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Hi all.

The purpose of this article is to look briefly at some of the underlying factors of people struggle to lose stubborn body fat in those seemingly impenetrable fat storage compartments.

The short and disappointingly hard to hear answer is that you cannot spot reduce fat by targeting a specific body part by attempting to train it everyday with high volume sets and repetitions and burn off fat in that area. Ever heard some idiot in the gym mouthing off about how he likes to train abs everyday as it gets the abs leaner and more ripped. Sorry but your body doesn’t work quite like that on a Physiological level.

Basics:

Men tend to store fat in their upper body and trunk, whilst women store it mainly in their lower abdomen, hips, thighs & buttocks. These typical Male & Female body fat storage patterns tend to start showing up during adolescence, when girls and boys hit puberty. This change in adolescence comes about with the onset of different hormones that start to be produced by ones body, mainly being Testosterone in boys and Estrogen and Progesterone in girls. Thus giving us our first clue that fat storage and mobilization has everything to do with what is going on in the background with your hormones.

Hormones control their distribution in the body. Not rocket science now is it? Individual genetics however do play a role in a person’s specific make up when it comes to factors such as metabolic rates , bone structures and how much of each hormone will be produced in the body. There are general trends of fat storage though.

When fat cells are formed:

Fat cells are made most rapidly at specific times in a human’s development. The last 3months as a fetus until approximately 18months of age, between the ages of four and seven, and during early adolescence. After that fat cells only increase or decrease in size depending on whether you gain or lose weight.

However, if you become significantly overweight, you can develop new fat cells because there is a limit as to how much your fat cells can enlarge. This phenomenon is known in scientific circles as Hyperplasia. Another “danger” period for women to watch out for is during the last three months of pregnancy when studies have shown that new fat cells can be made during this period if the mother gains excessive weight. Research indicates that a person with more fat cells will have a harder time losing weight than a person with fewer fat cells. This highlights the importance of preventing childhood onset obesity, since childhood is the time that most fat cells are created.

Differing receptors in fat cells:

Now that you know that hormones have a big influencing factor on fat loss and mobilization it’s time to go a bit deeper into the physiology of fat cells. Scientists have discovered through research that fat cells have different receptors or triggers that respond in different ways. They have identified two kinds of receptors:

1) Alpha receptors, which cause or promote the storage of triglycerides (fat);

2) Beta-receptors, which cause the release or breakdown of fats into the blood stream.

Wouldn’t you know it?
The fat cells in the hips, thighs and buttocks have more fat retaining or Alpha receptors while the fat cells in the abdomen tend to have more Beta, or fat releasing receptors. Scientists have also found that hormones influence these receptors. Male hormones tend to trigger the Beta or fat releasing receptors, while female hormones tend to stimulate Alpha, or fat retaining receptors. This explains largely why hip and thigh fat is so stubborn to remove in females and, why men tend to lose body fat at a more rapid rate than females. Women have a higher body fat requirement because of the demand of childbearing and subsequent breastfeeding. So comparing yourselves to your husbands, ladies, is unrealistic, although some women are exceptions.

 Now you have a quite basic understanding of how fat works… the next article will focus on how you can use this information to help reduce fat storage.

Yours in Health & Wellness,

Jonathan Mannheim.