You should know that the hormone insulin plays a crucial role in your weight loss progress and fat burning effects. You may already know it, but you may not know how exactly insulin works when it comes to weight loss and fat burning.
Having a better understanding of the insulin and weight loss connection could greatly help speed up the progress in the gym. Not understanding it, on the other hand, could hinder your progress. So, let’s get started.
What is Insulin, and what does it do?
Insulin is a hormone that is secreted by your pancreas and it is a vital hormone for lots of functions in your body. Without it, you just can’t have a normal and healthy life. However, the most famous and relevant function of this hormone is its ability to regulate glucose (blood sugar levels).
Glucose is the product created within the body when carbohydrates such as sugar and starch are broken down and absorbed into your blood. Therefore, when eating such carbs, they are absorbed by your body, increasing blood sugar levels. However, your body needs to regulate those levels because high blood sugar (glucose) levels (especially for too long) can lead to various issues, including damage to your organs, nerves, and blood vessels.
So, to stop blood sugar levels from getting too high when you’re eating high-carb/high-sugar foods, your pancreas starts the production of insulin. Think of it as of taxi for blood glucose, making it go away out of your bloodstream, where it is stored in muscle and fat cells (that the body later uses).
What does it all have to do with weight loss? Insulin and weight loss connection
Insulin sensitivity and fat loss have very close connections. This is a vital hormone, however, it is possible to develop a condition called “insulin resistance”.
This is the condition where your body must produce a higher amount of this hormone to get the job done of carrying away sugar from your bloodstream. There are various factors why a person could develop insulin resistance and many of them have to do with lifestyle choices such as fitness, diet, bad habits (smoking and/or drinking alcohol), and others.
- The problem of having too much of this hormone in your body is that it impedes an important process – lipolysis. This is the process where the body takes fatty acids stored as body fat to use as energy. Higher levels result in less lipolysis.
- Moreover, high insulin levels speed up another process – lipogenesis. This is when your body makes fat to be moved from the bloodstream into fat cells. In short, lipolysis helps you burn fat. Lipogenesis helps you gain fat.
So, while insulin is an extremely important hormone, it is extremely important to keep it in a normal range, otherwise, it could impede your fat-losing process, and speed up your fat-gaining process. If you find it hard to burn fat and it is easy to gain fat, you may need to learn how to lower insulin. Luckily, there are various methods you can use. Check below.
How to Lower Insulin (and speed up weight loss and fat burning)?
Eat fewer carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are raising your blood glucose levels far more than proteins or fats do. This is the reason why eating foodstuffs high in carbs will generate more blood sugar. This means that your body (pancreas) will need to produce more of it to process that high blood sugar. Therefore, it will stop your fatty acids from being drawn from your cells (lose fat) and will start fatty acids being added to cells (fat gain). In order to avoid it, you need to eat less carbs. A low carb diet helps you lower insulin, this is why it is helpful for weight loss. That’s why people who aim to lose weight must consume less carbs.
Keep your portions small
If you want to avoid high insulin levels, you must keep small portions. Massive portions are going to spike your insulin a lot. Having enormous portions on a constant basis will make your body produce more and more to regulate blood sugar levels. This hinders your weight loss goals. It is important to understand that not only carbs are increasing blood sugar levels. Proteins and fat do it too, but not as much. So regardless of what you eat, better to eat smaller but more portions, than larger and fewer portions throughout the day.
Avoid the sugar
Should I even mention the importance of avoiding sugar while attempting to lower insulin? Based on the information above, it is pretty clear why. This hormone is necessary to “transport” the sugars out from the bloodstream. The higher your blood sugar level, the more insulin you need. Avoid sugary drinks and sugary foods. This results in lower levels of blood sugar, requiring less of this hormone to carry it out. As a result, the body continues lipolysis and stops lipogenesis (boosts fat burning and stops fat gaining).
Intermittent fasting
Fasting is a popular dieting method. Lots of people had great success in their weight loss by consuming their meals within a narrow window of time each day. Studies suggest that intermittent fasting could lower insulin levels by up to 57% in less than a month!
Try apple cider vinegar
Ok, this may not be as helpful as the previous recommendations, but why wouldn’t you give it a try? According to research, just two tablespoons of this liquid helps prevent a spike in blood sugar (and therefore insulin) levels post-meal. It helps you delay the emptying of the stomach, which helps you feel fuller for longer. That’s all because research suggests it helps absorb the sugars you consume more gradually. This helps keep lower insulin levels and makes you be fuller, both of which help with your fat burning and weight loss goals.
Drink green tea
Another wonder drink is green tea. Besides being full of antioxidants, it also helps combat insulin resistance. This condition is actually the main problem of making weight loss more difficult. Drinking green tea could help increase sensitivity to insulin, and this means that the body needs to produce less insulin in order to do the job of flushing out blood sugar levels.
Exercise a lot
If you’re searching for ways to burn fat and lose weight, you’re probably already exercising a lot. However, I’m just saying that you should stick to your exercise regimen because you’re doing it right. According to research, people who are constantly exercising do not need to produce as much insulin after mealtimes. Those with a sedentary lifestyle will spike their insulin more. Aerobic exercise is particularly good at lowering insulin.
Eat healthy
You should watch out for what you eat. As said, carbs and high sugary foods and drinks spike your blood sugar levels, leading to high insulin levels. Also, avoid dairy protein as it could increase insulin if you consume them in large amounts. Better consume proteins from chicken, fish, and other healthy foods, with healthy fats. Dairy and beef proteins are delicious but more likely to spike the levels of it. Protein from salmon, for example, is a great source of quality protein as well as omega-3 fatty acids. They help your internal processes and keep the levels on point. Also, add lots of vegetables and fruits.
Insulin and weight loss
I hope that now you have a better idea of how insulin works, and what it does to your body. It’s important to understand that insulin is a vital hormone and it doesn’t make you fat. It helps regulate blood sugar levels. When at high levels, it can impede your weight loss goals, but that’s mostly because you consuming the wrong foods.
- What you can do is keep an eye on your diet and keep on exercising. This helps lower blood sugar levels and insulin, which will lead to fat burning and weight loss.
But sometimes, you may need help when it comes to burning fat and losing weight. HGH.to has you covered. We have various cutting and weight loss products. Our cutting anabolic steroids will not lower your insulin, but they will significantly help achieve your goals by allowing you to burn fat in numerous other ways and preserving muscle mass.
