be accelerated.
Fourth, you'll learn how to send the appropriate messages to your body to properly communicate your desired goals.
Fifth, you'll learn the real purpose of exercise and how to maximize your results.
Sixth, you'll learn about aerobic exercise and resistance training.
Seventh, you'll learn how to finally eat stress-free without the worries and constraints of a calorie-counting starvation diet.
And finally, you'll learn what to expect from your exercise program.
So now, please join Brahm in Master Your Metabolism.
Sit back in your chair, relax, take a deep breath, and imagine.
Imagine you're riding a mountain bike on a beautiful path.
It's a perfect day, sunny and warm, fresh air, gorgeous scenery.
You're riding through the woods and feeling fit, healthy, and energetic.
You're saying to yourself, this is great, I love life.
Now picture yourself being 90 years old.
You're riding your bike and smelling the roses.
You're still fit and healthy, capable and active.
You're enjoying life and thinking to yourself, this is the way it should be.
Now visualize.
Visualize you are feeling and looking exactly the way you have always desired.
You're feeling good and managing your weight is not an issue.
It's happening naturally and simply because of the way you live your life.
Doesn't that sound great?
Well, here are some interesting facts that may surprise you.
The human body is designed to last between 90 to 100 years of age in working condition,
enabling you to enjoy a healthy and active lifestyle throughout your life.
If maintained in good condition, the human body is capable of preventing and defending
against a substantial portion of cardiovascular disease, cancers, aches and pains,
which are very prevalent in our society today.
According to recent studies, 54% of heart disease and 37% of all cancers
are associated with lifestyle behaviors.
And 80% of aches and pains we experience are simply due to weak abdominal and back muscles.
Last but not least, our bodies have the natural ability to maintain a healthy weight automatically
without the common struggles that go along with low-calorie diets.
When we consider these facts, it's hard to understand why one-third of Americans are considered to be obese
and why so many people struggle to manage their weight.
Why are so many people battling with cardiovascular disease, cancers, and aches and pains?
And why are so many people wilting away when they hit their 60s and 70s?
The main reason we're not achieving the full potential of our bodies
is because we lack a comprehensive yet simple understanding of how our bodies work.
This lack of knowledge makes us extremely vulnerable.
We're easily misled by confusing messages and myths regarding diet, health, and exercise.
Let me give you some examples. Think of yourself.
Have you ever gone to the grocery store and purchased many fat-free items,
thinking a fat-free diet is good for you?
Have you ever done hundreds of sit-ups to get rid of the fat around your belly,
or hundreds of leg lifts to get rid of the fat on your hips and thighs?
Have you ever gone on a low-calorie diet to lose weight and failed,
or have lost the weight only to gain it right back over the next couple of years?
If you've done any of these things, or even considered doing them,
it is a clear indication that you and millions of other people just like you
do not really understand how your body works.
Think about it. We're a nation obsessed with health, fitness, and dieting.
Yet we are so confused about how our bodies function.
So where does all this confusion come from?
Well, it begins by not having an operating manual for your bodies when you're born.
When you buy a TV, VCR, or computer,
you receive an operating manual that tells you how to prevent damage and prolong its life.
It also provides you with vital information,
which is essential to obtain the maximum benefits from its features.
Without an operating manual for your body which would give you a simple,
big-picture understanding of how your body works,
how to prolong its life, and how to maximize its potential,
you're likely to end up in one of the following scenarios.
Scenario number one is to devote countless hours
reading hundreds of biomedical journals and textbooks to obtain the necessary knowledge.
This is extremely impractical and far too labor-intensive
unless you choose this field as a profession.
Which leads most people to scenario number two,
to be confused by readily available, random, and piecemeal information
that is almost certain to further misinform and mislead you.
Let me give you some examples of the many ways you may become misinformed.
Here is one.
Without a comprehensive understanding of your body,
you might easily jump to what seems to be a logical or rational conclusion.
For instance, you walk through a grocery store
and see thousands of labels touting fat-free.
This might give you the impression that fat-free foods are good for you,
when in fact a diet entirely absent of fat would be very unhealthy.
Fat is an important component of our diet for several reasons.
It is our long-lasting fuel source.
It protects our internal organs,
and it is necessary for absorption of some essential nutrients
among many other benefits.
Just as long as you don't eat fat as an entree.
Here is another common cause of confusion.
All of us have seen advertisements or infomercials
where companies try to sell their latest gadgets or gimmicks
for losing weight and getting in shape.
They attempt to take advantage of our emotional belief
in the quick fix or magic bullet approach to losing weight and getting fit.
A great example of this are the abdominal products
that promise to remove the spare tire around your stomach
by using their gadget only a couple times a week.
Ultimately, what they are implying is that you can spot reduce.
While in fact we know this is physiologically improbable,
I will explain this in detail in the question and answer section.
There is yet another way we become confused.
As a society, we have become accustomed to formulating our beliefs
based on media headlines of research findings.
However, the methods and complete outcomes
are virtually never fully disclosed in these news bites.
The disclosure of only select elements or parts of these studies
precludes us from a complete and total perspective
that is necessary to appropriately apply them to our life.
So what's the solution?
You need a big picture but simple understanding of how your body works.
This includes how to properly communicate with your body
so you can send the right messages consistently.
And since your body does precisely what it is told,
your desired results will happen automatically.
In the previous section, you learned that the human body has the following potential.
It is designed to last between 90 and 100 years in working condition.
Your body can prevent against many lifestyle related diseases
such as heart disease, cancers and aches and pains.
Your body has the ability to maintain a healthy weight, naturally.
We also learned why this potential is so rarely achieved
and that the solution is to gain a big picture understanding
of how your body works.
So let's define metabolism.
Simply put, metabolism is how your body breaks down and regulates energy,
giving you the ability to move and do the things you need to do.
To help you fully understand this process,
let me compare the human body to a car.
The human body is more sophisticated than a car,
but similar in that they both burn fuel to produce energy for movement.
The car works in the following manner.
First, you put the right type of fuel into the fuel tank.
Then there is a fuel pump that draws the fuel through a fuel line into the engine.
An air intake pulls oxygen into the engine.
The engine burns this mixture of fuel and oxygen
to produce the power needed to move the car.
The byproduct of this energy production is carbon monoxide,
which is emitted through the exhaust system.
Your body operates a lot like that.
However, it is much more complex.
The human body has its own refinery, which is called the digestive system.
The digestive system takes the food you eat and breaks it down.
Fats, such as butter, oils, and creams are broken down into fatty acids.
Carbohydrates, such as pasta, bread, and cereals are broken down into glucose.
And protein, such as meats, egg whites, and nuts are broken down into amino acids.
Additionally, through this breakdown, you get minerals, vitamins,
and other essential nutrients from these foods.
These nutrients then travel from the digestive system through the liver,
where some nutrients are further refined.
They then move into the bloodstream to be transported throughout the body,
where they are used by the cells.
Muscle cells are the engines of the human body.
