Here are three habits that might be contributing to your increasing waistline.
Habit #1: Eat foods that promote fat storage.
Your body is designed to store fat for survival purposes. When we wandered the earth without easy access to food, our bodies needed a way to ensure survival until the next food cache became available. Most diets ignore this fact and that’s why they don’t work.
Solution: The human body was also designed to burn fat in order to survive. If you use fat-burning strategies to your advantage, you can turn your body into a Fat-Burning Machine.
Habit #2: Ignore metabolic syndrome symptoms.
Nearly 1/3 (35%) of Americans suffer from metabolic syndrome (MetS) and many don’t even know it.
Metabolic syndrome optimizes fat storage. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions — increased blood pressure, a high blood sugar level, excess body fat around the waist and abnormal cholesterol levels — that occur together, increasing your risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
How do you know if you have it?
Several organizations have criteria for diagnosing metabolic syndrome. According to guidelines used by the National Institutes of Health, you have metabolic syndrome if you have three or more of these traits:
- Large waist circumference. This is defined as a waistline that measures at least 35 inches (89 centimeters) for women and 40 inches (102 centimeters) for men.
- High triglyceride level. Count this trait on your checklist if your triglyceride level is at least 150 milligrams per deciliter, or mg/dL, (1.7 millimoles per liter, or mmol/L.)
- Reduced HDL cholesterol. Tally another mark on your list if your levels of this “good” cholesterol are less than 40 mg/dL (1.04 mmol/L) in men or less than 50 mg/dL (1.3 mmol/L) in women – or – if you are taking medications for low HDL.
- Increased blood pressure. Count this as a trait if you are taking blood pressure medications or if your blood pressure is 130/85 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) or higher.
- Elevated fasting blood sugar. Count this one if you have a blood sugar level of at least 100 mg/dL (5.6 mmol/L) or if you take medication to control your high blood sugar.
Solution: People with metabolic syndrome have insulin resistance. The great news is that insulin resistance can be improved, which will reduce or eliminate metabolic syndrome symptoms – including weight loss.
Habit #3: Exercise too hard or too much.
Are you frustrated because you exercise and see no long-lasting results? That’s because you re likely exercising too long or too hard. Exercise will improve metabolic syndrome, but it requires a different training program – a program that is designed to burn fat.
Solution: The conventional wisdom of long, slow workouts (and a lot of them) as being the best way to manage weight loss and metabolic syndrome will take a lot of time and bore you to death with little to no positive impact. Additionally, exercising to red-faced, sweaty exhaustion burns minimal fat. Burning fat requires mixing it up and igniting your body’s fat burner with short, fun Miracle Intervals.
