It’s a well-known fact that losing weight only gets more difficult with age. And if it seems like your body is conspiring against you in your fight against fat, that’s because it probably is. On the surface, weight loss might seem like a simple case of eating less and exercising more. But the truth is that there are a number of hidden factors that could be sabotaging your efforts to stay lean, no matter what your habits are.
The hormone leptin, for example, originates in your fat cells, with blood serum levels increasing in direct proportion to the amount of adipose (fat) tissue in your body. As your fat cells become enlarged with obesity, they produce more leptin, which is responsible for curbing your food intake, increasing thermogenesis (calorie-burning heat production) and boosting your metabolic rate.
It also has strong insulin-mimicking actions, with studies revealing that it’s able to increase glucose uptake, normalize blood sugar levels and regulate appetite by way of the hypothalamus.
Given the evidence, increasing your leptin levels might sound like one possible solution in your struggle to lose weight. Research shows, however, that it isn’t that simple: In most overweight people, leptin levels actually tend to be too high – indicating that over time, you can become leptin-resistant, as your body becomes less and less able to "respond" to this critical hormone’s signals.
Ultimately, an effective weight loss strategy wouldn’t require you to boost leptin levels at all. On the contrary, you’ll want to balance them by increasing your body’s leptin sensitivity – and one way to do that is with a combination of modified cellulose and cetylated fatty acids (also known as LeptinX).
In an 8-week clinical trial of 22 women on identical diet and exercise plans, daily supplementation with these natural compounds resulted in significantly greater decreases in both body weight and body fat percentage when compared with placebo – not to mention dramatic reductions in both leptin and insulin levels. Meanwhile, levels of adiponectin – a hormone that plays a key role in fighting inflammation, increasing insulin sensitivity and fat burning – increased as well.
Of course, leptin levels aren’t your only worry in the weight loss game. Emerging research shows that the location of the fat you’re fighting counts too – and you need to be especially wary of deadly visceral fat. Unlike subcutaneous fat, which sits just below your skin’s surface, visceral fat collects deep within your abdomen, where it encases your internal organs and releases a number of inflammatory chemicals. Unfortunately, your body fat redistributes into larger visceral deposits as you age. The result? Both a wider waistline and greater risk of the metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Luckily, however, you can tip the scales back in your favor with the help of a natural flavonoid called glabridin. A recent clinical trial in overweight subjects showed that supplementation with glabridin lowers both body weight and BMI in a dose-dependent manner, with high doses (900 mg daily) delivering the most dramatic results – including significantly lowering visceral fat, LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol levels after just eight weeks.
You’ll find glabridin as the powerful sole ingredient of the belly-fat-fighting formula Glabrinex, available now through Vitamin Research Products.
By combining Glabrinex with LeptinX, you can balance leptin levels while fighting visceral fat, thus taking control of two of the factors that could be sabotaging your weight loss efforts.
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