The muscle cells burn the fuel delivered to them through the bloodstream,
creating the power for your body to move.
While the car has a single engine, the human body has millions of engines.
The car's engine burns only one type of fuel,
whereas the body's engines, the muscle cells, burn two types of fuel,
fatty acids and glucose.
Fatty acids are a simple form of fat that are clustered together
and stored in the fat cells.
Glucose is a simple form of carbohydrate and commonly referred to as blood sugar.
Glucose is stored in both the muscle cells and liver in a chained form called glycogen.
A small amount of glucose and fatty acids are always circulating in the blood.
Now let's talk about fat cells.
As we said earlier, fatty acids are clumped together,
creating larger fat molecules and are stored in the fat cells,
making the fat cells the storage tank for our long-lasting fuel.
In the fat cells, you find two types of enzymes that serve two distinct functions.
Please note that all enzymes are made of protein,
and their function is to accelerate the rate of chemical reaction within cells.
The orange diamonds represent fat-storing enzymes.
These guys draw fatty acids in from the capillaries
and clump them together to be stored as long-lasting fuel.
The purple diamonds, representing the fat-releasing enzymes, do the exact opposite.
These enzymes break apart the larger fat molecules stored in the fat cells
to create fatty acids and release them back into the bloodstream.
The fatty acids then travel to the muscle cells to be burned for energy.
Now let's move on to the muscle cells.
The main function of the muscle cell is to provide power
by breaking down glucose and or fatty acids.
This is why muscle cells are known as the body's engines.
We also store glucose in the form of glycogen in these cells,
which is used for quick energy.
Oxygen, illustrated by the green dots,
is required for several of the body's fuel-burning processes.
The myoglobin, represented by the red capsules,
carry oxygen within the muscle cells.
Inside the muscle cell, there are three different types of enzymes
that are responsible for the breakdown of fatty acids and glucose.
The first enzymes, represented by the yellow diamonds, are the fat-burning enzymes.
They break down fatty acids to smaller molecules called pyruvic acid
to produce some energy.
This energy-producing process requires oxygen.
The light blue diamonds, representing glucose-burning enzymes,
break down glucose to pyruvic acid to produce energy as well.
However, this process does not require oxygen.
The brown diamonds, or mitochondria,
represents the third energy-producing enzymes.
These enzymes take the combination of the pyruvic acid and oxygen
and break it down further into water and carbon dioxide to produce more energy.
Going back to the car-to-body analogy,
the fuel line of a car is nothing more than a tube
that runs between the gas tank and the engine.
The human body has millions of muscle cells, or millions of engines,
so we need more than one fuel line to deliver fuel to all the body's muscle cells.
The circulatory system is an intricate fuel and oxygen delivery structure
made up of veins, arteries, and capillaries.
In this animation, the larger blue lines symbolize the veins
and the red lines represent the arteries.
These are the major fuel lines for the body.
Branching off from the major fuel lines are capillaries.
These are smaller fuel lines that deliver the oxygen,
fuel, and nutrients to the individual cells.
The heart, the body's fuel pump,
pumps the blood through the circulatory system, or fuel lines,
delivering oxygen and nutrients to the cells.
To deliver oxygen into the body's engines, the muscle cells,
we need an air intake.
The air intake of the body is, of course, the lungs.
We inhale air into our lungs,
extrapolating and sending oxygen to the circulatory system.
The oxygen is delivered to our muscle cells through the bloodstream via hemoglobin,
which are the oxygen-carrying agents in the bloodstream.
Now, let's summarize how we convert food to energy in the body.
In the digestive system, we break food down into fatty acids,
glucose, amino acids, and other various minerals and vitamins.
These nutrients are transferred through the liver and into the circulatory system.
We bring in oxygen through our air intake, the lungs,
and deliver it into the bloodstream.
The heart, our body's fuel pump,
pumps to transport nutrients, fuel, and oxygen
through the fuel lines to the body's cells.
These fuels are then delivered to the fat and muscle cells.
We store excessive fat in the fat cells for long-lasting fuel.
Glucose is stored in both the muscle cells and the liver.
We burn both glucose and fat in the muscle cells to produce energy.
As a result, we generate exhaust similar to that of a car.
The exhaust from our body's energy production is carbon dioxide and water.
Carbon dioxide is sent through the bloodstream back to the lungs and exhaled.
Water is eliminated through various methods, such as perspiration.
Now that we have a broad-based understanding of how food is broken down,
I will further explain how we metabolize fatty acids and glucose,
which are the fuels burnt in the muscle cells.
The long-lasting fuel source for the body are fatty acids.
There are two things that can happen to fatty acids traveling in the bloodstream.
They can be burnt to produce energy in the muscle cells,
or they can be stored in the fat cells.
Fatty acids become available in the bloodstream either from the foods we eat
or those released by the fat cells.
Your lungs extract oxygen and deliver it to the circulatory system
where it is carried throughout the bloodstream by hemoglobin.
Then it is passed on to myoglobin in the muscle cells.
Your muscle cells draw in fatty acids and oxygen from the capillaries.
These yellow diamonds representing fat-burning enzymes take fatty acids and oxygen
and break them down into pyruvic acid to produce some energy.
These enzymes, illustrated as brown diamonds, take pyruvic acid and oxygen,
break them down to carbon dioxide and water to produce a substantial amount of energy.
As you can see, the entire fat metabolism process requires oxygen.
This is why we refer to it as aerobic metabolism.
Aerobic simply means in the presence of air or oxygen.
Aerobic exercise, then, is nothing more than exercise that burns a significant amount of fat
and therefore requires a substantial amount of oxygen to produce energy.
Now, when you start your aerobic exercise session and increase your intensity level,
the release of stored fat molecules is accelerated.
More fat molecules are released from the fat cells into the bloodstream
and sent to the muscle cells for energy production.
As long as you maintain this activity level, and even for a short time after,
those enzymes will keep sending fatty acids out of the fat cells
at a rapid rate into the bloodstream and then onto the muscle cells.
On the other hand, if your activity level is low and you have eaten too much,
you will have an excessive amount of fatty acids in your bloodstream
that are not immediately needed for energy.
The muscle cells will reject the excessive fatty acids and send them back into the capillaries.
The fat-storing enzymes in the fat cells, in turn, draw in fat from your capillaries
and clump them together to be stored as long-lasting fuel.
The other fuel that is burned by the body's engine is glucose.
There are several different paths that glucose can take once it enters the bloodstream.
It can be stored in the muscle cells and the liver in the form of glycogen.
It can be burned for energy in the muscle cells,
or it can be converted to fat and stored in the fat cells.
If you've eaten a meal, which includes a large quantity of carbohydrates,
and you're not requiring immediate energy,
your muscle cells will take some of the glucose from the bloodstream
and store it within the muscle cells as glycogen until they fill to capacity.
Your liver will also store some glycogen.
Remember, glycogen is nothing more than a stored chain of glucose molecules
that are available for upcoming quick energy needs.
