November 25, 2023 • 18 mins
OUTWEIGH: In Part 2 of this series, Leanne is back to discuss the often-misunderstood topic of body fat and its relationship with fascia. She emphasizes the importance of understanding and appreciating fat, as it plays a crucial role in the body's functions and should not be stigmatized.
She also delves into the science behind fat and fascia, breaking it down very simply, but also highlighting how they are not just passive tissues but play active roles in metabolism, hormonal regulation, and more. She also walks you through how fascia, a connective tissue, can interact with fat, affecting issues such as fat storage and fat loss.
Leanne's goal is to empower you to take care of your body (and this includes your fat and fascia), and to help you unravel the mysteries of body fat and fascia to help you improve your overall well-being and relationship with your body.
HOST: Leanne Ellington // @leanneellington // StresslessEating.com
To learn more about re-wiring your brain to heal from the all-or-nothing diet mentality for good....but WITHOUT restricting yourself, punishing your body, (and definitely WITHOUT ever having to use words like macros, low-carb, or calorie burn) check out Leanne's FREE Stressless Eating Webinar @ www.StresslessEating.com
Resources:
Learn From My Mistakes EPISODE
The Cost Of Skinny EPISODE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I won't let my body. I'll be out wait everything
that I'm made. Won't spend my life trying to change.
I'm learning love who I am again, Sean. I feel free.
I know every part of me. It's beautiful and that will.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Always out way if you feel it.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
But she'll some love to the why get there?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Say go day and did you and die out way?
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Happy Saturday, out weigh. It's leanne here and we are
back for part two of the Truth about Your Fat.
And if you miss part one, go ahead and check
that out because we definitely gave you the context of
what we are talking about here today. But you probably
guess by now that we are talking about fat and
as you'll learn, this really cool thing called fascia. But
(00:58):
the reason we're doing an entire series on this is
because I believe that fat is so misunderstood because we
hate it, we fear it, we name it, we blame it,
we shame it, and some people will do whatever they
can to destroy it and eliminate it. But whoever said
that fat was ugly or something to be ashamed of,
(01:18):
and whoever said it was a bad thing? Right? Whoever
said that fat was anything other than fat? And so
again I'm sharing all of this with you to just
impress upon you that if you have this dysmorphic relationship
with your body fat, as in the subcutaneous fat on
your body, then I absolutely urge you to actually learn
about it and discover what it is and discover what
(01:40):
it's not, and that way you can dispel the lies
and use it as a way to connect with yourself
or get past any residual body shame that you might
still be experiencing. But since it is such a prevalent
enemy in today's world, and yes again I'm definitely putting
enemy in air quotes, we might as well learn about it.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Right.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
In fact, if all we do is hate on fat
and wish it away, we might miss out on its
useful and downright cool characteristics because physiologically, neurologically, psychologically, there's
so many components of fat that there is to be,
you know, discovered, but no one's really talking about that
side of it. And it's this metabolically active substance that's
(02:21):
part of our body. But again, most women don't know
about that side of it either, And when you think
about it, we fear what we don't know, and that's
the perfect place to dive in. So let's get to
know it. Okay. So, thing number one that I want
you to know about fat is that it's just fat. Okay,
it's just fat. Yes, Like your elbow is just an elbow,
(02:41):
your eyebrow is just an eyebrow, and your fat is
just fat. But it's also this super powerful substance that
no one talks about. And just like every other part
of your body, your fat has an actual job to do.
In many cases, its job is to protect you. And
so not only will your stored body fat keep you
alive if your body experiences a food shortage while roaming
(03:04):
the desert or while stranded on a deserted island, if
that ever happens to people in reality, but fat takes
care of us in other various ways too, And so
it cushions and protects your vital organs, and it insulates
your body against heat loss, and it protects nerve tissue.
But ladies, it also helps regulate your menstrual cycles. And
what most women don't know is your fat is very smart. Okay.
