So many folks, these days, are trying to lose excess body fat, and get in better shape while achieving little, or no real positive results. To complicate matters even further, there are a myriad of diet pills, shakes, exercise machines, books, and diet plans out there. Small wonder many wanting to lose weight get confused.

Here’s the thing. There are rules for losing fat. Know and follow those rules, and you stand a good chance of reaching your fitness goals. Don’t, and you’ll just spin your wheels.

Rule #1: There’s only one way to lose body fat. You can’t sweat it out, you can’t massage it out. Can’t change fat to muscle, or muscle to fat. Muscle and fat are made up of two  different compounds. For you to lose body fat, that fat has to dissolve in your blood stream and travel to your liver. Fat is then metabolized, or “burned” for energy.

Rule #2: Starving yourself to lose fat won’t work. One thing to remember for a lifetime is that your body can’t tell the difference between what you choose to do, or you have to do. For this reason, if you starve yourself, your body doesn’t know that you are choosing not to eat, it just thinks food is unavailable. That causes your body to go into “survival” mode, where it will hold on to as much fat as it can and magnify each calorie you consume.

Rule #3: Your body has two fuel tanks. You have a fat fuel tank, and a sugar fuel tank, but your body won’t burn both tanks of fuel at the same time. In other words, if there is sugar (carbohydrate) in your blood stream, your body won’t go into “Ketosis.” Ketosis is just a fancy word for the liver converting fat into fatty acids, or in essence, “burning” fat for energy.

There are three types of sugar: monosaccharides which are foods like fruit and honey, disaccharides like table sugar or milk (lactose), and polysaccharides or foods like bread, rice, and pasta. Please don’t misunderstand me. We can’t live without sugars (carbohydrates), because they fuel our muscles and brain, but most people have either too much sugar (carbohydrate) a day, or they have sugar(carbohydrates) too many times a day.

Rule #4: You need to gain muscle to lose the fat. Gaining muscle actually raises your metabolism. In other words, for every ounce of muscle you gain, your body burns extra calories 24 hours a day to keep that muscle healthy.

Also, if you don’t gain the muscle, three things happen. Fat won’t come off well. If any does, it won’t stay off.  Your size might change some, but your shape won’t. Be careful though. Make sure you know what you’re doing in the weight room. Weights and exercise equipment are very unforgiving. You can seriously hurt yourself without proper instruction. Make sure your trainer or instructor is well educated and experienced. This will not only keep you safe, but help you learn proper training technique, so you can make the most progress with your program.

Fitness or nutrition question? Email me at dwcrocker77@gmail.com or visit fitness4yourlife.org  David Crocker of Landrum has been a nutritionist and master personal trainer for 28 years . He served as strength trainer of the Spartanburg Y.M.C.A., head strength coach for the USC Spartanburg baseball team, S.C. state champion girls gymnastic team, and the Converse College equestrian team. He was a water safety consultant to the United States Marine Corps, lead trainer to L.H. Fields modeling agency, and taught four semesters at USC Union. David was also a regular guest of the Pam Stone radio show.