When you're active and requiring immediate energy,
the muscle cells will first draw up on its glycogen supply
or the glucose available in your bloodstream.
This is the easiest fuel source for the muscle cells to break down and utilize for energy.
These glucose-burning enzymes within the muscle cells
will take the glucose molecules and break them down to pyruvic acid.
As you can see, this energy-producing process does not require any oxygen.
This is defined as anaerobic, meaning without oxygen.
After the glucose becomes pyruvic acid, the pyruvic acid stands at a fork in the road.
It can go in one of two directions,
and which direction it goes is determined by whether there is any oxygen available at the moment.
If oxygen is available in the muscle cell,
the pyruvic acid can provide us additional energy
by being further broken down by these enzymes leaving the waste products,
carbon dioxide and water.
Now let's go back to the pyruvic acid standing at the crossroad.
If oxygen isn't present, the pyruvic acid cannot be broken down any further.
Instead, it gets turned into lactic acid.
This is the substance that creates the burning sensation you feel
in your muscles during high-intensity activities.
If there is a large buildup of lactic acid within the muscles,
you are forced to discontinue the activity due to the intolerable pain and discomfort.
When the exercise pace is slowed down or during the recovery period after exercise,
oxygen is replenished in the muscle cells.
The lactic acid will be converted back to pyruvic acid,
and the burning sensation will subside.
The first phase of glucose breakdown is anaerobic.
This gives the muscle cells, our body's engines,
the ability to produce power for a short period of time
when there is no oxygen available in the muscle cells.
The second phase of glucose breakdown is aerobic with oxygen.
Now, if you have eaten a substantial amount of carbohydrates,
particularly simple carbohydrates such as candy, soda, ice cream, et cetera,
and your activity level is low,
there is a rush of glucose into the bloodstream,
causing the blood sugar level to elevate.
The glucose level in your blood must remain within certain boundaries.
Through a whole host of complex mechanisms,
your body monitors and adjusts your blood sugar level to keep it within those boundaries.
When your blood sugar elevates,
your body releases insulin into your bloodstream to bring your glucose level back down.
The release of insulin into your bloodstream
makes the muscles more receptive to storing glucose as glycogen.
Insulin also makes the fat cells more receptive to storing fat,
and it inhibits the release of fat out of the fat cells.
With the rush of glucose,
the glycogen capacity within our muscle cells and liver will be filled quickly.
The remaining glucose molecules then must be converted to fat
and stored in the fat cells for long-lasting fuel.
The human body has a limited capacity for the amount of glucose
that can be stored in the form of glycogen within the muscle cells and liver,
whereas there is virtually no limit to the amount of fat that can be stored within the fat cells.
Take, for example, a very lean and fit male athlete.
Assuming that this individual weighs 200 pounds and has a 10% body fat,
he would have 20 pounds of fat weight.
Knowing that one pound of fat equates to 3,500 calories,
he has as much as 70,000 calories of stored fat to draw upon for long-lasting energy.
However, he may only possess 2,000 to 4,000 calories of glycogen available to utilize for immediate use.
So you can see that even fit and lean individuals have plenty of stored fat.
In comparison, a 300-pound couch potato with a 33% body fat carries 100 pounds of fat,
giving him 350,000 calories of stored fat
and only 1,000 to 2,000 calories of glycogen available for his immediate energy needs.
This is why we refer to fat as our long-lasting fuel and glucose as our quick energy source.
Here's an important fact to note as we review fat and glucose metabolism.
Throughout the day, our muscle cells are always burning a combination of both fat and glucose simultaneously to produce energy.
The percentage of this fuel utilization will be dependent on factors
such as the type of activity you are participating in and your individual fitness level.
Protein is an extremely important component of our daily diet.
Good sources of protein include egg whites, beans, meats, poultry, dairy products, fish and nuts.
Protein has many roles, but its primary functions are to be used to build or repair our cells.
Proteins are broken down to amino acids, which are the building blocks of all enzymes.
If you refer back, you will recall that we have talked a lot about various types of enzymes
such as fat and glucose burning enzymes, fat storing and releasing enzymes,
hemoglobin and myoglobin, as well as the enzymes that burn pyruvic acid.
All of these enzymes are made of protein.
During exercise sessions, we challenge some of the body's cells sending a message to the body
that it may not have adequate amounts of enzymes to meet the necessary demands of similar future activity.
As long as there is an adequate amount of protein available in the blood,
your body responds to this exercise stimulus by increasing the size and number of these enzymes.
The protein you eat is only available in its useful form as amino acids for a short period of time.
This is why it is so important that you include a small portion of protein in your diet
four to five times a day to carry out these dynamic functions.
Protein can be used as an energy source, but only if there is not enough fat and glucose available in the bloodstream.
However, in order for protein to be used as a fuel source, it must first be converted to glucose,
since the muscle cells only burn fatty acids and glucose.
Generally, the use of protein for energy only occurs as an emergency measure in situations
where there is a shortage of carbohydrates and fats diverting it from its main functions.
In cases of severe dieting or starvation, or when glycogen stores are depleted,
the body will actually use its own lean body weight as an energy source by breaking down the enzymes for fuel consumption.
So you can see how harsh dieting leads to the loss of more muscle than fat.
The only way to avoid this response is to ensure that you follow a balanced diet with enough calories
so that carbohydrates and fat are used for energy, while protein can be used for production of new enzymes.
It is also possible to consume too much protein.
If there is an overabundance of protein in the bloodstream, it will eventually be converted to fat and stored in the fat cells.
In the metabolism section you learned, metabolism is simply the process of breaking down the food we eat to create fuel for the production of energy,
as well as using other nutrients for building, repairing, and maintaining our body's cells.
Our body's engines, the muscle cells, burn two types of fuels to produce energy, fatty acids and glucose.
The entire fat metabolism process requires oxygen and therefore is called aerobic metabolism.
The first phase of glucose metabolism is referred to as anaerobic, since it does not require oxygen,
allowing our bodies to produce quick bursts of energy even when no oxygen is available.
The second phase of glucose metabolism does require oxygen.
Throughout the day our bodies burn a mixture of both fat and glucose,
while the percentages we use depends on our level of fitness and the intensity of the activity.
Protein can be used as a fuel source, but it must first be converted to glucose, since in our engines we can only burn fat or glucose.
However, the main role of protein in our diet is to be used as the building block for our cells.
The human body is extremely adaptive, and metabolism can be slowed down or accelerated based on activity levels and eating patterns.
This would be an appropriate time to pause the program and take a brief break.
Part 2 Slow Metabolism, Fast Metabolism
Now that you have a good understanding of how your body metabolizes fuel for energy, let's review how metabolism itself can slow down.
Slow metabolism has been associated with four possible factors, genetics, age, low physical activity, and a poor diet.
Obviously, the two factors in your metabolic equation that you cannot change are your genes and age.