(03:29):
So you may regard fat as this stubborn, squishy substance
that you wish would disappear, but In reality, fat is
simply a tissue. Technically, it's an ad a post tissue,
and it's smarter than you think it is. Now, just
roll with me for a minute because I'm gonna get
a bit geeky. But it will all come back full circle,
I promise. So back in eighteen sixty four, a guy
(03:51):
by the name of John Hilton came up with a
theory that is well known today and frequently taught in
anatomy courses. And it's called Hilton's law, that's what they
call it today, and it states that the nerves that
supply any muscles and its joints are also supplying the
skin and surrounding tissues related to that particular joint. So again,
(04:12):
whatever nerves are supplying your muscles and your joints, they're
also supplying tissues. Okay, So here's why this is so cool.
Your muscles and joints are constantly communicating with your nervous system,
but based on Hilton's law, so is your fat. That
means that every time your brain sends a signal to
your elbow to flex that bicep muscle, or that hip
(04:33):
to extend to activate your glutes, it's also sending a
signal to the surrounding tissues and fat. But it doesn't
just stop there. Okay, So back in the day, I
wrote an article for the Huffington Post. It was probably
like ten years ago at this point, because, like I said,
I've been fascionated by this subject for a long time.
But my editor at huff Post loved what I was sharing,
(04:54):
but she wanted me to back up my sources. So
I referenced this study that they did at the Department
of Dermatology at Queen's Medical Center in the UK, and
they dedicated an entire study to the nervous system's connection
to fat. So you can imagine why I love this study.
But that study stated specifically that at a post tissue
so fat, it's not just concerned with energy storage, right,
(05:18):
but it's also a major endocrine and secretary organ as well,
So hello metabolism. Fat is a hormonal and digestive organ.
And this blew my mind. I'm like, wait a minute,
fat isn't just fat, It's actually an endocrine organ, so
of course we're talking hormones here, and then it's a
secretary organ as well, so we're talking digestion. And Queen's
(05:42):
Medical Center literally called fat an organ all by itself.
So why is this good news for you and you're fat? Well,
for one thing, your fat is powerful, right, It's got
brain power, It has neural properties, which means it has
metabolic power and the survival power that we already talked about. Like,
that's a lot of power. But here's some other things
that will be important later on. So fat is also
(06:04):
temperature sensitive as well. So you know how coconut oil,
if you leave it out at room temperature, it's solid, right,
But anything above room temperature and it turns into a liquid.
Right well, your body fat is also directly affected by temperature,
both both hot and cold temperatures. So heating pads and
hot baths and saunas and ice packs, they're a useful
(06:26):
tool for impacting more than just your muscles and your joints.
Your fat can be impacted by temperature too, and the
structure of your fat and fascia, as you'll learn and
we'll talk about it, it's easily manipulated just by changing
the temperature of the substance or the organ as we
can now call it. Right, fat is an organ, right
(06:47):
bottom line, though, your tissues, including fat and fascia are
heat sensitive, and that allows you to be able to
more easily manipulate it, which will come back to in
a moment. Okay, but that actually brings us to my
next point. Your fat and your fascia are pliable, muldible,
transformable things. Okay, So this is actually a really good
(07:07):
time to tell you about fascia and what it is
and what it does, because I keep mentioning it. But
if you're starting to have a new appreciation for subcutaneous fat,
just wait till you learn about fascia. So, fascia is
a connective tissue and it's this NonStop, never ending tissue.
