Every one of the cells in your body has a cell wall made up of very specific "fatty acids" that help to receive the hormones for moving your excess fat out of storage and thus helping you lose weight faster and easier.  But where do these "good fats" come from and how can you make them work in your weight loss program?

When it comes to losing weight, most people struggle on their journey because they don't believe that it is any more complicated than eating less or moving (exercising) more.  And so, some try to increase their activity level alone in the hopes of losing their excess pounds, while others try to take the easier road without exercising and cut calories in the hopes of getting the same result.

We have found from working with thousands of clients over the last 20 years that doing either of these by themselves is helpful, but rarely produces the type of desired result most people are looking for.  Let's face it... losing excess fat you've gained, and learning how to keep it off,  is a much more complicated process than meets the eye.

Making The Hormone Connection For Effective, Long-Lasting Weight Loss

Certain hormones in your body are responsible for whether you store the food you eat as fat or whether you are able to summon it from storage on a regular basis and keep the momentum of weight (fat) loss moving once it is initiated.  One in particular is called insulin and it is a chief regulator of where calories you eat go - into your muscle or into your fat.

While we could spend the remainder of this article telling you all about the circumstances under which this happens, it is actually more important to tell you that regardless of where the hormone insulin puts your calories, it has to make a "chemical connection" with the cells in your body at the level of the cell wall or membrane. 

In short, in order for the calories you eat to be used by your muscles and not stored as fat, insulin has to be able to be "received" by the cells of your body, and the difference of whether it can or can't comes down to whether you have enough of the "good fats", specifically Omega-3 fatty acids, in your body.

Having an adequate amount of Omega-3 fatty acids in your body is essential if you want to maximize your body's potential to lose excess body fat.  When in high enough concentration in your body, either from eating a specific diet and/or supplementing with them, they allow the appropriate hormone response of insulin to occur to that your body uses the food you eat and doesn't store it.

How Much & Where To Get It

If your diet is made up of more natural foodstuffs with little in the way of refined sugars, you're going to be already eating a good amount of Omega-3 fatty acids.  But if your diet favors a good or "over-abundant" amount of refined foods (foods that have been processed over and over and eventually end up in a bag or box in your pantry), chances you you have more of the "not-so-good" Omega-6 fatty acids in your body.

If you're attempting to lose body fat, all indicators point to consuming an appropriate amount of Omega-3 fatty acids, either through diet, supplementation, or both.  Do this on a consistent basis and you will create the fat mobilization needed to see timely weight loss and obvious changes in the shape of your body.

The best natural dietary sources of Omega-3 fatty acids are "aquatic meats" like fish, green leafy vegetables, and in "grass-fed only" red meats.  Beyond that, the next best source is from daily supplementation of Omega-3 fatty acids in capsule form.

At Genesis Personal Fitness, we recommend the Metagenics brand of Omega-3 fatty acids called Metagenics EPA-DHA Extra Strength.  In fact, it is one of the primary supplements we recommend to participants in our Weight Loss Boot Camp Programs so that they can improve the balance of fat-mobilization hormones in their body and achieve faster, more predictable weight loss.

Omega-3 fatty acids reign supreme as one of the supplements you'll want in your weight loss strategy.