The yellow jacket is the subcutaneous fatty layer that surrounds your body just under your skin. Plastic surgeons refer to the yellow jacket when they are discussing your options for liposuction. Before you get upset, everyone has a yellow jacket. This subcutaneous fat layer is a repository for stored energy in your body. Essentially, it’s a battery for your internal organs and your muscles.
Your internal organs don’t utilize a large part of this stored energy as compared to your muscles. Your muscles use up to a thousand times more energy especially when you engage in intense activity. The greater your muscle mass, the more energy you will require for fuel to burn during a workout. Also, after a workout, your muscles will continue to be metabolically active and they are going to continue to burn fat.
Look at most of our high intensity athletes. They are constantly active and their muscle mass is great and they can generally eat what they want. The thing about the yellow jacket is that we can shrink the size of the stored energy by increasing the amount of energy required by your body. If you are looking to shrink the size of your yellow jacket, you do this by combining resistance training with cardiovascular or aerobic workouts and reducing the amount of fat in your food.
While this is a process that takes time, the increase in muscle tone and strength will continue to burn excess fat and shrink your yellow jacket. Your body will work harder even at rest and continue to burn off the excess energy. The increased energy output will let you decrease your stored fat in your yellow jacket. So, here’s a thought – while our yellow jacket is necessary and vital – wouldn’t you rather it looked like a rain slicker instead of a snow jacket?
How are you taking care of your yellow jacket today?
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