(07:28):
And the way I describe it is it's kind of
like this tissue, paper thin material that is sticky like
duct tape. So it's paper thin, but it's crazy sticky,
and it surrounds everything in your body, from your organs
to your muscles to your joints. It's really everywhere. And
besides blood and oxygen and water, fascia is the most
plentiful system in our bodies. And it's this never ending
(07:51):
connected chain. So there's no way to tell where fashia
starts and where it ends because it's this never ending line,
or it's really a series of lines that run from
the top of your head to the bottoms of your
feet and everywhere in between. So just picture fascia like
literally wrapping around you like a mummy, like top of
your head, bottom of your feet, around, crisscross, up, down, left, right,
(08:12):
like every direction, like seriously, there's no beginning and there's
no end, and it's everywhere, including surrounding your fat. But
here's the other thing about fascia and why your nervous
system is just so dang smart and I'm so fascinated
by it. If your muscles are not doing their job. Okay,
so let's say maybe you have muscle imbalances, or maybe
(08:34):
you have some old injuries, right, and that's creating muscle imbalances, right,
or maybe you're injured right now. If your muscles aren't
doing their job, or maybe the join itself is not
doing its job, your body will laid down fascia to
essentially provide extra structure and support to support your body
so that you don't get injured. Right. So it's really
(08:54):
helpful when you think of it that way, because it's
helping your body do what your joints and muscles aren't
able to do. But there is a flip side to that,
because if you don't correct the movement or correct the
map or the movement pattern, the fascia will stay there
and sometimes it can actually bind fat within it. So
(09:14):
it's a bit of a catch twenty two. But it's
really helpful and can provide structural support, but it can
also bind fat. So that's why I say it's a
catch twenty two. So this is where I'll go back
to what I shared in part one, The truth about
your fat and a lot of my fashion nation started
when I noticed that I had these pockets of fat
surrounding the areas of my body that were affected by
(09:36):
my spine surgery. But they weren't normal like you know,
cheesecake and red wine fat, right. It was this thick,
fibrous kind of fat. And that's because I was feeling
the fascia that was surrounding my fat, okay, And so
fascia had laid itself down to help my glutes and
the muscles surrounding my spine actually do their job because
(09:56):
I had some like nerve damage and it wasn't doing
its job on its own, and so fascia just kind
of came in there and supported me. But my muscles
weren't magically just turning back on because of the neurological
damage from my injury and surgery, and so fascia just
kept laying itself down, kept laying itself down, and it
was encasing fat within that too. So now I was
(10:17):
having like layers and layers of fashion and that's what
I was feeling. So here's what I learned in my research.
So there's something called lipolysis, and lipolysis is essentially the
process that needs to take place for your body to
actually metabolize fat from your body and release it to
be burned, aka fat loss, which is the thing that
you know, the world's kind of obsessed with. So it's like, again,
(10:39):
let's take a look at what fat loss actually is.
It's this process called lipolysis, okay. And in my research,
I learned that in order for lipolysis to happen, it
needed these things called catecholamines, which essentially travel through your
blood to the targeted cell or the adipocytes, and for
lack of a better way of saying it, they kind
(11:00):
kind of open up the fat cell for the stored
triglycerides to be mobilized or released. And that's kind of
what fat loss is in a nutshell, right, and again
I'm totally oversimplifying it, but that's like polysis in a nutshell.
If there's catacholamines present, the fat cell can release the
stoarege triglycerides and the fat can be mobilized. Okay, and
(11:20):
again oversimplifying it. But here's the thing. If you have
fascia that is essentially suffocating your fat and binding to it,
kind of like I shared with mine, right, it kind
of acts like a shield or a blockade, and it
doesn't allow the catchola means to reach the adipocytes. It
actually starts acting as a barrier. So this is where
(11:41):
you can do as much you know, diet and exercise
as possible, But if you have fascia that is binding
your subcutaneous fat, it won't matter. Okay, Blood and oxygen
can never reach the targeted cell and release the fat.
And that's actually what cellulite is. It's fascially bound fat.
By the way, that explanation, the fact that cellulite is
(12:03):
fascially bound fat, that in itself helped me really disarm
my judgment and my shame around my cellulite too, right.
