Body fat or adipose tissue is a constituent of the human body. Its primary function is to provide energy to the body. Body fat builds up differently in men and women. Recent studies explore the health consequences ensuing from these differences. 

Usually, men have an  apple-shaped  body. This is because men accumulate visceral fat   fat that is stored in the abdominal cavity   around the belly. Women, on the other hand, depict a  pear-shaped  body because they have more fat deposits around the hips. Visceral fat is extremely dangerous because it affects the internal organs of your body, including the liver, intestines, and pancreas. 

Body Fat Percentage in Men and Women 

To evaluate your health, it is essential that you know your body fat percentage (BFP). A healthy body fat percentage depends on a number of variables such as age, body type, gender etc. For example, BFP range tends to be higher in women than in men because women require more body fat. The average BFP of females falls in between 25% and 31%. 

What is a good body fat percentage?

Ideally, for men between ages 20-40, healthy BFP ranges from 8%-19%; between ages 41-60, normal BFP ranges from 11%-22%; between ages 61-79, the normal should be between 13%-25%. For women aged between 20-40 years, healthy BFP ranges from 21%-33%; between ages 41-60, normal BFP ranges from 23%-25%; between ages 61-79, the normal should be between 24%-36%. 

What body fat percentage is unhealthy?

Body fat percentage below or above the normal range (as stated above) is considered unhealthy. For instance, if the BFP of a woman aged between 20-40 years is more than 30%, then it is considered overweight. Similarly, if a 50-year-old man has BFP below 11%, he is deemed underweight. Nevertheless, there are several ways to maintain a good body fat percentage.

How to Lose Body Fat Percentage?

Many people come up with questions like   Is it hard to lose body fat percentage? Certainly not, unless you have a serious underlying condition (obesity or PCOD). You can reduce your BFP by following the pointers below- 

  Follow a protein-rich diet   It will decrease your appetite, reduce calorie intake, and preserve muscle mass. Good protein sources include dairy products, meat, eggs, legumes, seafood etc.   Add vinegar to your diet   Induces a sense of feeling full, lowers body fat, and reduces calorie intake 

  Eat more healthy fats   Helps you burn fat quickly. Coconut oil, olive oil, and avocados are good sources. 

  Reduce carb intake   Cutting down on refined carbohydrates like white bread/rice, pasta, snacks, cereals etc. can help you shed that extra flab. 

Besides following a healthy diet, you should also engage in physical activities to bring down your body fat percentage to its normal range. Exercise more often   begin strength training to get rid of belly fat and build muscle mass. You can also lose fat by consuming these natural fat burners:

  Caffeine   boosts metabolism and helps you burn more fat as fuel

  Green tea extracts

  Protein powder/supplements   boosts metabolism and reduces appetite 

  Soluble fibre 

Having a healthy body fat percentage is the key to staying fit and steering away from a host of ailments. Therefore, maintaining a balanced diet along with moderate exercise and routine check-ups is extremely important. 

How Body Fat Affects Men's & Women's Health Differently?

Why are your gaining weight despite working out?

Many people have a common workout woe that while they are working out for hours they are not losing weight. The reason on a broad sense is simply that you are undoing your workout. Let me explain the reasons here.

1. Calorie overload/dieting - A general opinion amongst a lot of people is that since they are working out, they can binge on their favourite foods. Another group of people are those who workout with utmost sincerity but do not eat post workout.  Both are equally harmful and aide fat generation.
2. Not staying hydrated - While working out, our bodies lose a lot of water. Often, we confuse the feeling of being thirsty as being hungry. So after a workout, when one might actually be hungry, one ends up filling the stomach with food. Stay hydrated at all times, especially before and after workout.
3. Drinking alcohol - A lot of people workout during the day and drink in the evening. This is a strict no-no and if not adhered to, you will end up gaining more weight than losing. Usually it is recommended staying completely off alcohol while trying to lose weight because drinks have calories and high sugar content. If abstaining is difficult, restrict the quantity.
4. Not working out enough - Human mind can be fooled very easily into believing what is not. We often believe that we our workout is enough and we don’t need to increase the number of counts, level of difficulty etc. It is good to give yourself a pat in the back, but never too soon.
5. Rewarding yourself - Rewarding yourself after losing every kilo is a very bad idea. Set a big goal and reward yourself only once achieved.
6. Drinking energy drinks - Advertisements promote energy drinks as a must for people who are working out. What they conveniently hide is the fact that these drinks are full of sugar.
7. Not eating enough vegetables - Many people turn to protein shakes and unhealthy foods instead of eating regular home-cooked vegetables which are packed with nutrients.


