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Fat Burning Secrets for Women
By Kelli Calabrese MS, CSCS

It’s not in your mind, ladies - men and women do not live in an equal world when it comes to body fat. Men, with their taller bodies and larger muscles and bones, lay claim to a faster metabolism. At puberty, girls put on fat and boys put on muscle. From fertilization to breastfeeding, women have and need more fat than men. As you read on, keep in mind that although the odds may appear to be stacked against us, we can overcome stubborn fat and make improvements to our shapes and health. First a brief explanation of the fat burning challenges women face, and then the secrets to overcoming them.

Body Fat Distribution
Women bear almost double the amount of body fat as men, primarily to help them carry and nourish babies. Fat is the major energy source needed for fetal development and protection. We have no control over where the fat cells decide to swell and shrink.

The fat cells in the lower body, where women tend to put on inches, are more prone to fat storage. The fat cells in the upper body, where men tend to carry extra weight, are more prone to releasing fat. Women who have dieted will notice that as they lose weight, body fat starts melting away from the upper body first, followed by the persevering lower body fat.

Yet the reverse is true when gaining weight. The fat cells in the hips, thighs, butt and abs will enlarge first. Woman who have yoyo dieted for years have an upper body that is disproportionately smaller than her lower body.

Hormones
During pregnancy and the menstrual cycle, hormones encourage water retention in the fat cells. The excess fluid slows down circulation and makes it even more difficult to mobilize fat.

The progesterone in women’s bodies affects appetite and mood. It causes hunger during the second half of your menstrual cycle and is responsible for the ravenous appetite experienced during pregnancy. Progesterone also causes sluggishness and sleepiness making one less inclined to exercise. Women who take birth control pills gain on average 3 – 5 pounds as a side effect.

Pregnancy
Throughout pregnancy, fat cells in a woman’s body not only expand, but often multiply in number. When the pregnancy is over, those fat cells remain and are always ready to enlarge when the body takes in more calories than it uses. In addition, the thyroid gland, which drives the metabolism, becomes notoriously sluggish during pregnancy to help the body hold onto fat. Not surprisingly, after two or three children, the weight loss dilemma may be compounded.

Menopause
During peri-menopause (the 10 years prior to menopause), women begin producing less estrogen, which is a protective hormone. We also begin to sleep less and our appetite becomes stimulated. As peri-menopause begins, fat tends to accumulate around the waist and chest, increasing our risk of heart disease.
Aging
Beginning in the mid-20s, women lose an average of about 7 pounds of muscle mass each decade (compared to 5 pounds for men). To make matters worse, non-exercising women typically gain 1 -2 pounds of fat a year - for life. And the fat gain number can be much higher depending on lifestyle choices.

So, by your mid-40s, you have probably lost close to 15 pounds of metabolically active muscle and replaced it with over 20 pounds of lethargic fat – and that’s conservative! Your metabolism has dramatically slowed and your body composition has changed in unfavorable proportions.

To make matter worse, if you have dieted (I imagine you’ve attempted one or two), you have accelerated the muscle loss process. Dieting without exercise can lead to 25% to 28% muscle loss.

Aging also makes excess fat harder to hide. As skin begins to lose its elasticity and sag, it has a harder time containing fat cells, giving the skin a rippled appearance often referred to as cellulite.

Why Men Have It Easier
Testosterone stimulates bone and muscle growth. Men don’t lose testosterone as fast as we lose estrogen. Men have more muscle, more bone minerals, and tend to eat about 35% more calories than women. Men also respond faster to exercise training.

Although men don’t generally live as long as women, they start and end with more bone, more muscle and more testosterone compared to women. By the time a woman is 60 years old, she probably has 20 to 30 pounds of muscle on her frame –IF she’s not exercising.

Women also face many social and emotional challenges, which can lead them to become a slave to the scale, avoid exercise for fear of bulking up and fall for spot reduction and quick fix solutions, all of which only compound the problem, These fears, misconceptions and bugaboos, which hold so many women hostage, could easily fill a book, but let’s skip over all that and talk about solutions that DO work.

