Is getting fat inevitable because of our genetics? Is the caveman inside us expanding our waistline? What can we do to work with our roots instead of against them?
It’s important to know why we get fat. Once we understand the reasons behind fat storage, we can apply that knowledge to burning fat as well. Knowing why something happens is the first step toward changing the outcome.
The main reason we store fat is that we take in more energy than we can burn. This may sound overly simple, but it also gives us a lot of freedom. It shows that since storing fat isn’t a complicated process, losing fat doesn’t necessarily have to be hard either.
But why have our bodies evolved to store fat so incredibly efficiently? The key question is why we put on fat so easily.
The inner caveman
Our early ancestors didn’t go hunting for food in supermarkets. They didn’t point at a picture of a Big Mac on the cave wall when they were hungry. They didn’t sit in offices for days on end. They didn’t have cars either. In fact, fast food had to be caught before it ran away from you.
The daily life of the ancestors from whom we inherited our genetics revolved around getting enough food to survive. To eat, you had to either hunt or forage. As you can imagine, obtaining food was itself an energy-demanding process.
With the development of agriculture, people no longer needed to hunt and forage. They could settle down and cultivate fields. Animals were domesticated as well. Food also became a valuable commodity for trade. This is known as the agricultural revolution, and it is the starting point of modern society.
Agriculture became the world’s main food supplier. The story took a new turn in the 20th century. Social development meant that most people no longer had to do physical work. Machines took over the heaviest jobs. As a result, physical activity dropped for a growing number of people. This was the beginning of the modern obesity epidemic.
In short: today food is plentiful and easy to get, and physical activity is no longer part of our daily lives.
Thank your ancestors
The human body 50,000 years ago, when we were hunter-gatherers, was exactly the same as it is today. Our body has adopted a constant feast/famine cycle. How did this adaptation come about? The answer is an extremely efficient ability to build up fat stores.
By storing large amounts of fat at every opportunity, the body prepares a defense mechanism against inevitable famine, which used to be common. By storing a great deal of energy, our ancestors were able to survive in harsh conditions. In winter conditions, it was the fatter rather than the fitter who tended to survive.
Our bodies are still programmed to hold on to reserves at every opportunity, even though with today’s food supply we no longer really need to. This is also why fat is quite easy to gain but hard to get rid of. The body protects itself against a period of famine that it genetically expects.
Now combine the body’s need to store fat, a reduced physical training load and calorie-rich ready-made meals, and you get the recipe that has led our society to rampant obesity.
Diet = famine
If you’ve ever been on a diet, you’ve probably noticed that there is a big weight loss at first, and then after a few weeks the process slows down noticeably or stops altogether.
You can thank your ancestors for this phenomenon too. When you sharply cut your calories, for example by starting a diet, the body quickly begins breaking down fat stores. Your metabolism is still fast and your weight drops.
The trouble is that the body can’t tell whether a famine has arrived or you are deliberately restricting your eating, i.e. dieting. To your body, diet = famine. Even after a short period of dieting, your body goes into panic mode. You rapidly lose your energy reserves, and your body does whatever it can to slow down or stop that process.
The first thing that slows down is your metabolism. You no longer burn as many calories, no matter how much you eat or train.
Next, the body starts breaking down muscle tissue. Muscles are very active metabolically and need a lot of calories to be maintained. Your body knows this too and optimizes energy expenditure by reducing muscle mass. Your body turns muscle into energy in order to preserve fat stores.
This vicious cycle repeats every time you cut calories further to compensate for the slowed metabolism. Your body slows its metabolism down even more and breaks down even more muscle tissue to reduce energy use.
How can you avoid this problem?
There are several ways to approach the problem:
1. Cut calories gradually. If you’re trying to lose fat, don’t reduce your calories abruptly. That sends the body into a panic state and your metabolism becomes slow.
2. Eat a varied diet and vary your calorie intake. Don’t eat the same things in the same amounts every day. Eat a little more on some days and a little less on others. Results depend primarily on the long-term average.
3. Exercise. Since most people don’t have to do physical work in their daily lives, you have to show initiative and make training a need of your body. This helps you burn more calories and gives your body a stimulus to maintain muscle mass (the old, well-known principle “use it or lose it”).
4. Reduce the share of processed foods. The human body can’t use refined food efficiently. You should favor less processed, more natural foods. Whole grains, lean meat, and so on.
Keep in mind that your body is an extremely efficient fat storer, but with the right knowledge you can put your body to work toward your goals. Your body doesn’t have to work against you.
Translated from bodybuilding.com. Author: Nick Nilsson
Translator: Timo Subert
Come and train! ArtGym
