Burning body fat is a process that requires the body to hydrate stored fat to move it out! This is why burning body fat is about size reduction and NOT about weight reduction.
When the body wants to use your fat stores for energy, it gets you to drink…and drink…and drink. This is the under reported field of fat cycling where the body uses water to recycle and burn the dehydrated body fat that it tucked away when there was too much. Imagine your body fat as Gatorade powder crystals. Add 236 ml of water to each tablespoon and you’ve got an energy drink that actually weighs something! But you’ve added the water so the net loss is only the weight of the ‘fat’ powder you started with.
Here’s the thing. The body can store unlimited amounts of fat energy like Gatorade powder. And the body would prefer to make its own Gatorade from dry mix IF we gave it the chance. But when we deprive the body of nutrients, we force it to use the drinkable sources first, leaving the fat ‘powder’ barely touched. The body carries around about 1L of drinkable fuel and stores its emergency stash as muscle. If it stored any more, your body would be too heavy to move. Using up those energy sources gives you a temporary ‘water loss’ on the scale with little change to the fat stores.
So, you can see why the body drives you to drink when it wants to burn fat. The unprecedented thirst, as well as the reduction in appetite and bowel movements, followed by numerous trips to the loo to flush out the water, are symptoms of the fat cycle.
So, tune in! Use the Balance Factor app with its new Fat Cycle Icons to keep you in the know…because unless you are watching and recognizing these signs as positive outcomes, those silent efforts by your body to give up body fat are going to be missed. (Until you try on your favourite jeans and say…”Hey! These aren’t as tight!”)
