Maximizing Your Fat Burning Hormones

The balance between the action of fat burning hormones and fat storing hormones is the determining factor in whether or not a person loses or gains weight and body fat. Although the fat burning hormones outnumber the fat storing hormones, they are weaker in their overall effects. In fact, all of the effects of the fat burning hormones can be completely blocked by high levels of just one fat storing hormone.

It is important to understand how the hormones that control body fat work and the factors that influence the balance and effects of these hormones. Understanding the function of these hormones will enable you to detect the errors you may be making in your weight loss efforts and to make the necessary changes to maximize your fat burning.

For the purposes of this article, I’m going to limit my discussion to the effects of the fat burning hormones. The most important ones are growth hormone, glucagon, thyroid hormone, testosterone, insulin-like growth factor, and adrenaline. A detailed discussion of each of these hormones would be far too much to include here, but there are some core concepts that will allow you to improve the effects of your fat burning hormones.

To stimulate the release of the fat burning hormones and to maximize the action of them, there are three major factors to consider. These are diet, exercise, and sleep.

The dietary aspects of maximizing your fat burning hormones may not be what you think. With regards to enhancing the effects of these hormones, the main consideration is promoting the health and functioning of the liver. The liver is responsible for the conversion and activation of many hormones, including the ones that promote fat burning. If the liver gets overworked, it cannot do its job as efficiently as possible, and the effects of the fat burning hormones decline as a result. While most people are aware that excess alcohol consumption and medications can be bad for the liver, many are unaware that a diet that is too high in fat and/or animal protein can also put excessive strain on this vital organ.

Perhaps you or someone you know has tried the Atkins diet and did well at first, but then hit a point where the weight loss stopped. This is actually to be expected because the Atkins diet is very hard on the liver over the long-term. While the low-carb aspect of it is good, the excessive fat and animal protein, particularly combined with the lack of healthy nutrients from vegetables and fruits, will make the liver tired and sluggish, and the result is decreased effectiveness of the fat burning hormones.

There are other diet considerations when it comes to minimizing the effects of the fat storing hormones, but for maximizing the effects of fat burning hormones, the main dietary concern is to maintain healthy liver function.

Exercise is the next important factor in maximizing the effects of the fat burning hormones. There is much debate over what type of exercise needs to be done to promote weight loss. Research indicates that low intensity, high duration exercise at the “target heart rate” produces the most fat burning, but what many fail to recognize is that there is an important distinction between the fat burned during an exercise session and the overall fat burning effect produced by an exercise session.

Low intensity, long duration exercise does burn more fat than high intensity, short duration exercise or interval training during the exercise session. But because of the hormonal effects of high intensity exercise, the overall fat burning effects of high intensity exercise are considerably greater than for low intensity exercise, even when the low intensity workouts are much longer. High intensity exercise significantly enhances the function of certain fat buring hormones and raises the body’s metabolic rate for 12 to 24 hours, so increased fat burning continues for up to a day after the workout is completed. With low intensity exercise, the fat burning effects mostly stop at the completion of the workout. So, a single high intensity workout can produce many times the fat burning effects of a low intensity workout.

Closely tied to the effects of high intensity exercise on fat burning is the effect of sleep. One of the reasons that high intensity exercise stimulates metabolism is that it stimulates the release of growth hormone, which we mentioned earlier is a fat burner. This brings me back to the importance of the liver. The liver converts growth hormone to insulin like growth factor, which stimulates fat burning to keep your blood sugar levels steady when you go for long periods without eating. For most people, the usual time when they go the longest without eating is when they are sleeping. When you do not get adequate sleep, you don’t produce as much insulin-like growth factor, and therefore you don’t burn as much fat.

So, how much sleep do you need? For most people, about 7 hours of sleep per night will provide maximum fat burning hormone effects. By the way, nighttime sleep is much more effective for producing fat burning than daytime sleep. Because of the effects of light on the pituitary gland (the gland that makes growth hormone), nighttime sleep results in better production of growth hormone. People who work the night shift are advised to make their sleeping area as dark as possible for their daytime sleeping.

In conclusion, to maximize the effects of your fat burning hormones, it is very importatnt to eat a healthy diet that supports the function of the liver, to do high intensity exercise, and to get adequate sleep. Neglecting any one of these factors will decrease the effectiveness of your weight loss program, and can lead to frustration when you are trying your best to lose weight.

Tagged as: weight loss