I was like, Oh, it's just fascially bound fat, like
that's what those little pockets or dimples are. Like, Wow,
that's the data, right, versus like, oh my gosh, I'm
a bad person. What's wrong with you? You have cellulate, your ugly,
your growth fill in the blank. And again, for purposes
(12:24):
of this podcast, I'm oversimplifying this language and I'm not
getting super technical, so you know, for any of you
technical geeks out there, like myself, just just know that
I'm simplifying this for the sake of simplicity. But that's
how fascia can interact with fat. And then, of course,
on the flip side, like we said, if you have
a protective layer of fascia surrounding your muscle because the
(12:45):
muscle or joint isn't doing its job, once again, blood
and oxygen can't really access the muscle and allow it
to turn on. So again, fascia is awesome and helpful
and this miraculous system in our bodies, but it can
also be a barrier for muscles and fat for the
two reasons that I mentioned. So now you can probably
(13:06):
imagine how I was, like, how is nobody talking about fascia, right, Like,
not only does it have a lot to do with
fat storage and fat loss, but it also happens to
be a big influencing factor when it comes to muscular
function and nerve function and injury, you know, recovery, prevention,
all the things. So I'm not going to go down
(13:27):
the deep rabbit hole of fascia today on this episode
because it's this massive subject and that's why we're doing
an entire series on this subject. But i will just
say this, Okay, there's a couple of sides to this
concept of your fat and fascia being moldable and pliable, okay,
And so we'll start with the logical one, or the
obvious one that it is a substance. Actually, you know,
fat and fascia are two different substances, but both of
(13:50):
them are mouldable and pliable, and their textures can be
broken up and transformed and can benefit from massage and
touch and using tools to actually break up the knots
and the adhesions. And we're going to talk about that
in the next two episodes. But on the other side
of it, when you think about the areas and this
is the okay, that was my logic and reason side
(14:11):
of it. But this is where I really want to
talk to your heart. When you think about the areas
of your body where you have excess fat, and I
see excess, but like just the places that you your
version of excess. Right, I'm not saying that as a
dig or a judgment. I'm putting myself in your shoes
where you are looking at your fat and thinking like
it's not supposed to be there. So you know, typically
it's a lot of places like love handles, your tummy,
(14:32):
your thighs. I don't know about you, but for me,
when I had all of this shame within me about
my body, those were the places that I ignored. Even
more right, I never touched them. They were never exposed
to sunlight because I was like covering them up with
cardigans and you know, T shirts and all of that,
and they had the least amount of exposure to light
(14:53):
and oxygen. So on top of having a high likelihood
of being like behind fashionally bound fat, I was giving
them less neuro feedback than the rest of my body
because it's the areas of my body that I was
tending to cover up. Right, And so if you're never
seeing daylight. They're never getting touched or massage. It kind
of gets them stuck even further, like even less blood
(15:15):
and oxygen, which we learn you actually need for mypolysis
or fat loss. So again it's another bit of a
catch twenty two. And that's why I talk about like
the psychological side of fat, right, It's really important. And again,
I know this might sound a little bit weird to you,
like it did to me too, because nobody's talking about it.
I mean, I never heard about fat and its relationship
with fascia in the health and fitness world, but it
(15:37):
is as real as real can be. And taking care
of my fat and my fascia and looking at it like, okay,
like I have muscles, I have teeth, I have hair
that I take care of. Why don't I take care
of the most plentiful system of tissue in my body?
And why don't I start taking care of my fat
and fascia? And I literally just started there, and that's
(15:57):
exactly where we're gonna start next week on part three
of this series. So really, that is what I wanted
to impress upon you today, first of all, that you
have fat and fascia, whether you like it or not,
So why don't you learn about it and look at
it and discover how it works rather than just shaming
it or blaming it. Okay, so that's the number one.
But also that you can't self love your way to
(16:20):
something that you don't take care of or flat out
ignore or disregard. And so what if taking care of
your body, and we're going to talk about that that
includes taking care of your fat and your fascia. What
if that was your path to self love and self
esteem and self worth and what if that was your
path to health? And I'm not just saying, you know,
blindly take my word for it. I'm saying, go try
(16:40):
it on, see what serves you. And this is what
my clients and I are doing, and this is how
I live and how my clients live. The third thing
I would just want to impress upon you is simply
to share that fat is so cool and fascia is
so cool, and when you learn about it and what
it has the power to do, like wow, you are
going to be so much more equipped to take care
(17:01):
of yourself and your health. And I mean it physically, mentally, emotionally,
all of it. So that's where I'll just leave it
for right now, and then in next week's episode, we're
going to start talking about how to start taking care
of your fat and your fascia so that you can
get what you really want right which is freedom and
peace of mind and happiness and acceptance. And yes, we're
still talking about your fat right So that's it for today, Outweigh,
(17:25):
and I can't wait to bring you Part three of
this big Fat conversation next week. And if you liked
what you heard today and you want to hear more
about the process I teach my clients of rewiring your
own brain, then head on over to stresslesseading dot com
and sign up to watch the Stressless Eating webinar, where
I walk you through the exact five step game plan
that my clients use to heal themselves from the all
(17:47):
or nothing diet mentality for good, but without restricting themselves
or punishing their bodies, and definitely without ever having to
use words like macros, low carb or calorie burn. And
so I've laid it all out for you in five
easy steps over at stresslesseding dot com. So we will
be back next week for more Outweigh, where we're going
(18:08):
to get into part three of the truth about your fat.
