It’s a funny phrase, a burning desire. As a kid, I assumed the phrase must come from some kind of physical burning. I asked adults, but they told me that it was just a ‘metaphor’. Now I’m all grown up, I realise that it’s much more than that, especially when it comes to body fat.
Now, some types of body fat just sit there, making us feel heavy and look puffy. Technically, this subcutaneous fat (a fancy word for under the skin) ‘only’ gives us heart problems, blood pressure problems, and saggy skin problems (the fat holds onto your skin, and the skin is holding on to nothing – so it stretches and droops).
Now another type of fat, visceral fat (another fancy word, which ‘just’ means it’s around your internal organs) doesn’t only sit there.
It makes you burn.
It does this by releasing chemicals normally released in response to an infection. You know the deal here: a little bit is okay, but a lot, is not.
If you have lots of visceral fat, you might be leaking out high levels of these burning chemicals way too often.
And the result? You could have a sore body or joints, you could be depressed, and you could be heading for heart attacks, diabetes, arthritis, or even losing your mind through Alzheimer’s. These burning chemicals cause other chemicals to rise in our body. One of them is called C-Reactive Protein, or CRP for short. It’s a decent marker of how much your body is under attack. Now the really important bit of this post is, what can be done about this? The answer: lots!
One piece of research showed that for every 2 pounds of weight dropped, CRP drops by about 0.13 milligrams per litre of blood.
What do these confusing sounding measurements mean? Well, first look at this. It’s what your doctor might look at after getting your blood tested for CRP:
Less than 1mg per litre of blood = low risk for problems, i.e. why are you here?
Between 1mg – 3mg per litre of blood = moderate risk for problems, i.e. want a pill?
More than 3mg per litre of blood = high risk for problems, i.e. you’re still walking?
It’s easy to see that if you’re in the moderate risk category, and lose those spare 10 pounds, you will massively reduce your internal burning risk.
Research isn’t exactly sure if the benefits come from the reduction of fat cells, or the exercise (Venice says ‘movement’) itself. I wouldn’t wait around for the geeks to agree.
MOVE NOW! GET SKINNY NOW! DON’T DIE NOW!
Seriously, we’re starting to notice so many western diseases caused by inflammation (burning). So, it’s important to become the ultimate fire fighter and send the fire trucks to your belly as soon as possible.
Make fat loss your burning desire, today.
V.A.F
