How about this for a change. An article created completely from one person's own personal knowledge, mixed with years worth of research, trial, and error. Unless you were looking for a redundant pre-spun article, I think you might enjoy.
The where.
You are a woman, congratulations. As a bonus prize for being fortified with estrogen your body 2 options of where to store your fat. Typically your hormones will tell the excess lipids to gather in your buttocks, hip and THIGH regions. The one advantage you have is that estrogen generally does not attract fat to the waist, creating what some refer to as a 'pear shape'. (All this changes at menopause, when estrogen levels decline, but that's another blog.)
If your fat gathers around the trunk and belly but you have skinny-ish arms and legs then your body likely has excess cortisol. You have likely already heard of cortisol. It's the hormone released in response to stress, whether physical, nutritional, or emotional. Even going to bed late can be detrimental to your cortisol level. We cannot free ourself from all stresses but there are a few cortisol increases you can avoid. Stimulants like coffee, tea, and SUGAR will increase cortisol levels. Coffee and tea at least have some beneficial health effects, but refined simple sugars should be avoided.
Or if your body is an equal opportunity employer and you just retain fat all over you may have an insulin imbalance. You can exert control over insulin easier than the other 2 hormones. This is why type 2 diabetes can be considered a curable disease. Since insulin's job is to take sugar out of the blood stream, the most effective way to reduce your insulin need is to stop eating foods that convert into sugar QUICKLY. Check your nutrition labels for the carbohydrate section. Not all carbs are created equal. So look beyond the total carbs and see how many grams are from SUGAR. If it's nearly all of them this is a very poor source of nutrition. Exercise and muscle mass greatly improve insulin sensitivity.
The How to Get Rid of It!
Now that we have properly deduced the enemy of your weight loss attempts, you know how to fight a new battle. You must target the hormones to experience success. I will bullet point a few of the steps that improve metabolism.
Feeding Frequency: Smaller meals more often
Workout Duration: Shorter more intense workouts
Sleep Hygiene: Most of your daily GH is released in the first couple hours of sleep at night (75%). Keep your insulin levels low (which means no big meals or sugar 2-3 hours before bed) and get to bed by 10pm to get the maximum response
This post is admittedly over-simplified for the sake of fitting it onto one page. However working towards improving our hormone function will lead to greater weight loss as well as overall better health than going on low calorie, low fat diets which may indeed stress hormonal systems further.
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