So I'm Leanne Ellington and I will talk to you
then
I won't let my body. I'll be out wait everything
that I'm made. Won't spend my life trying to change.
I'm learning love who I am again, Sean. I feel free.
I know every part of me. It's beautiful and that will.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Always out way if you feel it.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
But she'll some love to the why get there?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Say go day and did you and die out way?
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Happy Saturday, out weigh. It's leanne here and we are
back for part two of the Truth about Your Fat.
And if you miss part one, go ahead and check
that out because we definitely gave you the context of
what we are talking about here today. But you probably
guess by now that we are talking about fat and
as you'll learn, this really cool thing called fascia. But
(00:58):
the reason we're doing an entire series on this is
because I believe that fat is so misunderstood because we
hate it, we fear it, we name it, we blame it,
we shame it, and some people will do whatever they
can to destroy it and eliminate it. But whoever said
that fat was ugly or something to be ashamed of,
(01:18):
and whoever said it was a bad thing? Right? Whoever
said that fat was anything other than fat? And so
again I'm sharing all of this with you to just
impress upon you that if you have this dysmorphic relationship
with your body fat, as in the subcutaneous fat on
your body, then I absolutely urge you to actually learn
about it and discover what it is and discover what
(01:40):
it's not, and that way you can dispel the lies
and use it as a way to connect with yourself
or get past any residual body shame that you might
still be experiencing. But since it is such a prevalent
enemy in today's world, and yes again I'm definitely putting
enemy in air quotes, we might as well learn about it.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Right.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
In fact, if all we do is hate on fat
and wish it away, we might miss out on its
useful and downright cool characteristics because physiologically, neurologically, psychologically, there's
so many components of fat that there is to be,
you know, discovered, but no one's really talking about that
side of it. And it's this metabolically active substance that's
(02:21):
part of our body. But again, most women don't know
about that side of it either, And when you think
about it, we fear what we don't know, and that's
the perfect place to dive in. So let's get to
know it. Okay. So, thing number one that I want
you to know about fat is that it's just fat. Okay,
it's just fat. Yes, Like your elbow is just an elbow,
(02:41):
your eyebrow is just an eyebrow, and your fat is
just fat. But it's also this super powerful substance that
no one talks about. And just like every other part
of your body, your fat has an actual job to do.
In many cases, its job is to protect you. And
so not only will your stored body fat keep you
alive if your body experiences a food shortage while roaming
(03:04):
the desert or while stranded on a deserted island, if
that ever happens to people in reality, but fat takes
care of us in other various ways too, And so
it cushions and protects your vital organs, and it insulates
your body against heat loss, and it protects nerve tissue.
But ladies, it also helps regulate your menstrual cycles. And
what most women don't know is your fat is very smart. Okay.
(03:29):
So you may regard fat as this stubborn, squishy substance
that you wish would disappear, but In reality, fat is
simply a tissue. Technically, it's an ad a post tissue,
and it's smarter than you think it is. Now, just
roll with me for a minute because I'm gonna get
a bit geeky. But it will all come back full circle,
I promise. So back in eighteen sixty four, a guy
(03:51):
by the name of John Hilton came up with a
theory that is well known today and frequently taught in
anatomy courses. And it's called Hilton's law, that's what they
call it today, and it states that the nerves that
supply any muscles and its joints are also supplying the
skin and surrounding tissues related to that particular joint. So again,
(04:12):
whatever nerves are supplying your muscles and your joints, they're
also supplying tissues. Okay, So here's why this is so cool.