Now that you understand the special physiological challenges women face, let’s talk about how to overcome them to attain the strong, trim, fit body you really want.

Exercise is the key to fat burning. If you do one thing incorporate 2 – 3 strength and cardio workouts into your weekly routine using the following 10 tips. The results are guaranteed!

Here are my top 10 fat-burning secrets for women.

1. Warm up before a strength training session – Warming up increases blood flow to muscles by about 55%, giving you better muscle contraction. You’ll sweat earlier, which helps to regulate your body temperature. It also jump starts the neuromuscular connection which initiates the release of carbohydrate and fat enzymes and hormones while reducing your perceived exertion during strength training. Just 5 minutes of walking or cycling will meet this requirement.
2. Vary your cardio exercises – Alternate between two or more cardiovascular activities like walking and cycling or kickboxing and step aerobics. This will help to optimally develop your cardiovascular fitness, maintain the element of fun in exercise, help you avoid over-training, as well as injury. Bottom line, you will expend more calories.
3. Incorporate several cardio techniques – Use a combination of continuous, interval, circuit and Fartlek (speed play) training. Changing techniques forces your body to adapt and become more efficient. Vary the intensity and modify impact styles. For example, if you have been walking the same path at the same pace every day, begin to incorporate bursts of acceleration intermittently. The underlying principle is that change is what keeps the body progressing, making improvements and burning fat.
4. Plan your workouts in Phases – Organize your workouts into a cyclic structure. For example, for two to three weeks, exercise at a lower intensity for 45 to 60 minutes, and then, for the next two to three weeks, do 20 to 30 minutes at your highest intensity. The following 2 to 3 weeks go at a moderate intensity for 30 to 45 minutes. This system allows you to maintain a high level of fitness and not over-train. This cycling of workout structures will help your body become more efficient at fat burning
5. Circuit Train – Perform several strengthening exercises interspersed with a short cardio segments. For example perform a leg press, lateral pull down and abdominal crunch followed by 3 minutes of cycling. Then repeat another 3 strength exercises followed by 3 minutes of walking. Circuit training has a lower dropout rate, is an efficient calorie burner, increases muscular strength and decreases body fat.
6. Strength Train with Multi Joint exercises – Choose exercises that work compound muscle groups – meaning more than one muscle group at a time. This will give you the most mileage per exercise. Examples include squats, lunges, and push ups. For every pound of muscle on your body you need 35 to 50 calories per day to sustain it, while every pound of fat on your body requires only a modest 2 calories per day.
7. Exercise first thing in the morning – Morning exercisers have a higher likelihood of showing up. Later in the day, the odds that you’ll skip your workout increase as interruptions arise and fatigue sets in. Morning exercise also helps regulate your hormone response, telling your body to release fat and kick start your metabolism.
8. Eat a “primer” meal prior to working out – Having a small balanced meal prior to exercise will help you burn fat. After you eat, your blood sugar rises and exercise acts like insulin to help regulate blood glucose. Eating will also give you the energy for a more intense workout – you will therefore burn more calories.
9. Eat 5 to 6 small meals a day – Food has a thermic effect, meaning it takes energy (calories) for your body to digest the food you eat. Eating several times throughout the day increases the thermic effect, so you burn more calories. Eating more often also keeps you from feeling like you are being deprived of food and prevents hunger from setting in, which can cause you to binge eat.
10. Train with intensity – To get the full benefits of exercise, you must graduate from the “pink weights” and moderate walking. Do not be afraid to increase your resistance and challenge your muscles and cardiovascular system. In order to change, you have to push your physical limits beyond what you are accustomed to.

I am going to leave you with a bonus secret regarding hydration. In order for fat to be metabolized, it must first be released from the fat cell and then be transported by the bloodstream where it is shunted to the liver and other active tissues to be used as fuel. If you are in a dehydrated state, the liver has to come to the aid of the kidneys and can’t focus on it’s role of releasing fat. (See chapter x on hydration)

To sum things up, you really can attain a feminine, firm, fit and younger appearance regardless of your age or inherited traits. You can overcome any weaknesses and trouble spots to a certain degree with balanced and symmetrical strength, cardiovascular and flexibility training, combined with making nutritious food choices.