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Do You Know Why You Are Gaining Weight Despite WorkOuts?

Importance of avoiding carbs in dinner for weight loss

Ideal dinner should not be rich in carbs but fibers. If you intend to lose weight, avoid carbs in dinner. 

There are many reasons of avoiding carbs in dinner.

1. Gets Converted to Fat: Carbohydrates should only be taken during daytime as muscles require fuel to do different activities and utilize carbs to convert in energy. During night we don’t do as intense workouts as the daytime like in office or household work. If carbohydrates are taken in dinner, muscles absorb carbohydrates and store them in form of fat tissues due to lack of any activities except sleep and inner organs’ functioning.

2. Increases Your Sugar Levels: Including carbohydrates in your dinner also increases blood sugar level which is harmful for diabetes patients.

3. Makes Your Digestion Difficult: Avoiding carbs also improves your digestion. Replace it with more fiber foods instead.

If you would like to consult with me privately, please click on 'Consult'.

Why It’s an Absolute Sin To Have Carbs in Dinner if You Want to Lose Weight 

Did you know that lack of sleep can make you fatter? Here's how.

Lack of sleep doesn't only affect your mood and concentration levels, it also affects your weight. Studies show that not getting enough sleep can be responsible for your increasing waistline and bulky frame. 

Here's how sleep impacts your weight. 

1. Sleep deprivation leads towards consumption of foods that give quick energy
When you've had less sleep than what you require, you feel a lack of energy while performing your daily chores. This can cause you to increase your intake of instant energy-giving foods like potato chips and chocolates or other foods with high carbohydrate and fat content. As a result, you may end up accumulating more kilos on your body.

2. A sleepy brain experiences difficulty in making decisions
Sleeplessness has a negative effect on your body as it prevents you from having complete control of your brain, which may ultimately make you a bad decision maker; especially when it comes to choice of food. You may lack the mental clarity required to avoid calorie-rich foods and may try to fulfil your food cravings with the first available serving of food.

Sleep deprived people are more likely to munch on late night, unhealthy snacks, which are responsible for making them fatter. Lack of sleep also leads you towards consuming foods in greater quantity.

3. The sleep-diet connection 
Sleep deprivation results in the improper functioning of your metabolism and increases the hormone 'ghrelin' (responsible for regulating the frequency of food intake) and decreases the amount of the hormone 'leptin' (responsible for indicating when to stop food consumption). More ghrelin and lesser leptin imply more amount of food consumption, which consequently leads to weight gain.

How to implement an enhanced sleep pattern in your lifestyle?

You can try out the following remedies to ensure that you get good quality sound sleep.
- To begin with, try to abstain from caffeine consumption in any form during the afternoons as it affects your sleep routine at night. 
- Design a sleep schedule for yourself and try to follow it every day, even at weekends.
- Do not consume heavy meals or alcohol before bedtime as it may result in indigestion and may make it difficult for you to fall asleep.
- Also, you can enhance the quality of your sleep by exercising daily. However, ensure that you don't exercise just before sleeping as exercising can cause your energy levels to rise, making it difficult for you to fall asleep.

If you would like to consult with me privately, please click on 'Consult'.

Did You Know Lack of Sleep Makes You Fat? 

On an average a person consumes nearly 800 calories daily from added sugar. This does not just include natural sugar found in fruits or milk but the processed sweet sugar as well, that is added to cakes, tea, coffee, confectionery and even pasta sauce and salad dressing. However, it is possible that you can limit your sugar intake or even quit it to get some truly amazing benefits.

