So many folks, these days, are trying to lose fat, and get in better shape with little or no real results.
To complicate things, there are a myriad of diet pills, shakes, exercise machines, exercise books and diet plans. Small wonder most people wanting to lose weight get confused.
Here’s the thing. There are rules for fat loss.
Know, and follow the rules, and you stand a good chance of succeeding. Don’t, and you’ll just spin your wheels.
Rule No. 1: There’s only one way to lose body fat. You can’t sweat it out, you can’t massage it out, you can’t turn fat to muscle or muscle to fat.
These are two different compounds. For you to lose body fat, fat has to dissolve in your blood stream and travel to your liver. The fat is then metabolized or “burned” for energy.
Rule No. 2: Starving yourself 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. This causes your body to go into survival mode, where it will hold on to as much fat as it can.
Rule No. 3: You have two fuel tanks in your body. You have a fat fuel tank and a sugar fuel tank.
Here’s the thing … your body won’t burn both tanks 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.
There are three types of sugar. Monosaccharides: foods like candy and table sugar. Disaccharides: foods like fruit and cereal. Polysaccharides: foods like bread, rice, and pasta. Please don’t misunderstand me.
You can’t live without sugars (carbohydrates), because they fuel your muscles and your brain, but most people have either too much sugar (carbohydrate) a day, or they have it too many times a day.
Rule No. 4: You need to gain muscle to lose the fat. Gaining muscle raises your metabolism. In other words, for every ounce of muscle you gain, your body burns extra calories 24 hours a day to keep it healthy.
Also, if you don’t gain the muscle, three things happen. The fat won’t come off well. If any does come off, it won’t stay off. Your shape won’t change. Your size may, 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  or visit fitness4yourlife.org David Crocker of Landrum has been a nutritionist for 24 years.
He served as strength of the Spartanburg Y.M.C.A., head strength coach S.C. state champion girls gymnastic team, USC-Spartanburg baseball team, Converse college equestrian team, lead trainer to L.H. Fields modeling agency, taught four semesters at USC-Union. David was also a regular guest of the Pam Stone radio show.