Seven Things That Might Be Making You Fat

Seven Things That Might Be Making You Fat and What You Can Do To Instantly Change It To Lose Weight and Feel Great

The 7 Silent S's of Fat

Fight The Fat With Kickboxing Phoenix!

by John D. Nottingham, ACMA Head Kickboxing Coach USA Martial Arts & Kickboxing Phoenix AZ

How To Lose Weight, Fight Fat and Feel Better Fast

Finding it hard to lose weight and shed those excess fatty love handles?  You are not alone.  Millions of people are trying to piece together the fat loss puzzle to lose weight.  Here are seven things that might be making you fat and how you can begin to change your body and health.

1. Stress

Stress raises cortisol levels which prompts the body to store fat.  By reducing stress with exercise, humor, yoga, and kickboxing, you will notice that you not only lose weight but feel happier too.  Surround yourself with fun, supportive people at Phoenix Kickboxing! Webspecial iLoveKickboxingPhoenix.com I know- shameless plug. :)

2. Stagnation/sitting 

Most jobs today require a lot of sitting.  But for most it isn't a law!  From the time we get in our car and sit to drive to work, sitting at the computer (like I'm doing now) to the jobs where most of us sit most of the day we are stagnant.  We have escalators, elevators, and chairs everywhere.  Try moving more, some simple squats, lunges or even stand on one leg.  The mistake is to think it has to be huge or for you to break a sweat.  It really ads up throughout a day, week, month, and year.  Simply by having walking meetings, riding a bike to work, walking during breaks, taking stairs, parking farther away, you can ad a lot of fat burning activity.  Pop on a pedometer and play.

3. Shallow breathing

Most people who sit a lot also do not breathe properly.  Breathing is one of the easiest things we can do to create a physiological response in our body.  Along with it's many stress reducing benefits, brain function improves, attitude and of course, it burns more fat!  Breathe deep from the low belly and incorporate stretching and deep breathing into your day and workouts.  Remember, aerobic means "In the presence of oxygen."

4. Starving for nutrition 

The majority of the students in our Kickboxing classes are malnourished.  They are literally starving for good nutrition because they continuously pump their bodies full of empty calories, short chain carbohydrates and processed junk food.  Try going organic, eating a spinach and kale salad before each meal, integrate some vegetable juicing and other raw organic whole foods.  This will fuel and feed the body at a cellular level and, with the proper food choices, reduce inflammation and improve health.

5. Slow metabolic rate

Your bodies metabolism directly affects how you burn energy.  By exercising with workouts like kickboxing, you place a demand on your body, increase muscle mass and improve metabolic rate.  This in turn burns more fat and calories.

6. Sweeteners   

An amazing thing happens when you cut out sweeteners.  Your mind and memory improve, sleep often gets better, severe cravings decrease, fewer energy "crashes" and you stop wasting money on an addiction that could be damaging your health.  Replace and reduce sweeteners with stevia or other healthy alternatives and you'll notice some positive changes.  Also make sure you are getting good fats, like the ones that come from nuts, salmon, avacados and other good sources. These will significantly reduce sugar cravings and that starved feeling when you are addicted to junk foods.

7. Sleep
A lack of sleep robs your body of repair, causes it to be stressed and negatively impacts your natural balance of hormones.  Deep wave (REM) sleep releases human growth hormone which keeps your body young, helps repair, build muscle and tissue.  Without proper deep sleep your body remains out of balance and that can cause you to put on excess fat.