Posted on June 10, 2014 by Jenny Cromack

The way I approach fat loss and explain it to my clients is simply, “imagine there are 100 things we could be doing correctly that will help you lose fat, how many can we currently tick” the more the client can tick off with me during discussions the quicker the results will be. Is your body in the best condition to burn fat?  Are your doing these really small and simple things, such as:

• Are you consuming enough omega-3 through the day?
• Is your vitamin B daily requirement being hit?
• Are you ingestion your protein goal in the 1 hour window post training?
• Are you consuming the correct combinations of food to improve micronutrient transfer, i.e are you actually utilizing what you put in your body?
• how are you cooking your food?
• What quality is your food, is it grass fed, organic, frozen etc?
• are you eating for your somatotype?

Now I have a huge list of these that I’m always thinking about when I’m helping someone drop body fat quickly, I will honestly say that individual points make probably less than 0.25% of a difference in the results we get. However once you start adding up the points you start increasing that percentage dramatically, there isn’t 100 point list by the way there are thousands of variables. Once you start ticking of lots of them the results come quickly!

I believe that this approach is the reason Motive8 North achieves such amazing fat loss results with their personal training clients.

One particular point that I would put in my top 10 of critical points that help smash fat quickly and in a healthy manor is improving the neurotransmitters.

What are Neurotransmitters?

Basically these are the brains messengers, these regulate your physical and emotional experience. They can influence mood, pain, all the way down to your focus in the gym. In essence they are responsible for our attitude, energy and behaviour.

 

There are over 50 of these neurotransmitters, three of the most common include:

1. Dopamine
2. Serotonin
3. GABA (gamma-Aminobutyric acid)

Drugs can alter these key neurotransmitters altering individuals physical and mental function, in the exact same way foods and certain supplements can alter neurotransmitter function, just not to quite the same degree.

Dopamine

• Responsible for focus, interest and motivation. Low levels are categorized with low energy and  poor concentration.
• Drops in dopamine levels are commonly observed in the sleep deprived, or individuals suffering from poor sleep quality, additionally stress and caffeine have been shown to alter dopamine levels.
• Dopamine is produced from the amino acid tyrosine, foods rich in this key amino acid include, most meats, avocados, almonds amongst others.
• A key time to elevate Dopamine is first thing in the morning as were trying to switch on our brains, especially important if you train early in the morning, shift your breakfast to high protein breakfast particularly solid forms of meat.
• If you find your attention span dips of during work,training sessions etc this could be the missing link

Serotonin

• This is your happy or feel good neurotransmitter, low levels of serotonin are often observed in the depressed, individuals with slight anger issues and even insomnia.
• Low serotonin can increase appetite and cause an almost sense of anxiety, the amino acid tryptophan commonly found in milk and turkey, if in sufficient quantity can turn into serotonin providing their is the correct amount of B vitamins in the body. This can dramatically help the falling asleep process and even decrease appetite.
• The key times for increasing serotonin would be in the evening, foods high in tryptophan are therefore advantageous in your evening meal

gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA)

• GABA is the business when it comes to managing stress and anxiety, have you ever been anxious and had no idea why? odds are your probably low in GABA!
• GABA regulates the energizing transmitters dopamine and serotonin.
• Taurine has been shown to assist GABA production helping to relax the nervous system, this in turn helps reduce cortisol output and all the other stress hormones.
• Taurine is commonly found in fish and meat and can be sysnthesised from methionine and cysteine.
• Vegetarians and taurine deficiency are well documented, supplementing with this amino acid may be beneficial if you are anxious or feeling chronically stressed.

In conclusion little things make all the difference in your training, diet and lifestyle, this simplistic approach often pushed by many companies of just eat x amount of calories leads to slow, poor results in terms of body composition and health. Train smart!