Your muscles and joints are constantly communicating with your nervous system,
but based on Hilton's law, so is your fat. That
means that every time your brain sends a signal to
your elbow to flex that bicep muscle, or that hip
(04:33):
to extend to activate your glutes, it's also sending a
signal to the surrounding tissues and fat. But it doesn't
just stop there. Okay, So back in the day, I
wrote an article for the Huffington Post. It was probably
like ten years ago at this point, because, like I said,
I've been fascionated by this subject for a long time.
But my editor at huff Post loved what I was sharing,
(04:54):
but she wanted me to back up my sources. So
I referenced this study that they did at the Department
of Dermatology at Queen's Medical Center in the UK, and
they dedicated an entire study to the nervous system's connection
to fat. So you can imagine why I love this study.
But that study stated specifically that at a post tissue
so fat, it's not just concerned with energy storage, right,
(05:18):
but it's also a major endocrine and secretary organ as well,
So hello metabolism. Fat is a hormonal and digestive organ.
And this blew my mind. I'm like, wait a minute,
fat isn't just fat, It's actually an endocrine organ, so
of course we're talking hormones here, and then it's a
secretary organ as well, so we're talking digestion. And Queen's
(05:42):
Medical Center literally called fat an organ all by itself.
So why is this good news for you and you're fat? Well,
for one thing, your fat is powerful, right, It's got
brain power, It has neural properties, which means it has
metabolic power and the survival power that we already talked about. Like,
that's a lot of power. But here's some other things
that will be important later on. So fat is also
(06:04):
temperature sensitive as well. So you know how coconut oil,
if you leave it out at room temperature, it's solid, right,
But anything above room temperature and it turns into a liquid.
Right well, your body fat is also directly affected by temperature,
both both hot and cold temperatures. So heating pads and
hot baths and saunas and ice packs, they're a useful
(06:26):
tool for impacting more than just your muscles and your joints.
Your fat can be impacted by temperature too, and the
structure of your fat and fascia, as you'll learn and
we'll talk about it, it's easily manipulated just by changing
the temperature of the substance or the organ as we
can now call it. Right, fat is an organ, right
(06:47):
bottom line, though, your tissues, including fat and fascia are
heat sensitive, and that allows you to be able to
more easily manipulate it, which will come back to in
a moment. Okay, but that actually brings us to my
next point. Your fat and your fascia are pliable, muldible,
transformable things. Okay, So this is actually a really good
(07:07):
time to tell you about fascia and what it is
and what it does, because I keep mentioning it. But
if you're starting to have a new appreciation for subcutaneous fat,
just wait till you learn about fascia. So, fascia is
a connective tissue and it's this NonStop, never ending tissue.
(07:28):
And the way I describe it is it's kind of
like this tissue, paper thin material that is sticky like
duct tape. So it's paper thin, but it's crazy sticky,
and it surrounds everything in your body, from your organs
to your muscles to your joints. It's really everywhere. And
besides blood and oxygen and water, fascia is the most
plentiful system in our bodies. And it's this never ending
(07:51):
connected chain. So there's no way to tell where fashia
starts and where it ends because it's this never ending line,
or it's really a series of lines that run from
the top of your head to the bottoms of your
feet and everywhere in between. So just picture fascia like
literally wrapping around you like a mummy, like top of
your head, bottom of your feet, around, crisscross, up, down, left, right,
(08:12):
like every direction, like seriously, there's no beginning and there's
no end, and it's everywhere, including surrounding your fat. But
here's the other thing about fascia and why your nervous
system is just so dang smart and I'm so fascinated
by it. If your muscles are not doing their job. Okay,
so let's say maybe you have muscle imbalances, or maybe
(08:34):
you have some old injuries, right, and that's creating muscle imbalances, right,
or maybe you're injured right now. If your muscles aren't
doing their job, or maybe the join itself is not
doing its job, your body will laid down fascia to
essentially provide extra structure and support to support your body
so that you don't get injured. Right. So it's really
(08:54):
helpful when you think of it that way, because it's
helping your body do what your joints and muscles aren't
able to do. But there is a flip side to that,
because if you don't correct the movement or correct the
map or the movement pattern, the fascia will stay there
and sometimes it can actually bind fat within it. So
(09:14):
it's a bit of a catch twenty two. But it's
really helpful and can provide structural support, but it can
also bind fat. So that's why I say it's a
catch twenty two. So this is where I'll go back
to what I shared in part one, The truth about
your fat and a lot of my fashion nation started
when I noticed that I had these pockets of fat
surrounding the areas of my body that were affected by
(09:36):
my spine surgery. But they weren't normal like you know,
cheesecake and red wine fat, right. It was this thick,
fibrous kind of fat. And that's because I was feeling
the fascia that was surrounding my fat, okay, And so
fascia had laid itself down to help my glutes and
the muscles surrounding my spine actually do their job because
(09:56):
I had some like nerve damage and it wasn't doing
its job on its own, and so fascia just kind
of came in there and supported me. But my muscles
weren't magically just turning back on because of the neurological
damage from my injury and surgery, and so fascia just
kept laying itself down, kept laying itself down, and it
was encasing fat within that too. So now I was
(10:17):
having like layers and layers of fashion and that's what
I was feeling. So here's what I learned in my research.
