How And Why You Store Body Fat

If you're currently facing an issue with your body weight, one of the questions that you might be asking yourself is how you store body fat in the first place. What is it that got you to where you are now and how can you go about getting yourself out of this situation of being overweight?

Understanding how and why you store body fat can provide good indication that will let you look into the process of fat burning so you can uncover the precise steps that you need to be taking in order to move yourself forward. Let's have a quick look at why you store body fat and how this process takes place.

The Issue Of Energy Imbalance

The very first thing that you need to understand is that the process of adding body fat to your frame very much is a function of how much energy is coming in versus how much energy is going out. 

If you're consuming a high calorie diet that has you taking in more calories than you're burning off daily, this is going to cause you to begin to store excess body fat. Since the body has more energy than it needs for its everyday purposes, it has to do something with that energy and the most logical thing to do is store it for later use. This way, should you encounter a period of starvation, you'll have built up energy reserves to turn to.

It takes you having an energy surplus of 3500 calories over time to accumulate one additional pound of body fat.

The Type Of Nutrients Consumed

Now, one thing that you do need to think about in terms of why and how you store body fat is the type of energy that you're eating. Protein rich foods will be least likely to be converted to body fat stores because this nutrient takes a lot of energy just to break down. As your body is expending this energy breaking the protein down, this means less energy would be left over to store as body fat. After proteins, if you overeat in carbohydrates, you may not necessarily store these as body fat either.  If you've been following a lower carbohydrate diet for example and have just completed an intense workout session, the storage form of carbohydrates in your body – your muscle glycogen levels will be lowered or even depleted. When this is the case, the carbohydrates you eat in excess will actually go towards that storage first, and only once it's filled up will you begin converting carbohydrates into body fat stores. Then you have fats.  Since fats take very little energy to break down and the storage place for them is in fact your fat stores, this is the nutrient that is most likely to get converted to body fat. Note that this does not mean you should eat a fat devoid diet however – some dietary fat is necessary for proper health and functioning, but just remember that if your calorie intake is too high, then this dietary fat may turn into body fat. If you maintain a proper calorie balance, then there won't be a problem. So there you have the main points to keep in mind about how and why you store body fat.  If you want to minimize fat storage, eat a lower calorie diet that's rich in proteins and contains moderate amounts of carbohydrates with small amounts of healthy fats sprinkled in.

Obesity And Mobility – Looking Beyond Appearance

As you go about your health and fitness diet plan, you're likely monitoring your progress closely in the mirror, taking note about just how close you're moving to your goal.

You have a certain physique image in mind that you want to attain and are working hard to get to that slim, attractive figure.

But, you don't want to make the mistake of just putting all the focus on your physical appearance. While looking good definitely is important as it will increase your self-confidence levels and allow you to feel better overall, you can't discount the physical limitation that you will remove when you do lose the excess weight.

Let's take a closer look at this issue so you can be sure that you keep it in mind as well.  The more positive benefits you know that come from successful weight loss, the higher your motivation will be to continue.

Obesity And Joint Stress

The very first thing that you really must think about is the fact that with all that excess weight you're carrying around, this will be a great stress load on all your joints.  If you want to maintain an active lifestyle, you may start to find that you suffer from knee, hip, or lower back pain over time.

The more weight you're carrying, the worse this problem will be and in many cases it will seriously hinder your overall mobility and quality of life.

Obesity And Muscle Fatigue

Another issue related to obesity and mobility is the fact that your muscles will be much quicker to fatigue when you have an extra 30-60 pounds on your frame.

For you, each time you perform any sort of physical task it will almost be as if you're putting your body through a weight lifting session.

While many people who are obese have come to grow stronger muscles because of this, often they are still not strong enough to overcome the fatigue that's brought on from carrying this excess weight.

Shedding the extra fat will really make a remarkable difference on just how fatigued you feel at the end of the day. With the weight gone, you'll find you'll have energy all the way up to when you're ready to go to bed.

Obesity And Heart Rates

Finally, the last factor that links obesity to mobility is the heart rate factor.  When you're carrying around all the fat mass on your body, you're going to have to work that much harder to transport yourself around and this is going to place great strain on your heart.

You'll find that you get breathless walking up even a short flight of stairs and experience higher than normal heart rates because of it.

Having such a high heart rate is not going to be healthy and could eventually cause your heart to become overworked, so this is yet another reason to really focus on shedding the excess weight so that you get to a healthier state.

So there you have all the many reasons why appearance shouldn't just be the primary focus of your weight loss plan.  If you want to sustain a higher quality of life over time, then you must do something to rid yourself of the excess weight.