However, everyone has the ability to dramatically change their own metabolism by controlling important lifestyle behaviors such as physical activity and nutritional habits.
Previously, we talked about the similarities between a car and a body.
Well now, let's talk about the major difference between the two.
The car has no intelligence or ability to change itself based on current or past conditions.
As an example, if you drive your car at its top speed over rough terrain for several weeks,
your car does not automatically decide on its own to respond by modifying its suspension system, engine, and or fuel transport system to allow you to travel any faster or more comfortably.
Similarly, if you repeatedly drive your car up to the point where you're almost out of gas before you refuel,
your car does not possess the inherent intelligence or ability to reason that based upon my driver's habits, I should enlarge my gas tank to store more fuel for the future.
Your body is completely different from the car when it comes to its adaptation process.
Unlike the car, the body possesses the intelligence to reason.
For example, as an ice skater trains every day through her skating routine, pushing her legs to their limits,
her legs gradually develop in size, strength, and endurance in response to this specific activity.
On the other hand, if you fracture your arm and it's immobilized for an extended period of time,
your body responds to this inactivity by shrinking the muscle size and strength,
recognizing that you don't need the same muscle mass or strength capability.
As you can see by these examples, the human body has the intelligence and ability to take current and past conditions into consideration
and make adjustments for the future with the assumption that the future will be somewhat similar to the current and past conditions.
Your physical activity and eating patterns will send certain messages to your body
in which your body responds accordingly and makes the necessary adjustments for the future.
Now, let's review how lack of physical activity and or a low calorie diet that prompts a starvation response signals to slow down metabolism.
By understanding this chain reaction at the cellular level,
you will learn how to prevent sending your body these destructive messages.
Lack of physical activity leads to the following adaptations within your body.
One major determinant of your metabolic rate is referred to as glycogen storage capacity.
This is simply the amount of glucose you can store in the form of glycogen in your muscle cells and liver.
Glycogen storage capacity is determined by duration, intensity, and frequency of your physical activity.
During each exercise session, when you push yourself for an extended period of time to near depletion of stored glycogen,
you send a message to your body to increase its glycogen storage capacity for the future.
Conversely, when you lower your physical activity level,
your body recognizes that you no longer require as much glycogen and your glycogen storage capacity is reduced.
A low glycogen storage capacity directly affects metabolism by creating a vicious and damaging cycle.
When you have a very limited glycogen capacity and you eat some food, the storage fills up quickly.
The muscle cells and liver reject the remaining glucose in your bloodstream and the blood sugar remains at an unacceptable level.
The only way the blood sugar can now be regulated is through the release of insulin.
Insulin allows for the conversion of blood sugar or glucose to fat so that it can be stored in the fat cells.
As your body releases a lot of insulin, much of the glucose in your blood will convert to fat
and is stored in your fat cells leaving you with low blood sugar.
As a result of this low blood sugar, your energy level dramatically reduces.
The sluggish feeling causes you to crave sugar or simple carbohydrates.
Once you satisfy this urge, your blood sugar again elevates to an unacceptable level.
The body again releases insulin to stabilize the rush of blood sugar and the cycle continues.
Throughout this entire process, you will feel tired and sluggish multiple times throughout each day and continue to store more and more fat.
Additionally, this could increase your risk for type 2 diabetes, which we will discuss later.
Also, as a result of this reduced physical activity, less fuel is now being burnt in the muscle cell.
As we burn less fuel, we require fewer enzymes to burn fatty acids.
Since fatty acids are burnt with oxygen, as we reduce the capability of burning fatty acids, we reduce the need for oxygen delivery as well.
This means a reduction in the oxygen carrying agents, the myoglobin in the muscle cells and hemoglobin in the blood,
as well as a reduction of capillaries themselves in both size and number.
This results in a lower capability of delivering oxygen.
Since you are now burning less fuel and your muscle cells are demanding less fat,
these fat-releasing enzymes in the fat cells are stimulated less frequently and therefore reduce in size.
As a result, your capability to release fat out of the fat cells is now reduced.
This entire process has reduced the rate at which you burn fat.
You have reduced the size of your engines and transport system for fuel and oxygen and, in effect, slowed down your metabolism.
Now, when you couple these changes with calorie restriction to the point of prompting a starvation response, things get even worse.
When you don't eat for extended periods of time or have a very low chloric intake, your body recognizes this as a starvation signal.
Rather than releasing fuel, it wants to store as much fuel as it can in the form of fat, which is your long-lasting fuel,
and it also wants to reduce the size of its engines to reduce fuel consumption as much as possible.
This is your body's perfectly logical response to this starvation signal.
During this starvation response, the fat-storing enzymes in your fat cells are working frantically to store any fat molecules that they can.
At the same time, your body breaks down other enzymes such as fat-burning enzymes, myoglobin and hemoglobin,
fat-releasing enzymes, and utilizes their protein as a fuel source by converting them to glucose and burning them,
resulting in smaller engines and lower capability to deliver and burn fuel.
During this slow metabolism cycle, you have experienced a dramatic reduction in all of the major components that we have discussed.
Less glucose being stored in the form of glycogen, diminished enzymatic activity from fat-burning and fat-releasing enzymes,
a reduction in the oxygen-carrying agents, hemoglobin and myoglobin,
smaller and fewer capillaries that are necessary for fuel and oxygen delivery,
resulting in the smaller engines and less fuel-burning capability.
And in a nutshell, you have drastically slowed down your metabolism.
When you come off your diet, after you reach a point in which you cannot lose any more weight and you resume your normal eating habits,
your body no longer possesses the same capability of burning this extra fuel you are consuming.
As a result, your body stores most of the additional food you eat in the form of fat and your fat cells continue to get larger and so do you.
During this entire process, a very important variable has changed.
A far greater percentage of your weight is now composed of fat and less of lean body weight.
Through inactivity and calorie restriction, you have been gradually losing muscle and gaining fat.
In desperation, you may attempt to resort back to your very low-calorie diet,
rationalizing that you may be able to repeat the weight loss you once achieved.
But now, because you have less lean body weight to lose, you reach your weight loss plateau much quicker.
Ultimately, after you have endured several cycles of yo-yo dieting,
you reach the point in which no matter how much you reduce your caloric intake, you cannot lower your body weight.
So every time you go on a low-calorie diet and your body experiences a starvation response,
rather than sending the message that you want, which is, I want to burn more and store less fat,
you're actually doing the opposite.
You're sending your body a very counterproductive message that you want to conserve your fuel supply for future lean times.
Muscle has a dramatic impact on metabolism,
so it should be easy to see how an increase in the percentage of fat versus lean body mass lowers your metabolic rate.
If you're currently in a personal weight loss battle,
it is likely that you have experienced some of these detrimental responses over time.
It's obvious that you have been sending inappropriate messages to your body to cause it to react negatively, slowing down your metabolism.
The good news is that you have control over this communication,
and just as easily, you can send appropriate messages to your body through proper eating pattern and exercise to speed up your metabolism.
