Have a great weekend!!!

 

Here is the Fat Loss Honor Roll for 06 Feb 09

Shelley lost 1.5 % bodyfat

Latonya lost 1.8 % bodyfat

Haley lost 1.6 % bodyfat

Great Job Ladies !!! Keep it up. You are doing great.

 

 What is cortisol?

Cortisol is a hormone produced by your adrenal glands. It falls into a category of hormones known as "glucocorticoids", referring to their ability to increase blood glucose levels. Cortisol is the primary glucocorticoid.

Why does your body produce cortisol?

Cortisol is a stress hormone. Your body produces cortisol in response to stress, physical, mental or emotional. This can include extremely low calorie diets, intense training, high volume training, lack of quality sleep as well as common daily stresses such as job pressures, fights with your spouse or being caught in a traffic jam.

Trauma, injury and surgery are also major stressors to the body (much of the research done on cortisol and stress has been done on recovering patients, and such findings may not carry over to healthy, athletic populations).

 

What does cortisol do?

Cortisol is part of the fight or flight response. Faced with a "life or death" situation, cortisol increases the flow of glucose (as well as protein and fat) out of your tissues and into the bloodstream in order to increase energy and physical readiness to handle the stressful situation or threat.

Cortisol concentrations are highest in the early morning around 6 - 8 a.m. and they are also elevated after exercise (a normal part of your body's response to exercise). The lowest levels are usually around midnight. According to the Medline Encyclopedia, normal levels of cortisol in the bloodstream at 8:00 a.m. are 6-23 mcg/dl.

Cortisol is stored in an inactive form in your subcutaneous fat.  As your bodyfat increases, the action of the enzyme 11beta HSD1 also increases. This enzyme converts cortisol to its active form, which is then released from fat tissue into the blood.

Contrary to the junk science that characterizes cortisol as 'a nasty stress hormone', cortisol is essential for energy metabolism. 

The issue with cortisol is simply that excess bodyfat acts dumps excess active cortisol into your blood. Excess active cortisol impairs glucose metabolism. As a consequence you store more fat. More belly fat leads to more cortisol which leads to decreased brain power and ability to cope with emotional stressors. It's a circle of despair.

The cortisol belly fat connection comes into play when you are under chronic stress. In addition to adrenalin your adrenal glands secrete cortisol and this cortisol likes to store the unused fat that has been released by your body in the stress response.

 

So Limit your highest carb intake to after your workouts and at breakfast.


Remember to do your cardio in between sessions.

Here is the targeted fat loss cardio routine again: