The last few weeks I've been focusing on my health, in particular eating healthy and exercising more.
When you are looking to improve your health and well being, you want to see results. It might not be reflected in the scales, but we can measure it in other ways - Measure weight loss without a scale
I've become interested in learning about brown fat. Brown fat takes us less space compared to white fat. It keeps you warm when it's cold whilst white fat stores energy.
Babies have lots of brown fat. Some studies suggest women might have more brown fat than men and those who workout more will have even more. As adults, we don't have much brown fat.
The takeaway is working out more and eating smaller meals but more frequently and letting your body be exposed to the cold can affect the level of brown fat.
There seems to be a link between brown fat and metabolism.
It has also been suggested that 'exposing people to cold temperatures while they sleep causes them to accumulate more brown fat — fat tissue whose main function is heat production — and burn more calories.'
So don't rug up too much when you sleep and exercise outdoorseven if it's cold and seems uninviting.
After two weeks, I'm feeling leaner and stronger. One really strange aspect is my dreams are so vivid. I'm very proud that healthy decisions are coming much more easily. The thing is when you've put in so much effort, you don't want it to be wasted.
This week I'm intensifying my workouts. I call them doubles - where I do two workouts either back-to-back or morning / afternoon. It is time consuming and tiring, but it pushes my body to do that little bit extra.
In the past, I've seen positive results from doing this after a few weeks of a regular workout. The key is to avoid injury, rest days and fuel the body with more but not too much healthy wheat and protein.
Also eggs and vegetables for breakfast for a few days is a great way to add more healthy calories with less fat into the daily diet. Plus more bananas and nuts can make a difference. These might help with the brown fat / white fat too. In the youtube video at the top of this post, it also mentions turmeric, chilli and fish. These are all great for your metabolism and I have these in my diet regularly too, but a bit extra this week might not hurt.
The idea is to get a healthy baseline which you can maintain.
What makes a difference is knowing that I have achieved alot with my health and physique in the past. Hard work and discipline were required and the pay off was outstanding.
Early on, it might seem like it's not working, but you need to have faith that this is good for you. As outlined in this article about weight gain instead of loss when working out, your body goes through initial changes. In my case, my weight has stayed the same even though I know that it is definitely improving for the better. I can see and feel it. It will take a few weeks or months for it to be reflected on the scales.
Your body adapts to less calories or more exercise which can be frustrating if you think you're not seeing results.
Like with many things in life, patience, perseverance and good habits may be helpful.
Here are some articles which might be of interest:
- Brown fat - facts
- How to get brown fat
- Brown fat diet
- Metabolism - vox
- Fitness slump so intensify your workout
- Understand your metabolism
- Fasted cardio
- Adrenal Fatigue
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