Truthfully there’s probably a myriad of possible reasons as to why that last bit of fat is’t coming off…and it may not always be about just exercising and diet.

I’ve mentioned in the past that higher levels of cortisol (stress hormone) in your body that can cause your body to hang on fat.  All kinds of stress…personal stress, stressful relationships, unhappy workplace…can affect your body in a negative way.  And stubborn fat is just one of many negative effects.

Keeping all things in mind, there is a physiological difference between regular fat and stubborn fat.  Yep…that’s right!  It’s actually a very complicated (and somewhat controversial) subject, but I thought I’d give it a whirl.  So here’s a quick and dirty version on what makes stubborn fat, stubborn and what you can do about it to finally burn the bugger off!

Your fat cells have all kinds of different receptors for different purposes.  Each receptor can be seen as a lock and the keys are various hormones and neurotransmitters.  When a key fits into a lock, a specific reaction occurs.  In this case, we’re just interested in reactions that cause fat burning.

So, there are 2 kinds of receptors that you only need to be concerned with, the alpha-2 receptor and the beta-2 receptor.

The alpha-2 receptors can be seen as the bad receptors that hinders fat burning and the beta-2 receptors are the good receptors that help accelerate fat burning.  Our fat cells have both receptors and the ratio of the two receptors determines the rate at which fat is burned.

The more alpha-2 receptors there are compared to the beta-2 receptors the harder it is to burn fat and vice versa, the greater the number of beta-2 receptors versus alpha-2 receptors the easier it is to burn fat.

As you may have already guessed, stubborn fat regions have much higher alpha-2 receptors compared to beta-2 receptors.  And this is especially the case for women.  Women tend to have much more alpha-2 receptors in their stubborn fat regions then men in their perspective stubborn fat regions.

But to be fair…it’s quite normal for women to have higher fat in those areas.  In fact, having higher fat content in those “stubborn” lower regions (butt, hips and thighs) is actually an indicator of good health.  Unfortunately the same can’t be said about the men…common stubborn fat areas like the lower belly and lower back do not represent good health.  Sorry guys.

So now that we know what stubborn fat is, how to do we burn it off?

The key to burning stubborn fat is to inhibit alpha-2 receptors, while activating beta-2 receptors.  But here’s the dilemma, both alpha-2 and beta-2 receptors accept the same key. In this case the “key” is the hormone catecholamines.  Catecholamines are epinephrine and norephinephrine, which are your fight or flight hormones.  They’re produced in response to any kind of stress.  But for our purposes, we’re only interested in stress that we can induce which is exercise.

Although technically all exercises produce catecholamines, the most effective are short high intensity exercises.  The more intense the exercise the greater the amount of catecholamines.

So the next question is, how do we inhibit the alpha-2 receptors while still keeping the beta-2 receptors active?  The answer…low insulin.  Not surprising since insulin seems to play a key role in everything involving fat gain or loss.  It’s important to keep in mind that this is a pivotal and very sensitive process.  Even a slight increase in insulin can negate the entire process and stop you from being able to burn off any stubborn fat.

You can achieve optimal low insulin levels (in terms of burning stubborn fat) by adhering to a low carb diet or by intermittent fasting.  If you’re on a low carb diet, it would require that your daily carb intake be less then 20% of your total daily calories for a minimum of 4 days, before your start effectively burning off stubborn fat. Intermittent fasting has the same effect and according to some experts somewhere between 12 - 18 hours is best for burning stubborn fat.  Also, intermittent fasting naturally produces catecholamines as well.

Another important factor that involves burning stubborn fat is blood flow.  Typically, blood flow to stubborn fat regions are very poor, and without adequate blood flow you can’t get the necessary hormones (catecholamines) into the area to mobilize the fat.  So you have to increase blood flow to these stubborn areas. Exercise will help, but by far the most effective way is the same process that inhibits alpha-2 receptors, which is to keep your insulin level low.  Low carb diet or intermittent fasting are your 2 best bets.

Lastly, the part that many people over look, is what to do after you’ve been able to mobilize your stubborn fat. You go through all the trouble to finally mobilize your stubborn fat, but if the fat stays in your bloodstream, it just gets restored back into the same area.  All that work for nothing!  Exercise will keep your blood moving and hence move your mobilized fat out of your bloodstream so it can’t be restored back into your stubborn fat area. At this point, you don’t need to exercise hard, just enough to keep your blood flowing.  Just staying on the treadmill for an extra 20 - 30 minutes after the “hard workout” is over can really help.

So let’s reiterate:

• To inhibit your alpha-2 receptors, you need to keep you insulin level low.  The best way to achieve that is by keeping a low carb diet or intermittent fasting.

• Catecholamines are what binds to the receptors on your fat cells.  To stimulate your catecholamines you need to perform high intensity exercise.  Intermittent fasting will help produce catecholamines as well.

• Stubborn fat has typically poor blood flow, which prevents necessary hormones from reaching the receptors on the fat cells.  Keeping your insulin level low, which helps inhibit alpha-2 receptors, also helps increase blood flow into these difficult to reach areas.

• To avoid restoring your mobilized fat back into your stubborn fat regions, you need to exercise at a low to moderate levels, to keep the blood flowing so you can move the fat out of the bloodstream.

So there you have it.  A short and very brief summary on what stubborn fat is and how you can most effectively burn it off.  Keep in mind, as I stated earlier, that there are many other possible factors that may contribute to your stubborn fat.  It’s important to take a look at all factors, including lifestyle (too much late night partying), stress (personal, work), sleep (not enough rest) and environment (exposure to toxins and pollutants) as well.