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Although exercise is a necessary part of any effecte natural weight loss plan, too much exercise or the wrong kind of exercise can interfere with the abilty of some people to effectively burn fat. Individuals who carry most of their excess weight as lower abdominal fat often suffer from fatigue of the adrenal glands. Adrenal fatigue typically occurs as an effect of chronic stress and excessive exercise will make the problem worse and actually promote fat deposition in the lower belly. Sitting atop each kidney, the adenal glands are small but critically important to the health of the body. The adrenal hormones control many functions in the body. For the sake of this article, we will be discussing the adrenal hormones involved in weight gain and loss. Most people are familar with the adrenal hormone known as adrenaline (also called epinephrine). Adrenaline "speeds up" the body to make it ready for sudden activity. During times of fear, excitement, or stress, adrenaline is produced and triggers increased blood pressure, elevated heart rate, rapid breathing, and increased blood flow to the muscles. Adrenaline also triggers the burning of fat for energy to support increased activity and therfore is one of several hormones that is involved in weight loss. The other adrenal hormone involved in weight gain / loss is cortisol. Cortisol promotes the deposition of fat in the lower abdominal area. While adrenaline can only be produced for short periods of time, cortisol can be produced steadily ver long perids of time. This means that when one is under chronic stress, adrenaline will be used up long before cortisol and any fat-burning caused by adrenaline will be more than overwhelmed in the long run by the fat-depositing caused by cortisol. Cortisol does serve positive purposes in some situations as it allows for conservation of energy when the body is subjected to harsh living conditions over a long period of time. The problem is that chronic emotional stress causes elevations in cortisol and for individuals who are under a lot of stress in their daily lives, the high cortisol release from the adrenals stimulates the deposition of fat in the lower abdominal area. Now we come to exercise. In a person who is under a lot of emotional stress and who has chronically overworked adrenal glands, cortisol levels will be high and adrenaline will have long since been used up. Under these circumstances, if you add heavy physical exercise as an additional stressor to the body, the result will be even more cortisol release from the adrenals. The high levels of cortisone result in more and more fat storage in the lower belly. Many people in this situation who are determined to lose weight will see their inability to lose weight as an indication that they need to exercise harder and more often. These people may be able to continue to lose weight in general, because if you are burning more calories than you take in, you will lose weight, but they never are able to eliminate that lower belly fat. So they work out even harder, but the belly fat remains - and they become more and more fatigued and actually begin to lose strength in the muscles of the arms and legs. Why would somone lose strength in the muscles in the arms and legs? Isn't exercise supposed to build muscle? Well, cortisol not only stores fat in the lower abdomen, it also stimulates the breakdown of muscle and other tissue to use for immediate energy needs. So the more determined a person is to exercise away the belly fat, the more cortisol is produced, and as we said a moment ago, if you burn more calories than you take in, you will lose weight, only in this case the weight being lost is muscle and not fat! As the cortisol levels stay high, the end result is a combination of chronic fatigue, muscle wasting, and possibly arthritic changes because of tissue breakdown. After all of this, the belly fat still remains as cortisol tries to store fat. If you do have this adrenal fatigue / high cortisol problem, what can you do about it? The first step is to make sure that your primary problem is in fact the adrenals because for those who do not have adrenal fatigue, intensive exercise remains an excellent way to produce healthy weight loss. High cortisol and adrenal fatigue will produce certain indicative symptoms. The excess weight is primarily centered in the lower belly area, just below the waist. Muscle wasting or weakness in the arms and legs may develop. Other symptoms might include a need for caffeine to stay awake enough to function during the day, a desire for salt and salty foods, getting lightheaded when standing up too fast, chronic fatigue, and waking up for no reason in the middle of the night on a frequent basis. If you do fall into this category of adrenal fatigue / high cortisol, exercise is still important, but you want the kind of exercise that helps you to handle stress, not exercise that creates additional stress. For someone with overworked adrenals, the best type of exercise is relatively low-intensity aerobic exercise for 30 to 60 minutes about 3 times per week. This is exercise you can do without getting out of breath and without feeling fatigued afterwards. Among the options for this type of exercise are walking, bicycling, swimming, yoga, tai chi, and low-intensity aerobics. Exercising outdoors seems to be particularly beneficial for stress reduction, and subsequently cortisol reduction, at least when there are no extremes of temperature to deal with. Besides the exercise approach just mentioned, it is good to eat a reasonable amount of protein in order to maintain muscle mass. About 3 to 4 ounces of animal protein (meat, fish, eggs, poultry, or dairy) 3 times per day is usually good. If you happen to be a vegan, then be sure to consume plenty of seeds, nuts, beans, and other vegetarian proteins. If you've been working out like crazy to try to get rid of that belly fat, but all you've managed to accomplish was feeling tired, weak, and sore, by reducing the intensity of your workouts and controlling stress better, you'll likely find that the belly fat gradually shrinks away and you'll look and feel great!
Article Source: Free Articles - http://www.articlesworldonline.com
To get additional information, please visit Dr. Best's website dedicated to natural weight loss Dr. George Best has been in private practice as a holistic healthcare provider in San Antonio, Texas since 1992.
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