In the Slow Metabolism section, you learned inactivity or extremely low-calorie diets will slow down your metabolism.
A slow metabolism possesses the following characteristics.
Low glycogen capacity, which will result in less sugar stored in the form of glycogen, while more is stored in the form of fat.
Repeated feelings of hunger and fatigue throughout the day.
Unstable blood sugar, causing a frequent release of insulin, causing weight gain and a higher risk for type 2 diabetes.
Reduction in hemoglobin, myoglobin and capillaries resulting in low capability to deliver oxygen to our cells will cause shortness of breath,
even for activities such as walking up a flight of stairs or playing with your children.
More sugar is burned for energy during these activities, since there isn't enough oxygen available to burn fat.
And ultimately, less fat being burned to produce energy.
More frequent feelings of hunger and fatigue, since the limited supply of glycogen is depleted more rapidly.
Poor circulation due to reduced blood volume and capillaries, making you less tolerant of temperature fluctuations.
Reduced fat releasing and fat burning enzymes will create reduced ability to release fat out of the fat cells and burning fat in your engines,
making fat loss almost impossible through calorie-restricted diets.
Smaller engines will result in reduced ability to burn fat and glucose, slowing down your metabolism and making weight gain inevitable.
Less fit liver creates higher LDL-HDL ratio, placing you at higher risk of cardiovascular disease.
Logically, the first step to a faster metabolism is simply reversing the process of a slow metabolism.
This starts by increasing your level of physical activity and eating a balanced diet, including a proper amount of protein.
In order to have a fast metabolism, you must be capable of burning large amounts of fuel, particularly fat fuel.
So in effect, you need big engines.
It's kind of like trading your sluggish four-cylinder car for a high-performance eight-cylinder race car.
The race car has a larger, more powerful engine, generating a lot of speed but also burns a lot of fuel.
If you recall, throughout the day we burn a combination of two fuels in our engines, fatty acids and glucose.
As it relates to burning fat, it is important to understand how fat-burning enzymes are stimulated.
As you exercise aerobically at the proper intensity, you're instructing your body that you want to burn a substantial amount of fat.
This means you need well-developed fat-burning enzymes.
The process of burning high amounts of fatty acids through aerobic activity stimulates these enzymes.
As these enzymes are stimulated, they respond to the challenge and become larger and more capable.
As we burn more fat, we need to deliver more oxygen to the muscle cells.
This means that you have to develop more hemoglobin, myoglobin and more capillaries.
The most effective way to send the body the message that you need to be capable of delivering more oxygen is by pushing yourself to your limits during aerobic training.
When you push yourself to the point that if you increase your exercise intensity any further, you will be out of breath,
your body recognizes the need for an improved delivery of oxygen and will adapt accordingly by building more of the appropriate enzymes.
But you must remember that all of these enzymes are made of protein,
and therefore these changes can only take place if there is an adequate amount of protein available in your bloodstream.
This is why it is important to include small portions of protein several times each day as part of your diet.
With more oxygen delivered to the muscle cells and more fat burned in your engines,
a higher demand is placed on the fat-releasing enzymes in the fat cells.
As these enzymes are called upon to release more fat, they increase in size and capability due to the increased stimulus.
Consequently, more fat can be released out of the fat cells, causing them to shrink.
A consistent exercise program that repeatedly utilizes your stored glycogen to near depletion
sends a message to your body to develop greater glycogen capacity in both your muscle cells and liver.
As a response to these repetitive messages, the body will develop this greater capacity.
People who are in excellent physical condition can consume large quantities of carbohydrates and still not get fat.
An endurance athlete has the capability of storing up to 5,000 calories in the form of glycogen,
whereas a person who is out of shape may only be capable of storing as little as 1,000 calories in the form of glycogen.
As you remember, this is extremely important because if you are unfit and you eat a small portion of carbohydrates,
your storage capacity for glycogen fills up quickly.
The additional glucose must go somber and consequently will be stored in the form of fat.
Conversely, if you are an individual who possesses a large glycogen storage capacity like an endurance athlete
and you eat the same amount of carbohydrates, the majority of glucose can be stored in muscle cells and liver
as glycogen for future quick energy needs and you don't get any fatter.
This enhanced glycogen storage accomplishes many beneficial things.
Most glucose molecules coming into the system will not be stored as fat.
You have a more stable blood sugar level leading to a higher energy level throughout the day.
And because you are not running out of glycogen as frequently,
you will feel less tired and therefore experience fewer food cravings.
You're probably familiar with the condition called diabetes.
The defining characteristic of diabetes is the inability to regulate blood sugar levels through either the insufficient release of insulin
referred to as type 1 diabetes, which is most likely a genetic condition,
or the resistance of the body's cell to insulin referred to as type 2 diabetes, which is largely caused by lifestyle.
Low glycogen storage capacity leads to yo-yo sugar fluctuations and chronic release of insulin.
Over time, this condition causes the body's cells to become resistant to insulin.
This inability to maintain blood sugar levels within this critical range can lead to many serious health ailments,
as well as weight gain, food cravings, and fluctuations in energy level.
As you can see, a high glycogen storage capacity can be very beneficial in reducing our risk of type 2 diabetes as well as maintaining a lean body.
Another important benefit of a fast metabolism is improved condition of your liver.
Generally, a fit body is a reflection of a fit liver.
Your liver plays a vital role in processing cholesterol.
Cholesterol is simply a type of fat or lipid with a large molecular structure.
Our bodies need and use cholesterol.
Since cholesterol does not mix with the blood in the pure fat form, the liver wraps the cholesterol with protein creating lipoprotein.
When the liver wraps the cholesterol with a thin layer of protein, it is referred to as low density lipoprotein or LDL, also referred to as bad cholesterol.
When the cholesterol is wrapped with more protein, it is then called high density lipoprotein or HDL, which is sometimes referred to as good cholesterol.
While there is a function for both HDL and LDL within our bodies, a high level of LDL can cause plaque in the arteries.
Conversely, high levels of HDL can actually pick up cholesterol molecules in the bloodstream and reduce the plaque buildup from excessive LDL.
Generally, fit people have fit livers, and a more fit liver will produce more HDL, protecting you from heart disease.
Many of you might be aware of the importance of total cholesterol level.
But actually, the ratio of LDL to HDL is a better benchmark of your overall cardiovascular health.
Generally, the lower your ratio, the lower risk of coronary heart disease.
If you have a LDL to HDL ratio of 5 to 1, you're considered to be at high risk.
If your ratio is 4 to 1, you're at average risk.
And if you have a 3 to 1 ratio, you're in great shape.
Endurance exercise at the proper intensity, frequency, and duration can significantly raise the level of HDL and may lower the total cholesterol level.
Now let's review all the characteristics of a body with a fast metabolism.
More fat-burning ability.
More fat-releasing enzymes in your fat cells.
More hemoglobin and myoglobin for better delivery of oxygen so that you can burn more fat.
More capillaries to deliver oxygen and fuel.
