Maybe it's about evolution....

More evidence is emerging that it's not just 'us'....it could be your hypothalamus....
 

So, here we are; going to the gym, working out, running in a park or pounding the road and still, that stubborn fat just won't disappear.  We're in calorie deficit, we've sorted our diets, we've made ourselves change our drinking habits , we've downloaded apps and still, that stubborn fat won't disappear!  Well, don't worry, more evidence is arriving that its not so much as what we're doing as our evolutionary path.
 

Thinking back generations

Let me just pass this by you.  2000 years ago was only 25 generations of your family. That's right, 25!  I knew of 4 generations of my family and I'm not that old.

So, what did we do 25 generations ago.  Well, generally, if we weren't part of the leadership of our respective cultures, we were probably subsistence farmers or hunters - and just like other land based mammals, we gorged in the summer and autumn to see us through those cold winter days and nights. If you were from outside Northern Europe, you would have to contend with monsoons, dry seasons and animals hunting you.  

So we know we evolved over 2 million years and that is helping to conspire against even our best efforts to lose the fat!
 

The science behind this statement 

Evolutionary Anthropologist, Professor Herman Pontzer from Duke University, Carolina is releasing a book in March 2021 named; 'Burn: The Misunderstood Science of Metabolism'.

In this book he highlights how he hung out with the Hadza tribe, hunter gatherers in northern Tanzania. Here, he & his team studied their urine to identify how much energy they used; being a Hadza is quite gruelling, they walk 8.5 miles per day searching for prey.

The Findings

So, walking and hunting everyday will make your body burn more daily calories, right?

Wrong, I'm afraid!  Professor Pontzer & his team found that, when taking into account their weight, their energy expenditure is almost the same as ours.

Now, to us non-anthropologists, that makes very little sense.  But its all down to how we use those calories, with 60% used in our basal metabolic rate - that's the amount we need (base rate) to actually 'run' our bodies.  We have over 37 trillion cells and they are all consuming energy in the form of calories, all day, every day. All those cells, in our muscles, organs, tissue and of course our brains needs to be fed - and on top of that we have hormones to produce, heat to generate and an immune system to run.

Its all about the Hypothalamus!

Bear with me on this one - you won't need a biology degree & questions won't be asked at the end!

The hypothalamus regulates our metabolism.  If we burn more calories than we consume, this little fellah will reduce the amount of energy expended on other functions such as adrenaline & cortisol (stress), the immune systems inflammation response & sex hormones slow.

So, we've burnt loads of calories, we've got rid of a lot of fat & we can't shift those last fat 'reserves'. Its all down to keeping some back; your body doesn't like or naturally want the change.  Cut the calories & Pontzer argues, the metabolism will just adjust to keep you on what it thinks is the right course.

That is  true of course, until we cavitate, melt or freeze those fat cells away - those 2 millions years of evolution didn't bank on that happening!

Whatever you do, don't stop training - as humans, we are designed to run/walk/lift & this will give you a happier & healthier (& hopefully) longer life.

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