What is an AMPK Metabolic Activator?

Belly fat is a bummer—and not just because it can make you feel self-conscious at the beach. Fat can also accelerate aging in your body—a process most of us are actively trying to avoid.

What's especially frustrating is that this extra fat around your waist can be incredibly difficult to fight, even if you've been hitting the gym and eating healthy.

An AMPK metabolic activator may be able to help you get your beach body back and smooth your path to healthy aging. AMPK activators include both lifestyle factors and bioactive compounds, such as G. pentaphyllum (jiaogulan) extract, which activates AMPK, an enzyme that helps your cells burn fat for cellular energy, and helps promote abdominal fat reduction.

So what are these AMPK activators? And how does activating AMPK affect your weight management goals?

What is AMPK?

AMPK is an activated protein kinase, an enzyme found inside every cell in your body that acts as a cellular "energy sensor," responding to changes in cell energy status.

AMPK is involved in supporting healthy glucose levels, fatty acid oxidation, and the generation of cellular mitochondria. It gets activated in the body during exercise and calorie restriction, and it encourages cells to stop storing fat and start burning it for energy.

But as we get older, our internal processes may start to slow down—and the same is true for our cellular AMPK activity. This can contribute to an unwelcome accumulation around your middle.

Fortunately, studies have shown that activating AMPK can help fight body fat, including stubborn, stored abdominal fat—especially when you combine it with a healthy diet and regular exercise.

What is an AMPK metabolic activator?

A metabolic activator is anything that helps boost your AMPK activity—which helps cells stop storing fat and start using it to create the ATP that your body uses for cellular energy. The best ways to activate your AMPK include:

• Physical exercise.

  Exercise naturally boosts AMPK levels in your body.

• Calorie restriction.

  Overfeeding—especially with processed carbs or high-fat diets—reduces AMPK phosphorylation and activity in skeletal muscle. On the other hand, caloric restriction and fasting increase AMPK activation.

• Taking an AMPK-activating supplement.

  A weight management supplement can support healthy AMPK activity with targeted compounds that help activate this enzyme.

How does AMPK activity affect weight and fat-burning?

Healthy weight management and AMPK activation go hand in hand. Beneficial lifestyle practices like that daily workout not only burn calories, but also help activate AMPK, which promotes a fat-burning cycle that lasts beyond your time at the gym or on the court.

Just remember, a supplement like an AMPK activator that promotes abdominal fat reduction is not a miracle supplement: Exercise and healthy eating patterns are important components of a healthy weight routine. So think of an AMPK metabolic activator as a companion to your overall weight management strategy, not the be-all and end-all in the battle of the bulge.

How AMPK activation fits into a weight management strategy

Make no mistake about it: Maintaining a healthy lifestyle and healthy AMPK activity is the best way to fight unwanted body fat, including belly fat.

• Work out most days of the week.

  Want lean abs? Then don't skimp on workouts. It is important to exercise for at least 150 minutes per week to elevate your heart rate and help burn fat naturally. But don't think you have to do hot yoga or high-intensity interval training to get a good workout. Taking a walk, jogging, or even playing tennis are all great ways to break a sweat, have fun and burn some calories in the process. Exercises targeting your waistline will also help lean out your middle.

• Fuel yourself with healthy foods.

  Choose a diet rich in lean, healthy meats, healthy fats, and fresh fruits and vegetables. Caloric restriction supports AMPK activation, but make sure you are consuming enough protein, carbs and fats for your age, height, weight and gender to fuel your body with the energy it needs for your daily activities.

• Try an AMPK metabolic activator.

  Once you have the foundation of diet and exercise down pat, promote your body's fat-burning process with an AMPK-activating nutrient. G. pentaphyllum extract has been clinically studied to target abdominal fat, one of the worst types of fat in your body, and support exercise performance and AMPK levels.

References

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