Focus on being the best you can be. A lean and healthy body is both realistic and achievable.

For Parents who are home when their children arrive from school, it’s important that they be a positive role model. Children will listen more to what you do than what you say. So be prepared to get up and move yourself.

Children are no longer required to participate in daily physical education in school and after primarily sitting all morning and afternoon, physical movement is imperative.

Most all children can find a sport they enjoy. Look to community recreation programs and after school programs for physical activities your child has expressed an interest in. From soccer to lacrosse, baseball to swimming, the sports options are limitless. Between organized practices and games you can rehearse drills with them at home.

Organized sports are a wonderful out let for children, but not all children like competitive sports. Look for alternative individual activities. For example go to the garage and dust off the scooters, skateboards and bikes. Find a safe place for children to engage in free play to rollerblade and jump rope. Use the play ground equipment including the monkey bars, climbing walls, crawling tubes, sliding poles and the like.

Take advantage of what’s available in your community. Look for state parks, walking paths, hiking trails, unused rail road beds and so on. Your children will enjoy being out in nature as well as get an education. They won’t even realize they are exercising.

Let your child pick a new activity seasonally. For example in the winter they may want to ice skate, spring is a great time for field sports, summer invites swim lessons and camps. The fall is great for nature walks, canoeing, mountain biking and so much more.

As a parent we need to take as active a roll in their physical education as we do in their academic education. Physical play is natural to children and is not something that necessarily needs to be taught, but they need to be provided the outlet and a safe environment to participate in. The focus on children’s fitness should be on fun.

The following are four ways to get, and keep, children active as a family:

• Sign up for an event – Seek out community events such as a walk-a-thon, bike-a-thon or even a tri-athalon that accepts minors. One such event in my community accepts four person teams so that one child starts out mountain biking, then dad and a second child row across a lake followed by mom running to the finish line. Competition should not be the point of focus, rather the focus should be place on doing ones best, supporting and encouraging each other as a team and, most importantly, having fun together as a family. These events are often in support of a good cause, so children can also learn the value of fund raising and giving to those in need. Let children pick a cause that is important to them and make sure the activity matches their physical abilities. Spend time prior to the event “in training” to get conditioned as well as build team building skills as a family.

• Take advantage of local activity courses – Many area parks and schools are set up with physical activity courses that span across fields and trails, with exercises stations interspersed throughout. These courses are good for all ages and levels of fitness. Consider making visits to these courses a Saturday morning event, with each session having a different theme or pace; “Boot Camp” might be one such theme for your aspiring soldiers. You can all walk briskly between stations and then simultaneously perform given exercises (pushups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, balance beams, etc) as a family, with each person taking a turn as the Drill Sergeant. You can each set goals such as trying to beat your time from last week, spotting animals along the route or finding “treasure” along the way. The course can be followed with a healthy picnic lunch in the park that is prepared by a different family member each week. Doing so will also teach children how to choose healthy foods.

• Take some family lessons – Find an after school program, YMCA or community center that offers family lessons or activities that are also physical fitness-oriented. Your options are unlimited, and may include tennis, dance, kick boxing, golf, swimming, and self-defense. Each season, alternate the activity of choice so that every family member has the opportunity to pick the lesson on behalf of the family. These lessons will help your entire family become more well rounded in many area’s of fitness, and may possibly find one that you all enjoy and want to take advanced lessons in. In addition to enhancing each person’s fitness level, participating in these short-term lessons will also help family members to respect each other’s personal preferences and keep an open mind toward new experiences.

• Take an “extreme” family vacation – Get your children involved in planning for a dynamic family vacation that includes physical activities for everyone, both together as a family and even individually. Each family member should be able to plan a physical activity, whether it be taking a walking tour of a city, playing volleyball, kayaking, white water rafting, snorkeling, skiing or snow boarding, hiking a trail or climbing a summit. Together, you family can take the months prior to the trip to build up the endurance, strength and skills necessary to enjoy planned activies. The “vacation” can be a simple day trip in your own your neighborhood, or something much more extravagant. Children can save allowance money for “cool” fitness gear or earn money to be used toward the purchase of specialty equipment by achieving physical fitness-oriented goals (like getting a yellow belt in Karate or completing a successful season on the swim team). This will not only teach children about preparation, organization and planning, but will also incentivise and reward them for engaging in activities that are good for their health.

