How do we gain fat?
This might seem obvious to some people but it would be a good idea to know the specifics
if you are trying to avoid putting fat on.
By the way, this video is not about calories.
Ready?
Let’s go!
in this video we are going to really break down what makes you gain fat.
This is not common knowledge, as you can clearly see both obese populations as well as fit
people who struggle progressing or maintaining their physique.
What you will learn today is a simple way of analyzing whether something you do is going
to cause weight gain.
We hope you dig this video, it’s really good - and if you follow us to the end you
will no longer have to miss out on having that extra control over what your body does.
Now we know you think this is all about calories, but let us put a question to you:
Why is obesity a problem?
Why do we gain fat despite making dietary choices that seem logical like eating protein
and making sure we don’t get too many calories?
Is obesity a choice?
And if no one chooses it, why do some many people get it wrong when it comes to being
overweight?
Surely, not everyone is lazy.
Some people do choose to exercise hard and eat well, and yet fat gain remains a problem
that only few people really crack.
You've probably heard that fat gain is a direct result of having too many calories.
This is neither true nor false.
While calories can be a useful tool to track your dietary food intake they can easily mislead
you when it comes to both fat loss and fat gain.
Ok ok, so if it’s not calories, what is it?
What’s on today’s menu?
Today we are going to expand on what drives lipogenesis and adipogenesis - two terms synonymous
with weight gain.
Before we go any further, It’s important to understand that not gaining fat doesn’t
equal losing fat.
Fat loss is a result of lipolysis followed by lipid oxidation, what we call fat breaking
followed by fat burning, whereas fat gain is a result of lipogenesis and in turn adipogenesis.
Not as simple as a basic concept of calories in or out, perhaps, but there are benefits
of understanding what really drives those reactions,
this is something we go into in depth on our Official YouTube channel if you want to finally
understand how it works.
Ok so like everything related to weight, gaining weight is a direct result of how we eat and
train.
And no, we still don’t mean calories!
Here are the basics: The two most important ingredients for fat
gain are A. Blood Sugar and B. Insulin in your blood, which is secreted in response
to blood sugar levels rising.
Insulin triggers little gateways that sit on those fat cells.
Those are called GLUT4 or Glucose transponders type 4
and they are really good at transporting glucose i.e blood sugar into the fat cells.
We know it’s a bit confusing so just to recap,
if you have too much blood sugar, or glucose in your system, your body knows it's dangerous
and knows it needs to reduce those blood sugar levels to keep you alive.
It then triggers Insulin which also enters your bloodstream and when Insulin passes along
fat cells, it tells them to suck that excess blood sugar in,
and it does so by expressing those glucose transporters on fat cells.
One minute you have too much blood sugar, and the next, excess sugar is cleared from
the blood into the fat cells.
It then gets converted into fatty acids and stored in formations we call triglycerides.
So if a fat cell is a prison cell, those triglycerides are the prisoners.
And the process of integrating those new prisoners is called lipogenesis, "Lipo" means fat and
"genesis" means creation.
That’s how glucose gets transported and converted into triglycerides, which is what
fills the fat cells.
Lipogenesis.
And when you fill up a fat cell and there is no more space to store that excess sugar..
well the body is smart, it will create more space, by creating more fat cells, a process
called adipogenesis.
And here is the kicker.
At first you fill up your fat cells, and when they are full, you create even more fat cells
to fill, an endless process we call fat gain.
When it’s time to lose fat, you extract the content of fat cells but the fat cell
itself is still there.
It just sits there empty, waiting to absorb, and plotting how it can make you fat again.
***Evil laugh!***
Causing fat cells to self-destruct, a term known as apoptosis, is possible,
but it takes a lot of intentional effort.
This is so important to understand because the more fat cells you have, the easier it
will be for you to gain fat.
You simply have more space ready to be filled with glucose and converted into triglycerides.
To give you an example, Ziggy and Pepper are identical twins - same age, genetics, heights,
same everything.
Ziggy has always been lean, but Pepper had a few years where bad lifestyle choices and
overeating have led to significant weight gain.
Lucky for pepper, he’s found a way to turn his fortune around - he lost all his excess
weight and is now the same weight as Ziggy.
But there’s a difference.
Because fat cells don’t self-destruct so easily, pepper has got more fat cells, they
are just empty fat cells.
The more fat cells you have, even if they are empty, the easier it will be to fill those
cells and gain body fat.
If Pepper and Ziggy decided to go and eat lots of carbohydrates.
Ziggy is now less likely to put on weight, but Pepper is very likely, because he has
more fat cells that are empty and looking to absorb that sugar.
Now here’s a serious question, what is the best way to put on weight… you know, so
you can know what to avoid.
Unless you are us and you get fat on purpose to lose it for a Youtube project.
The best ways to gain weight are: a.
Having Breakfast.
b.
Frequent Eating and c.
Choosing foods high in Sugar and Carbs
Contrary to popular belief, Breakfast is not the most important meal of the day but it
does do something great for your fat cells.
It completely opens up your appetite for the rest of the day - which will result in snacking
also known as “Frequent eating”.
Of course, not every breakfast or snack is nutritionally equal.
You can have eggs for breakfast and protein shake as a snack, neither is too sugary or
carby, but it’s still not the best practice and
anything you eat will raise Insulin and express those glucose transponders, opening a direct
doorway for your glucose to be absorbed into those fat cells.
Even a healthy breakfast will still open your appetite.
Tempting you to eat frequently.
And if you eat frequently, even if it’s what you believe is the “right stuff”,
you will open those doorways to the fat cells frequently.
If on the other hand you reduce carbs and sugar intake, what we call, going low carb,
and limit the times of day when you eat, something known as intermittent fasting…
you will have less glucose transporters ready to store glucose as fat, as well as less glucose
which can be stored as fat in the first place.
In other words, you decrease the likelihood of storing fat.
This doesn’t equal fat loss, though it’s a good base to work from,
Ehh now I understand!
So if you’ve been told to eat your breakfast to speed up your metabolism or whatever, think
again.
If you’ve been thinking that an apple as a snack can do no harm, think again - an average
apple has 21g of sugar, and be it more of a natural snack than processed one, it’s
still a sugary snack.
And if you’ve been blaming calories, you might have been misled into looking the wrong
way.
Low calories usually mean low dietary fat but also high sugar.
You can eat low calories and still overload sugar and Insulin and you can also eat high
calories and not do so.
We hope this is starting to make sense, why we are losing the fight against obesity, because
being overweight is first and foremost about not understanding what drives fat gain.
We suggest you focus on reducing your sugar and carb intake which is more important and
stop worrying about the increased calories this will result in.
We also recommend you reduce the frequency of meals to reduce the opportunities for Insulin
to express glucose transporters.
All in all, by not raising blood sugar levels high and by not raising Insulin frequently,
you are less likely to gain weight.
Remember, your body doesn’t store excess calories as fat.
It does however store glucose or blood sugar, into existing fat cells.
and if you keep storing fatty acids in fat cells, your body will also create new ones.
This is what drives fat gain, lipogenesis and adipogenesis.
As we said in the beginning, it’s not so much about calories.
Finally, we want to give you one last tip.
Fat cells are not the only cells with those glucose transporters on them, muscle cells
have those too and have the ability to store your excess blood sugar as glycogen.
This means that with the right strategy, muscle mass can be used in a way to create competition
for fat storage, helping you stay leaner.
We will cover this strategy in another video, and until next time stay Bellyproof!