The 7 Things That Cause Weight Loss Resistance

The Research Showing That Burst Training Helps Boost Fat Burning

But because burst training is short and intense, you’re not chronically elevating cortisol like aerobic exercise does. Like with weight resistance, you’re also raising anabolic hormones like testosterone to counteract those stress hormones. Burst training also raises lactic acid, which increases human growth hormone (HGH) and supports fat burning. You’ve got several hormones working in your favor.

For instance, a study in The International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11673763 showed that HGH helped reduce fat gain, increase fat burning, and stimulate fat breakdown in obese mice.

Studies prove burst training superior to cardio. One in the journal Metabolism, for instance, showed that compared to treadmills and hour-long aerobics classes, burst training helps you burn fat more efficiently and quickly.

And a recent study in the Journal of Obesity elucidated those benefits. According to researchers, burst training:

• Provides significant increases in aerobic and anaerobic fitness
• Brings about significant skeletal muscle adaptations
• Has a dramatic acute and chronic effect on insulin sensitivity
• Offers promising effects on subcutaneous and abdominal fat loss
• Is efficient and doesn’t demand hours for people who want to reduce fat

#3: Not Enough Sleep Leads To Weight Loss Resistance

Sleeping less than seven hours a night or constantly awakening throughout the night can lead to more than just feeling spacey and requiring a caffeine IV to get you through the next morning. You also knock your fat-burning hormones out of whack and set the scene for weight loss resistance.

Too little sleep, for instance, elevates your insulin levels. Insulin is a storage hormone: it stores fat very well. A study in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism found that even healthy people who got too little sleep for even one night increased your risk for insulin resistance.

Other studies show just one terrible night’s sleep increases levels of your stress hormone cortisol and your hunger hormone ghrelin the next day. Translation: you’re more stressed out and hungrier. You can predict how that scenario will play out!

But wait, there’s more. Not getting enough sleep can make you leptin resistant. Leptin tells your brain to stop eating, but when your brain cells become leptin resistant, they stop “hearing” that hormone. You’re more apt to get seconds at the buffet even if you’re not hungry.