Make the most of family initiatives by conducting activities that provide health and fitness benefits in conjunction with other valuable life skills and lessons, which should help to enhance the family bond. Continue to encourage your children to be active, and the chances are strong that they will carry those good habits into adulthood. Physically active children have fewer chronic health problems than kids who are sedentary. In addition, children who are fit are better able to meet the demands of daily physical activity, have a stronger self-image and more self-confidence.
When you consider the facts, it makes good sense to encourage physical activity whether your children are toddlers or teenagers (or somewhere in between). Parents, teachers and coaches all have a role to play, as each can help kids think positively about exercise and motivate them to make regular physical activity a lifetime pursuit.

Some Facts on Children’s Fitness (or lack there of)

There is reason to be concerned about he activity habits of American children. Obesity is one of the most serious health problems facing the youth of the United States, and evidence suggests that the problem is only getting worse. For example, researchers comparing data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys found that 11 percent of young people from 6 – 17 years of age were overweight in 1998 compared with about 4 percent in 1963. Children are selecting sedentary leisure time activities such as television, video games and personal computing along with eating an abundance of processed high fat and sugary foods.

Obese children are predictably more sedentary than non-obese counterparts. The Shape of the Nation survey reported that more than 40 percent of children aged five to eight exhibit coronary risk factors such as elevated blood pressure and high levels of cholesterol (National Association for Sport and Physical Education, 1993).

Despite the strong evidence linking physically active lifestyles to health benefits, most school programs remain highly sports centered (Wilcox, 1987). From organized after-school programs to the physical education class, the educational system socializes children by emphasizing the experiences associated with individual achievement and competition.

The National Federation of State High School Associations reported that 3.7 million boys and 2.4 million girls participated in more than 30 different high school sports in 1997 (West & Bucher, 1999). Children who get most of their exercise from sports will have to make lifestyle changes as they age. Formal athletic experiences do not provide the lifestyle skills necessary to start and maintain regular exercise.

More than a decade ago congress passed a resolution urging individual states to require daily physical education programs for all school-aged children. The American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance reported that a survey revealed that as many as half of our young people are not engaged in sufficient physical activity to develop adequate cardiovascular fitness. One third of school-aged boys and girls were unable to complete a mile run in less than 10 minutes. The survey also found that only one state, Illinois required all students from kindergarten to grade 12 to take physical education every day. Eight states had no school physical education requirements. During the 1990’s enrollment in physical education had reached an all time low. According to the most recent data collected by the CKC, only 60.7% of high school body and 51.5% of high school girls are enrolled in physical education class.

The results of several studies have pointed out that children often do not get much physical activity in their physical education classes. For instance, Parcel, Simons-Morton, and O’Hara (1987), in a study of elementary physical education classes, found that in a 30-minute class, the average child was vigorously active for only 2 minutes. Only 76.3 percent of students in grades 9 – 12 who were taking physical education reported being physically active for at least 20 minutes a day.

Hovel, Burdick, Sharkey and McClure (1978) observed children during recess and concluded that they do not voluntarily engage in sufficient aerobic activity during recess to increase their cardiorespirately fitness. Some schools have eliminated recess periods for children, while others allow them to spend recess periods indoors where computers are available for homework and games.

Helping people develop physical fitness habits for a lifetime should start as early as possible. To help children and adolescents develop a lifetime commitment, school physical education programs must help children learn how to establish personal exercise programs, test their own physical fitness and overcome objectives to making fitness a permanent part of their life. The intent of physical activity programs should be to develop positive attitudes toward physical activity that will substantially influence adult activity patterns.

The problems caused by failure of schools to help children develop the skills to participate in physical activity are exacerbated as young adults enter the work force. A large scale efforts needs to be coordinated to improve the profile of the health of America’s youth.