When you take this hard decision, you may experience withdrawal symptoms such as mild depression, anxiety or restlessness. But if you remain adamant and continue with your decision, your body will soon show some incredible results that you couldn't have imagined.

Here are a few of them:

1.&nbsp;Your heart will beat happily

Sugar raises insulin levels that activate the responses of sympathetic nervous system thereby elevating your bp and heart rate. When you cut down on sugar, your ldl cholesterol will decrease by 10% and triglycerides will reduce by 20-30%. And your risk of heart attack will reduce manifold.

2.&nbsp;Your weight fluctuations will be gone

With the exception of fruits, sugar is mostly present in processed or high-carb foods that contain loads of other unwanted constituents like fat etc.

So when you quit sugar, your body has to no longer worry about those unwelcome calories and your weight will stop moving right and left across the scale.

3.&nbsp;Digestion will become efficient

When you quit sugar, the digestive system becomes more efficient. Since your stomach and intestines have to no longer worry about those difficult to digest processed foods, their abilities and functioning improves. Even your colon begins to work better, may be you take more trips to the restroom, so things get even more on track.

4.&nbsp;No more acne troubles

Sugar triggers acne troubles. When you cut it down, you will no longer be troubled by those zits that dampen your looks. Your skin will actually clear up, cracks will disappear and you will get a healthier skin.

5.&nbsp;You will no longer have sweet craving

With sugar, there is a huge negative, as you enjoy sweets, you crave for more sweets. But if you quit sugar, slowly you will begin to avoid foods that contain sugar and as a result, whenever you will eat anything that has sugar, it will taste over sweet and you will not be able to have large portions. This means no more cravings for sugar!

If you would like to consult with me privately, please click on'consult.

5 Wonderful Things That Happen to Your Body When You Quit Sugar!

Milk is nutritious, but sometimes, avid dieters shrink away from consuming milk. It is generally believed that the fat content in milk hinders weight loss. On the contrary, milk has a lot of benefits.

Here are some facts you need to remember before you say no to milk:

Nutrients and milk: Particularly, milk is an excellent source of zinc, vitamin B, protein and most importantly, calcium. So when you ditch milk in your crusade of weight loss, you skip out on calcium, the mineral primarily responsible for good bone health. Some studies suggest that calcium can actually add to weight loss, but this needs more research to back it up. 
Health and milk: Previously milk did get a bad reputation when it was linked as a supposed cause of stroke and heart attack. But a recent study produced a result which proved the complete opposite, milk can actually prevent stroke and heart attack! According to research, milk can actually lower your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. 
Muscles and milk: Milk contains whey and casein protein, both of which are high-quality proteins if you are looking to build muscles. Whey is a fast protein (gets digested faster) while casein is a slow protein (gets digested slowly). Your body gets a good and healthy supply of proteins when you consume milk, so don t write it off just yet. 
Fat and milk: As mentioned before, calcium can cause your body to burn fat. There is research pending on it, but the preliminary results suggest that dieters shouldn t skip out on milk. You might argue that you can just consume calcium supplements in that case. However, it has been discovered that other milk proteins to add to fat burning, which you cannot get from supplements. Milk is good for you, but it isn t a miracle weight loss food. So yes, you will need to follow a healthy diet as drinking a glass of milk with a couple of doughnuts will not help you at all.
So, milk is not all evil as people think it to be. It could be good for your weight loss plan. And the best way to incorporate milk into your weight-loss diet is to consume the low-fat skimmed milk variant than the whole fat milk as you get 90 calories from one cup of skimmed milk as compared to 150 calories from whole milk with nearly the same protein and calcium content. This way you get the best of milk without worrying about the fat in it plus an extra fat loss of 1 kg (9000 calories) from 150 cups over the time with a saving of 60 calories in each cup.

Milk - Is It Good or Bad for Your Weight Loss Plan?

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