So there's something called lipolysis, and lipolysis is essentially the
process that needs to take place for your body to
actually metabolize fat from your body and release it to
be burned, aka fat loss, which is the thing that
you know, the world's kind of obsessed with. So it's like, again,
(10:39):
let's take a look at what fat loss actually is.
It's this process called lipolysis, okay. And in my research,
I learned that in order for lipolysis to happen, it
needed these things called catecholamines, which essentially travel through your
blood to the targeted cell or the adipocytes, and for
lack of a better way of saying it, they kind
(11:00):
kind of open up the fat cell for the stored
triglycerides to be mobilized or released. And that's kind of
what fat loss is in a nutshell, right, and again
I'm totally oversimplifying it, but that's like polysis in a nutshell.
If there's catacholamines present, the fat cell can release the
stoarege triglycerides and the fat can be mobilized. Okay, and
(11:20):
again oversimplifying it. But here's the thing. If you have
fascia that is essentially suffocating your fat and binding to it,
kind of like I shared with mine, right, it kind
of acts like a shield or a blockade, and it
doesn't allow the catchola means to reach the adipocytes. It
actually starts acting as a barrier. So this is where
(11:41):
you can do as much you know, diet and exercise
as possible, But if you have fascia that is binding
your subcutaneous fat, it won't matter. Okay, Blood and oxygen
can never reach the targeted cell and release the fat.
And that's actually what cellulite is. It's fascially bound fat.
By the way, that explanation, the fact that cellulite is
(12:03):
fascially bound fat, that in itself helped me really disarm
my judgment and my shame around my cellulite too, right.
I was like, Oh, it's just fascially bound fat, like
that's what those little pockets or dimples are. Like, Wow,
that's the data, right, versus like, oh my gosh, I'm
a bad person. What's wrong with you? You have cellulate, your ugly,
your growth fill in the blank. And again, for purposes
(12:24):
of this podcast, I'm oversimplifying this language and I'm not
getting super technical, so you know, for any of you
technical geeks out there, like myself, just just know that
I'm simplifying this for the sake of simplicity. But that's
how fascia can interact with fat. And then, of course,
on the flip side, like we said, if you have
a protective layer of fascia surrounding your muscle because the
(12:45):
muscle or joint isn't doing its job, once again, blood
and oxygen can't really access the muscle and allow it
to turn on. So again, fascia is awesome and helpful
and this miraculous system in our bodies, but it can
also be a barrier for muscles and fat for the
two reasons that I mentioned. So now you can probably
(13:06):
imagine how I was, like, how is nobody talking about fascia, right, Like,
not only does it have a lot to do with
fat storage and fat loss, but it also happens to
be a big influencing factor when it comes to muscular
function and nerve function and injury, you know, recovery, prevention,
all the things. So I'm not going to go down
(13:27):
the deep rabbit hole of fascia today on this episode
because it's this massive subject and that's why we're doing
an entire series on this subject. But i will just
say this, Okay, there's a couple of sides to this
concept of your fat and fascia being moldable and pliable, okay,
And so we'll start with the logical one, or the
obvious one that it is a substance. Actually, you know,
fat and fascia are two different substances, but both of
(13:50):
them are mouldable and pliable, and their textures can be
broken up and transformed and can benefit from massage and
touch and using tools to actually break up the knots
and the adhesions. And we're going to talk about that
in the next two episodes. But on the other side
of it, when you think about the areas and this
is the okay, that was my logic and reason side
(14:11):
of it. But this is where I really want to
talk to your heart. When you think about the areas
of your body where you have excess fat, and I
see excess, but like just the places that you your
version of excess. Right, I'm not saying that as a
dig or a judgment. I'm putting myself in your shoes