More capability to store glucose in the form of glycogen, giving you an ample supply of quick energy and a leaner body.
A fitter liver, larger engines, smaller fat cells, and consequently, a fitter, healthier body.
It is important that we spend some time clearing up a common myth.
Many people assume that they can achieve weight loss twice as fast by combining exercise with an extremely low calorie diet.
Contrary to their assumptions, this does not work for the following reasons.
As you start your exercise program, you're directing your body to build an enhanced fuel-burning and oxygen delivery system.
As we've mentioned, your body can only do this if protein is regularly available in your bloodstream.
So it should be clear that if you are on a low calorie diet and protein is not available, your body cannot respond to your request for improvement.
This makes your exercise effort to develop a faster metabolism ineffective.
Additionally, low calorie diets that prompt the starvation response send a completely opposing message to your body.
The starvation response signals the body to reduce its muscle mass so that it can survive longer on limited fuel.
It also signals to store as much fat as possible for future energy needs.
This clearly directs your body to slow down metabolism and is in complete opposition to the message you want to send through exercise.
Since your body's main priority is survival rather than staying fit, it will only respond to the starvation signal
and you won't see the results that you were hoping for from your exercise program.
So rather than getting to your weight loss goals in half the time, the combination of exercise and severely restricted diet will be counterproductive and actually slow down your metabolism.
And as we now know, this will cause weight gain in the long run.
The process of sending the appropriate messages to your body through regular exercise and a balanced diet is what allows you to finally gain control and overcome the battle to manage your weight.
You'll never have to worry about how much you eat or about gaining weight again.
In the fast metabolism section, you learned the right amount and type of activity at the proper intensity along with four balanced meals per day will speed up your metabolism.
A fast metabolism possesses the following characteristics.
Higher glycogen capacity will lead to more sugar stored as glycogen and less in the form of fat, keeping you leaner.
More stable blood sugar since you're running out of glycogen less frequently.
Therefore, you have more energy throughout the day and reduce your craving for sugar.
Less frequent release of insulin and ultimately more stable blood sugar, reducing your risk of type 2 diabetes.
Increase in hemoglobin, myoglobin and capillaries, which will result in higher capability to deliver oxygen to your cells will cause improved breathing for even more intense activities.
More fat can be burned since more oxygen is available at the muscle cells.
Less sugar is being used, so you'll have more stable blood sugar and therefore experience reduced feelings of fatigue, hunger and sugar cravings.
Better circulation due to increased blood volume and capillaries, making you more tolerant of temperature variations.
Increased fat releasing and fat burning enzymes gives you greater ability to release fat out of the fat cells and burn them in our engines, making fat loss easy and natural.
Bigger engines resulting in enhanced ability to burn fuel, particularly fat fuel for a faster metabolism and ultimately a leaner, more toned body.
More fit liver creating lower LDL HDL ratio, which reduces your risk of cardiovascular disease.
This would be an appropriate time to pause the program and take a brief break.
Part 3. The purpose of exercise. Benefits of a fit body. Question and answer.
Now that you have an appreciation for the benefits of a fast metabolism, let's see how exactly you can communicate with your body to achieve the fast metabolism you've been looking for.
Many people think the reason we exercise is simply to burn calories.
Exercise serves a far greater purpose than this.
It is the method we use to communicate to our body.
The true purpose of exercise is to send messages to the body requesting enhanced physical capabilities.
Think about it this way.
If you were to exercise one hour a day, seven days a week, you would only be exercising four percent of the time.
The other 96 percent of the time you are in a non-exercise mode.
So obviously what's really important is how your body burns calories while you're not exercising.
So you can see it really doesn't matter how many calories you burn during your exercise session,
but rather how your body functions throughout the rest of the day in response to the messages that you send through your exercise program.
So again, the real purpose of exercise is to send messages to your body asking for improvement in metabolism, strength, aerobic capability, endurance, and overall fitness.
Now that you know the real purpose of exercise is to communicate various messages to your body,
let's discuss how different types of exercise can be utilized to communicate specific messages.
The two primary types of exercise are aerobic and resistance training.
Aerobic training is systemic.
This means it involves the entire circulatory and respiratory system.
It engages a large number of muscle cells at an intensity that challenges the cardiovascular system.
Yet you are still able to continue this activity for at least 20 to 30 minutes.
Examples include jogging, rowing, cross-country skiing, biking, and brisk walking.
Why do we do aerobic exercise?
We do aerobic exercise for the following reasons.
To improve our cardiovascular health and fitness, weight management, increased energy,
reduced risk of lifestyle-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancers, and stress management.
When considering an aerobic activity, there are three key components which are essential in sending the right messages to your body.
Intensity, duration, and frequency.
Intensity is the component we use to communicate to our body requesting an increased oxygen delivery capability.
Unless you have a medical condition, your objective should be to work out at an intensity level in which you are pushing yourself hard enough
that if you push yourself any more, you will be out of breath and unable to continue.
By maintaining this challenging exercise intensity, you are continually sending a message to your body that you must improve your oxygen delivery capability.
Listen to your body's signals.
Your body will let you know if you're exercising too hard since being out of breath automatically forces you to slow down.
You're probably familiar with target heart rate charts which attempt to show you at what level you should be exercising.
Although these charts give you a benchmark, they are not accurate for everyone.
You're better off listening to your own body signal during aerobic exercise to effectively monitor your intensity.
Since we know that the purpose of aerobic exercise is to improve our capability to burn more fat, increase our glycogen capacity, and deliver more oxygen,
we need to exercise long enough so that our bodies can register these messages.
Studies have shown that 20 to 45 minutes of aerobic exercise at the proper intensity is optimal for delivering these messages.
Now, you might be asking yourself, if I exercise for an hour and a half, is it twice as good as working out for 45 minutes?
No, not necessarily.
During a session of exercise, once you send the message that you want to improve cardiovascular fitness, you don't need to send it again.
This is when the law of diminishing returns come into play.
Unless you're an endurance athlete training for a specific competitive event, the additional wear and tear on your body is probably not worth the extra effort.
When you increase your duration beyond 45 minutes, the most significant benefit is a further increase in your glycogen storage capacity.
This is not necessary for general fitness, but it is crucial for the completion of long duration activities such as marathons or other endurance events.
Frequency is the number of times you work out aerobically per week.
It is essential to engage in aerobic exercise three to five times per week to ensure that you are sending the messages requesting an increase in your aerobic capability frequently enough.
Another component you should consider is aerobic cross training when you engage in aerobic exercise.
Aerobic cross training is simply mixing up your activities which will reduce boredom and the risk of overuse injuries while providing you with a more balanced workout.
For example, you can either mix up each workout doing 10 minutes of running, 10 minutes of biking and 10 minutes of rowing, or you can do different aerobic activities on different days.
In any event, do whatever activities that you enjoy the most.
Now let's talk about resistance training.
