All serious entrepreneurs should seriously consider losing excess body fat to take their businesses to the next level.
Excess body fat is holding you back — physically, spiritually, and mentally.
And as entrepreneurs, you need all three cylinders firing at full capacity.
Poor physical health will limit your output and time you can devote for work.
Poor spiritual health can kill your mindset, motivation, and purpose.
Poor mental health or a lack of mental clarity can blunt your execution and leave you flailing, floundering among your competitors.
There are multiple reasons why you should consider losing fat.
But for the purpose of this article, we will discuss three crucial points that will hamper your success.
Why Entrepreneurs Should Consider Losing Fat
Apart from optimizing your health, losing fat will boast many positive benefits as entrepreneurs when it comes to leveling up your business.
Not only will your abilities to produce higher quality work increase, but the pre-conditions which are required to perform highly will also be fully optimized.
Fat loss is one of the best things you can do to improve all areas of your life.
But entrepreneurs have EVEN MORE to gain from fat loss than the average joe.
Here’s why.
1. Boost Testosterone Levels
Excess bodyfat is intrinsically estrogenic — and can cause issues in BOTH men and women through an overproduction of estrogen. Fat cells contain high levels of aromatase that convert testosterone to estrogen. Abdominal fat is particularly fiendish for simultaneously lowering testosterone and increasing estrogen.
Excess bodyfat is also pro-inflammatory, inflammation has been linked with lower testosterone levels.
Metabolic issues such as insulin resistance have also been linked with low testosterone levels. Holding abdominal fat can skyrocket your chances of being insulin resistant — and lead to a slew of health issues aside from low testosterone.
A reduction in ultra-processed food consumption can also help boost testosterone levels. The advent of ultra-processed foods and highly pro-inflammatory seed oils are apportioned much blame for our current health crises, including exploding obesity rates.
As put by Everlywell:
“In short, there is evidence that estrogen can lower testosterone production by triggering signals to your hypothalamus and pituitary glands that tell your brain you don’t need anymore testosterone.
And with drastically reduced testosterone levels, the motivation to hit the gym – and regularly get a good workout in – can diminish. Thus, in the words of one group of researchers, a “vicious circle” comes into play: obesity reduces testosterone through the conversion of testosterone to estrogen – and by estrogen’s signaling effects on your brain – and subsequently, the lack of motivation and energy to exercise further fuels obesity. This cycle can then repeat itself, over and over again – seriously jeopardizing your health and metabolic balance.”
Not only can excess bodyfat significantly reduce your testosterone levels, but it can also lower your motivation to do something about it.
We have written in length about the benefits of having higher testosterone levels. From increased motivation to improved mental health and lower bodyfat percentage, higher testosterone levels will raise your quality of life.
Aim to get down to 10-15% bodyfat for optimal testosterone production. If you wish to increase your testosterone levels further, there are certain routes such as supplementation and other medical interventions.
Need help losing some fat? Try out our Fat Loss Guide here.
Check out our article on why higher testosterone levels will benefit entrepreneurs over the competition.
2. Improve Mental Clarity and Health
Entrepreneurs need good mental clarity to remain sharp, focused, and creative.
Excess body fat may result in increased fogginess as it lowers energy and testosterone levels.
Yeah, you can buy nootropics and stimulants to help you work harder.
But if you have low testosterone, you might be waging an uphill battle.
One of the hallmarks of low testosterone levels is fogginess — a lack of mental clarity.
By boosting your testosterone levels, you will have that extra bit of clarity to help you navigate difficult issues or to find angles to one-up your competitors.
I used to be obese.
Obesity is the number one thing that will lower your testosterone levels.
When I was obese, apart from being patently demotivated and foggy, my mental health was a shambles.
I suffered from anxiety and possible bouts of depression.
Until the weight was shifted — and my testosterone levels correspondingly rose — my mental health wasn’t where it could’ve been.
As a result, I wasted several years of my life where productivity could have been attributed.
