The balance between the action of fat burning hormones and fat storing hormones is the determining factor in whether or not a person loses or gains weight and body fat. Although the fat burning hormones outnumber the fat storing hormones, they are weaker in their overall effects. In fact, all of the effects of the fat burning hormones can be completely blocked by high levels of just one fat storing hormone.

It is important to understand how the hormones that control body fat work and the factors that influence the balance and effects of these hormones. Understanding the function of these hormones will enable you to detect the errors you may be making in your weight loss efforts and to make the necessary changes to maximize your fat burning.

For the purposes of this article, I’m going to concentrate on maximizing the effects of the fat burning hormones. The primary ones are adrenaline, thyroid hormone, growth hormone, glucagon, testosterone, and insulin-like growth factor. While a detailed explanation of how each of these hormones works is beyond the scope of this article, there are some basic factors that will promote the fat burning effects of these hormones.

To stimulate the release of the fat burning hormones and to maximize the action of them, there are three major factors to consider. These are diet, exercise, and sleep.

With regards specifically to your fat burning hormones, the diet aspects may not be what you are expecting. When it comes to the hormones that stimulate fat buring, the most important thing is promoting the health of the liver. The liver processes and activates many hormones, including the ones that promote fat burning. An overworked liver becomes less effective in processing hormones and the effects of the fat burning hormones may decline as a result. Of course, drinking too much alcohol or consuming too many medications will hurt the liver, but many people are unaware of the damaging effects to the liver of a diet that is too high in fat and/or animal protein.

A good illustration of this is the Atkins diet. Many people do lose quite a bit of weight at first with the Atkins diet, but most eventually reach a point where the weight loss stops. The high fat and animal protein consumed on this diet is very hard on the liver over the long-term. Although the low carbohydrate aspect of Atkins is good and necessary for weight loss, the excessive fat and animal protein is not good for the liver, particularly because the diet lacks the healthy nutrients and fiber from vegetables and fruits that support the liver. Eventually, the liver cannot tolerate the damaging effects of the diet and it cannot keep up with its normal processing and activation of the fat burning hormones.

There are other diet considerations when it comes to minimizing the effects of the fat storing hormones, but for maximizing the effects of fat burning hormones, the main dietary concern is to maintain healthy liver function.

Exercise is the next important factor in maximizing the effects of the fat burning hormones. There is much debate over what type of exercise needs to be done to promote weight loss. Research indicates that low intensity, high duration exercise at the “target heart rate” produces the most fat burning, but what many fail to recognize is that there is an important distinction between the fat burned during an exercise session and the overall fat burning effect produced by an exercise session.

While you are actually exercising, low intensity, long duration exercise does burn more fat than high intensity, short duration exercise. Because of the hormones stimulated by high intensity exercise though, the overall fat burning effects of high intensity exercise are considerably greater. High intensity exercise stimulates fat burning hormones and elevates the body’s metabolic rate. This continues for about a day after the workout is completed. With low intensity exercise, when you stop exercising, the fat buring stops too. This means that a single high intensity workout can produce many times the fat burning effects of a lsingle low intensity workout.

One of the reasons that high intensity exercise stimulates metabolism is that it stimulates the release one of the fat burning hormones called growth hormone. The liver converts growth hormone to something called insulin like growth factor, which stimulates fat burning to keep your blood sugar levels steady when you go for long periods without eating. If you are like most people, you probably consistently go the longest time without eating when you sleep. Without adequate sleep, you don’t produce as much insulin-like growth factor, and you won’t burn as much fat.

So, how much sleep do you need? For most people, about 7 hours of sleep per night will provide maximum fat burning hormone effects. By the way, nighttime sleep is much more effective for producing fat burning than daytime sleep. Because of the effects of light on the pituitary gland which produces growth hormone, nighttime sleep results in better production of growth hormone. People who work nights and sleep during daylight hours are advised to make their sleeping area as dark as possible to enhance the effects of growth hormone.

To sum things up, in order to maximize the effects of your fat burning hormones, the best action steps are to eat a healthy diet that supports the function of the liver, to do high intensity exercise, and to get adequate sleep. Failure to do so will decrease the effectiveness of your fat buring hormones and frustrate your efforts to lose weight.