Resistance training is exercise that isolates specific muscle groups with enough intensity or resistance to reach momentary muscle failure which is simply the inability to complete the next repetition.
Your major muscle groups include glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves, upper back, chest, shoulders, arms, abdominals and lower back.
Why do we do resistance training?
We do resistance training for the following reasons.
Increased muscle density and strength.
A more toned and shapely body.
Increased bone density which reduces the chances for osteoporosis.
Reduced aches and pains because the skeletal and nervous system are better supported by increased muscle mass.
Increased agility and power for improved athletic performance.
Improved posture, enhanced self-esteem and last but not least, more engines to burn more calories due to the increased muscle mass.
The components of resistance training that you use to communicate specific messages to your body are intensity, repetitions, sets and frequency.
Recognizing that the desired message that you want to send is to improve muscle density and strength, you must push yourself to the point at which you are unable to perform the next repetition.
As you reach this momentary muscle failure, you are telling your body that you want stronger and more capable muscles for similar future activities.
When you engage in resistance training, you should use enough weights so that you achieve momentary muscle failure somewhere between 8 and 20 repetitions.
In other words, the last repetition is very difficult if not impossible to complete.
If you are able to perform more than 20 repetitions, you should increase the amount of weight or resistance you are training with.
On the other hand, if you are unable to complete at least 8 repetitions, you should reduce the resistance.
The key point for you to remember is the importance of achieving this momentary muscle failure within each set.
Depending on their specific objectives, some athletes may choose a wider range of repetitions as low as 6 and as many as 40.
However, for those of us seeking general health and fitness, the range of 8 to 20 repetitions is more than sufficient.
Research has shown that one complete set to muscle failure provides 80 to 85 percent of potential strength gains,
whereas two sets will produce 90 to 95 percent of possible strength improvements.
Therefore, when it comes to general fitness, one complete set to muscle failure is adequate and two sets to muscle failure is optimal.
However, in cases of sports-specific training, athletes may choose to perform 3 to 4 sets for each specific exercise.
If you are doing more than one set per muscle group, rest at least 30 seconds to 1 minute between each set.
This will allow you to regain strength so that you can place the proper demands on your muscle during the next set.
It is recommended that you train all major muscle groups 2 to 3 times per week.
This frequency ensures that you are sending the repetitive messages to your body requesting improvements in muscle strength.
During resistance training, it is important to recognize that for each specific muscle group,
a 48-hour recovery period is necessary between sessions for adequate repair before you do more training.
It is this training and recovery cycle of ongoing stimulation and recovery that will gradually result in improved muscle density and strength.
Just like the importance of cross-training during cardiovascular exercise, balanced resistance training is a must.
To develop a balanced strength training program, you should target all major muscle groups and, just as importantly, train opposing muscle groups equally.
Examples of opposing muscle groups are chest and upper back, biceps and triceps, quadriceps and hamstring, abs and lower back.
By equally training these muscle groups, you will create a symmetrical appearance, reduce aches and pains, and decrease your overall risk of injury.
When you start your resistance training program, make sure you seek professional instruction to ensure that you are using proper form and technique.
Next, I would like to share with you a sample program to help you accomplish a healthy and fit body and enjoy a long, high-quality life.
This is an easy and fun program formulated to achieve natural weight management.
It is designed as a four-day-per-week routine and will require a time commitment of approximately one hour per session.
Day one. Begin with seven or eight minutes of light aerobic activity of your choice.
This is intended to increase your body's blood flow, which serves to lubricate and warm up your tendons and joints.
Next, move on to resistance training for the lower body and abdominals.
This involves working the glutes, quadriceps, hamstring, calves and abdominal muscles.
Perform two sets of each exercise to muscle failure.
Limit your rest between sets to about 45 seconds and select a resistance that ensures you will achieve muscle failure close to 20 repetitions.
This part should take 20 to 25 minutes to finish.
After you complete the strength training portion, move on to your aerobic activity.
Select two of your favorite aerobic exercises.
Start your first exercise at a low intensity and gradually increase the level every two minutes until the point where if you increase the intensity any further, you will be out of breath.
Continue at this level for 12 to 15 minutes, moving on quickly to the second exercise without hesitation.
Start the second activity at an intensity close to where you left off.
Maintain this intensity level for the next 10 minutes.
During the last five minutes of your aerobic program, gradually reduce your intensity to help your body cool down.
Finish your workout with seven to eight minutes of stretching, relaxation and meditation.
While you're stretching, think about the messages that you have delivered to your body.
Day two.
This day you should do the same program as described in day one, with the exception of the resistance training portion.
For the resistance training segment, focus on upper body exercises.
This involves working the back, chest, shoulders, biceps, triceps and abdominals.
For each exercise, you should aim for 15 repetitions.
Note, abdominal, calves and forearm muscles only need 24 hours rest between workouts,
so you can work these muscle groups every day if you would like.
This workout will be the same as day one, except on this day,
increase the weights you use so that you achieve muscle failure closer to 12 repetitions.
Day four.
Repeat your upper body routine.
This workout will be the same as day two, except on this day,
increase your resistance while reducing your repetitions to reach muscle failure within approximately eight repetitions.
Eat several small meals each day, optimally four.
Make sure every meal is balanced.
Aim for protein portions approximately the size of the palm of your hand.
A fist-sized portion of green vegetables and a similar portion of complex carbohydrates.
And limit your fat intake to what's necessary for adequate flavor.
The reason you need small portions of protein in every meal is to make sure
that the necessary amino acids are available in your bloodstream at all times to help your body respond to the exercise.
If you're doing all the right things in your program,
how long does it take your body to respond to the messages you're sending?
When starting an exercise program, many people have unrealistic expectations.
When you're unsuccessful in achieving these lofty goals,
it's easy to become discouraged and discontinue your program.
So it's extremely important to have reasonable expectations.
We have talked about the changes that occur within your body when you initiate an exercise program along with a balanced diet.
Initially, your body will gain some lean body mass and blood volume, which is necessary for faster metabolism.
This is exactly what you want to happen.
Be patient and over time you will get the results you're searching for.
In the first couple of months, simply look to feel better and have more energy.
Between two and six months, anticipate losing size or inches while becoming leaner.
However, you may not lose a significant amount of weight yet.
At this stage, your clothes are probably going to start fitting looser.
This is because you're losing fat weight and gaining more muscle,
and a pound of fat occupies more space than a pound of lean body weight.
After six months, unless you dramatically increase the exercise intensity,
you won't need to build any more lean weight, but you will continue to burn fat weight at a rapid pace.
At this time, you can anticipate a reduction in your overall body weight.
In summary, let's review how you can successfully apply this information and achieve your health and fitness aspirations.
The benefits of a healthy body are far greater than just physical.
Your lifestyle will also be enriched in the following ways.
You will be able to eat dessert following a meal without the guilt and weight gain
because you have better fat utilization and greater glycogen storage.
It is a fact when you are unfit, sugar is poison to the body.
However, when you are fit, it is purely fuel for energy.
