Five Things you may not know about Fat and Dieting

You may be one of the few millions in the world who have resolved at the beginning of the year to lose weight. It is possible that this resolution may not have gone out of the window by now. There will be ideas that you may have on how to lose weight but there is a strong possibility that you do not know the five most important things on dieting and shedding fat. These five important facts can be learnt from Shawn Talbott. He is a nutritional biochemist and author of the `secret of vigor: how to overcome burnout, restore biochemical balance and reclaim your natural energy?’ These facts have been neatly compiled by Elizabeth Goodman Altis who is the Editor of the fitness magazine `Shape’: 1. Fat comes in different colors – Fats have different hues and functions. They are brown, white and beige. The brown fat is dark in color due to the blood supply being rich. This can burn calories instead of storing them. The white fat is pale. It has a low rate of metabolism and it does not help you burn the calories as a muscle does. More than ninety per cent of the fat in your body is white. It is a storing unit for extra calories. The beige is slightly dull in color in terms of its calorie burning ability. Some hormones that are triggered by exercise can convert white fat cells into beige ones and the same can be done by food like hot peppers, brown seaweed and licorice root. 2. The fat on your butt is healthier than the fat on your belly – The visceral fat or the belly fat is responsive to cortisol which is the stress hormone as against the fat on your butt and thighs. When stress is hard on you, the extra calories taken in during this phase are likely to settle around your belly. So, to get the belly fat reduced, you have to learn to cope with stress first. 3. First you burn calories, second you burn fat – The more calories you burn during exercise, the bigger deficit you will generate and will end up losing more fat. Calorie deficit can also be created by reducing your diet intake. 4. Fat affects your mood – When you weigh yourself and see the scale showing higher than before, it may ruin your day. What is making you depressed and irritable is the inflammation of the cortisol cycle that is triggered by the fat around your belly. To break this effect, Talbott suggests that “healthy flavonoids help calm inflammation that leads to more stress.” 5. Even skinny people can have cellulite – The fat that is trapped under the skin brings about cellulite. This is the subcutaneous fat. The dimples are generated by the connective tissues that bind the skin to the muscle underneath and the fat layer is trapped in between. You don’t need to be fat or obese for this to happen. To reduce the cellulite appearance, you can build muscle when you are losing fat.