where you are looking at your fat and thinking like
it's not supposed to be there. So you know, typically
it's a lot of places like love handles, your tummy,
(14:32):
your thighs. I don't know about you, but for me,
when I had all of this shame within me about
my body, those were the places that I ignored. Even
more right, I never touched them. They were never exposed
to sunlight because I was like covering them up with
cardigans and you know, T shirts and all of that,
and they had the least amount of exposure to light
(14:53):
and oxygen. So on top of having a high likelihood
of being like behind fashionally bound fat, I was giving
them less neuro feedback than the rest of my body
because it's the areas of my body that I was
tending to cover up. Right, And so if you're never
seeing daylight. They're never getting touched or massage. It kind
of gets them stuck even further, like even less blood
(15:15):
and oxygen, which we learn you actually need for mypolysis
or fat loss. So again it's another bit of a
catch twenty two. And that's why I talk about like
the psychological side of fat, right, It's really important. And again,
I know this might sound a little bit weird to you,
like it did to me too, because nobody's talking about it.
I mean, I never heard about fat and its relationship
with fascia in the health and fitness world, but it
(15:37):
is as real as real can be. And taking care
of my fat and my fascia and looking at it like, okay,
like I have muscles, I have teeth, I have hair
that I take care of. Why don't I take care
of the most plentiful system of tissue in my body?
And why don't I start taking care of my fat
and fascia? And I literally just started there, and that's
(15:57):
exactly where we're gonna start next week on part three
of this series. So really, that is what I wanted
to impress upon you today, first of all, that you
have fat and fascia, whether you like it or not,
So why don't you learn about it and look at
it and discover how it works rather than just shaming
it or blaming it. Okay, so that's the number one.
But also that you can't self love your way to
(16:20):
something that you don't take care of or flat out
ignore or disregard. And so what if taking care of
your body, and we're going to talk about that that
includes taking care of your fat and your fascia. What
if that was your path to self love and self
esteem and self worth and what if that was your
path to health? And I'm not just saying, you know,
blindly take my word for it. I'm saying, go try
(16:40):
it on, see what serves you. And this is what
my clients and I are doing, and this is how
I live and how my clients live. The third thing
I would just want to impress upon you is simply
to share that fat is so cool and fascia is
so cool, and when you learn about it and what
it has the power to do, like wow, you are
going to be so much more equipped to take care
(17:01):
of yourself and your health. And I mean it physically, mentally, emotionally,
all of it. So that's where I'll just leave it
for right now, and then in next week's episode, we're
going to start talking about how to start taking care
of your fat and your fascia so that you can
get what you really want right which is freedom and
peace of mind and happiness and acceptance. And yes, we're
still talking about your fat right So that's it for today, Outweigh,
(17:25):
and I can't wait to bring you Part three of
this big Fat conversation next week. And if you liked
what you heard today and you want to hear more
about the process I teach my clients of rewiring your
own brain, then head on over to stresslesseading dot com
and sign up to watch the Stressless Eating webinar, where
I walk you through the exact five step game plan
that my clients use to heal themselves from the all
(17:47):
or nothing diet mentality for good, but without restricting themselves
or punishing their bodies, and definitely without ever having to
use words like macros, low carb or calorie burn. And
so I've laid it all out for you in five
easy steps over at stresslesseding dot com. So we will
be back next week for more Outweigh, where we're going
(18:08):
to get into part three of the truth about your fat.
So I'm Leanne Ellington and I will talk to you
then
Feeling Things with Amy & Kat News
Host
Amy Brown
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