Run up a flight of stairs, play with your kids, or enjoy recreational activities without becoming winded,
since you have increased aerobic endurance.
Enjoy shopping for your favorite clothes and having them fit and look the way you have always desired.
Have more energy throughout the day being more productive so that you can accomplish all the things you set out to do.
Live free of worrying about health problems like elevated cholesterol, high blood pressure,
common aches and pains, or even life-threatening diseases, which may shorten and or decrease the quality of your life.
Enjoy doing everyday activities that you've longed to do because now you have the increased stamina,
muscular strength, and endurance that you need.
Maintain a positive attitude even when times get tough and be able to handle daily stress and anxiety more effectively.
Think more clearly, allowing you to focus and make better decisions.
Simply enjoy all the good things in life.
And the amazing thing is you can achieve all this and more by simply committing yourself to understanding
and applying the information in this program, along with exercising only four hours a week and incorporating a balanced diet.
If you do all of this, you will be able to actualize the lifestyle you have always dreamed of.
I would like to thank you for participating in this program.
I am confident this information will allow you to successfully reach your personal health and fitness goals.
And now that you have a big picture understanding along with an operating manual showing you how your body works,
the language of your body, the true purpose of exercise, and how to send the correct messages,
you possess the knowledge necessary to successfully manage your body weight and ultimately master your metabolism.
My eating habits have changed as a result of mastering metabolism.
I now eat protein consistently throughout the day, but along with the protein I eat, I am able to eat whatever I want.
With fairly simple knowledge, the individual can transform an unhealthy life into a healthy life.
Understanding what is going on within your body is the single most important thing that you can do to make changes in your life.
I think after going through the Mastering Your Metabolism program, I feel terrific. I feel absolutely wonderful.
Now please join Brahm for the question and answer segment of the program.
Are we born with a set number of fat cells and how do they affect my weight loss?
It is completely irrelevant how many fat cells you have.
Fat cells are extremely flexible in size and can contain a small or large number of fat molecules within them.
So how fat you are has little or nothing to do with how many fat cells you have,
but rather is dependent on how much fat you have stored in those fat cells.
What is your opinion on these high protein diets? Are they safe and effective?
Following an extremely high protein diet for extended periods of time can be harmful to your health
by adversely affecting some of your organs and by depriving you of certain vital nutrients and fibers.
On the other hand, high carbohydrates, low protein diets can result in overproduction of insulin leading to increased fat storage.
And if you lack sufficient protein in your bloodstream,
you will significantly reduce your results from your exercise and activity efforts.
We're also reluctant to prescribe percentage ranges for fat, carbs and protein intake
because this is extremely impractical in your daily life.
As we reviewed in this program, the primary role of protein is to build, repair and maintain your cells.
An appropriate diet contains four small meals per day
and with the right amount of protein in each one, approximately the size of the palm of your hand,
a fistful size of complex carbohydrates such as rice, potatoes and grains
and a similar size serving of vegetables and fruit and just enough fat to provide the right flavor.
In this balanced, very easy to follow, common sense way of eating,
your body will get enough glucose and fatty acids for daily energy requirements
while ensuring that the small portions of protein you're consuming are left to be used for their main functions.
Only a small portion, one to two percent of the entire female population
have the genetic capability to develop overly large muscles.
Clearly, most women can strength train without this concern of developing large, bulky muscles.
This is because women have significantly lower testosterone levels as compared to men.
Women can enjoy all the benefits associated with this type of training.
They can develop lean body mass, improve shape and tone while reducing the risk of osteoporosis
and increasing overall strength, agility and self-esteem.
It all depends on the intensity of your swimming.
For swimming to be considered aerobic, you need to swim at a pace which you're almost out of breath but not quite
and this pace is sustained for duration that is longer than 20 minutes.
What you're referring to is a concept commonly known as a spot reduction.
Spot reduction is practically impossible and here is why.
Unfortunately, you don't have control over where you lose the stored fat from your body.
The last molecules of fat that you store are the first molecules of fat that you will burn because they're in the most liquid form.
As an example, if you're doing some abdominal exercises to get rid of the fat around your belly
and the last molecules of fat you stored is in your forehead,
those will be the first molecules of fat to come off even when you're doing your abdominal work.
Now how can you get rid of this fat is by generally getting more fit
and have a better aerobic conditioning program and that way that fat eventually will come off.
Due to the high intensity nature of strength training, you actually cause stress to the muscle fibers.
In order for the body to respond to this stress and grow stronger, a 48-hour recovery period is required.
It is through this process of stress and recovery that the body responds to the challenging messages
that you're sending with each strength training session.
Yes, in fact, you can safely perform aerobic exercise even more than once a day if you want.
During aerobic training, the intensity of exercise is not enough to create damage to the muscle fiber
and a recovery period is not required.
You should never focus on body weight alone.
It is better to focus on measurements such as body fat percentage, how your clothes fit, and ultimately how you look and feel.
The major objective of any weight loss program is to lose body fat while maintaining muscle.
As we have discussed in the program, starvation diets send a counterproductive message to slow down your metabolism.
Safe and effective long-term weight loss should be approximately two pounds of fat weight per week.
It is important to recognize that gradual weight loss is the most effective way
to ensure that you are losing predominantly fat weight and keeping it off over the long run.
If you fall victim to some weight loss scheme that promises significant short-term weight loss,
it is likely that you will be losing a large amount of muscle mass, which is the last thing you want.
The best time of the day is the one that works for you.
So what if I want to gain weight?
Although it may sound a little strange, you want to do exactly what we have recommended throughout this program.
The important thing is to make sure that you are working at the right intensity during your strength training routine,
reaching momentary muscle failure with each set.
You should also make sure you are eating balanced meals including four servings of protein per day, complex carbohydrates, and minimal fat.
But you may want to increase your total caloric intake by eating larger and more frequent meals.
Why should I limit my aerobic workouts to 45 minutes?
Research has shown that 20 to 45 minutes of aerobic exercise is optimal to improve aerobic fitness.
When you exceed this duration, the repetitive pounding and jarring motions of the activity may expose you to overuse injuries in the long run.
Additionally, the body is equipped to manage the natural damage and repair of its cells throughout our lives.
Things like pollution, tanning, alcohol consumption, smoking, stress, and even exercise cause free radicals to develop within the body.
Free radicals are positively charged ions that may cause premature destruction to our body's cells, eventually even leading to cancer.
When exercise is performed in excess, free radicals are produced at a higher rate and our bodies may not be able to eliminate them naturally.
This is why endurance athletes are advised to take antioxidants to help combat the risk associated with long-duration aerobic activities.
Again, for general fitness, the increased wear and tear and the increased fear of radicals do not justify the extra benefits.
This does not make sense unless you are training for competitive endurance type events.
Look for upcoming videotapes in the Health Enhancement Series, including the second tape entitled Common Sense Eating.
For more information, visit our website at www.lifetimefitness.com.
Thank you.