One of the main — and many — reasons for poor mental health in the western world is due to low testosterone levels in men.
There’s nothing harder than finding motivation to do difficult, challenging things when your mental health is in the toilet.
Higher testosterone levels will help immunize you from poor mental health problems that are, in the most part, very avoidable in many sufferers.
Here are 5 reasons why entrepreneurs should lift weights.
3. Improve Energy Levels
Below is an article we published on how excess body fat makes you lower energy on a cellular level.
If you’re a serious entrepreneur, you should consider losing fat to help your productivity levels.
According to a new study, obesity reduces energy levels by effecting negative changes to the body on a cellular level, forcing them to work less efficiently.
Obesity Reduces Energy Levels: Study
A study of twins has shown that obesity causes the cellular machinery responsible for generating energy to function less efficiently. The changes were particularly pronounced in the cellular machinery of fat tissue itself, whereas muscle tissue was left relatively unchanged.
The changes took place to the mitochondria, organelles that are found in almost every kind of cell in the human body, including bone as well as fat and muscle. One of the mitochondria’s primary functions is to generate energy for the cells to function, and so if this function is reduced, it has important implications for the body’s ability to manage energy – and therefore weight.
A mitochondrion
A total of 49 pairs of identical twins of differing body weights participated in the study, which was conducted at the University of Helsinki. Each twin’s body composition and metabolism were studied, including the collection of biopsies from adipose and muscle tissue. Multiple techniques for analysing gene expression were used to provide evidence of metabolic efficiency.
The study clearly showed that the poor performance of the mitochondria in the adipose tissue of the overweight subjects is linked to a pro-inflammatory state. Being in a pro-inflammatory state, often referred to as chronic inflammation, is a serious risk factor for various chronic diseases. The overweight subjects also suffered increased far accumulation in the liver, prediabetic disorders including insulin resistance and blood lipid problems.
“If mitochondria, the cellular powerplants, are compared to the engine of a car, you could say that the power output decreases as weight increases. A low-powered mitochondrial engine may also generate toxic exhaust fumes, which can cause a proinflammatory state in adipose tissue and, consequently, the onset of diseases associated with obesity,” said Professor Kirsi Pietiläinen from the Obesity Research Unit, University of Helsinki.
Twins were used because of their shared genetics, which makes it easier to investigate the effects of nature vs nurture. “Identical twins have the same genes, and their weight is usually fairly similar. In fact, studying twins is the best way to investigate the interplay between genes and lifestyle. In spite of their identical genome, the genes and even mitochondria of twins can function on different activity levels. We utilised this characteristic in our study when looking into the effects of weight on tissue function,” Pietiläinen added.
In other words, obesity reduces energy levels.
The study adds to the growing understanding that obesity is a snowball-effect phenomenon, gathering a momentum of its own. In our series of articles on testosterone, for instance, we have been discussing the hormonal changes associated with being fat; in particular, the estrogenic effects of fat tissue, which make the body produce yet more fat. See also this study.
Perhaps one of the key takeaways of this growing understanding is that it’s much better not to get fat in the first place. Please keep scrolling if you wish to download a free guide to lose fat and optimize your bodily functions.
Entrepreneurs who wish to increase their energy should read this article.
4. Limited Social Opportunities
This final point is much more controversial. Despite living in an age of fat acceptance and body positivity, your peer’s opinions of you will still be lower than what they could be — especially if you hold a lot of body fat.
You might be excluded from social gatherings, business opportunities, or limit your potential for growth based on your appearance.
You may be a hard working with good intentions, but people’s biases will remain the same.
Sadly, you won’t gain as much respect if you’re clearly overweight.
And your self-confidence levels will reflect this.
Trust me, I was obese, I noticed how certain people treated me then versus today.
Although I don’t have any peer-reviewed studies to back this point, my own personal experience and the experience of other guys who have struggled with their weight have been unanimous.
Being overweight or obese also makes it harder to look your best, dress sharply, and groom well.
First impressions are everything.
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