Burning Fat

Burning Fat Scientific principles of promoting loss and maximizing your workouts By Cory Fagan So you have decided to tackle another Gran Fondo next year. However, this year you want to improve your time and be lean and mean! You have bought the bike and have probably upgraded a few parts to make it as light as possible. However, deep down you know that saving 200g is not really going to help you get up those big hills. Let's be honest here. You know, the next step in reducing the suffering is losing weight. To begin, there are two key methods to losing weight and fat. 1) Reduce the amount of food you eat and 2) exercise regularly. Pretty simple, but even this does not work for a lot of people. If you are one of those people that are diet conscious and exercises regularly, but have become frustrated with a plateau in weight loss, you are not alone. What's the problem? Part of the answer lies within our genetics and how we time the food we eat in relation to exercise. Genetics, well that's a tough one to change. Most of us do not have the metabolism of professional cyclists like Axel Merckx. This means that we have to pay more attention to how much and when we eat compared to the professionals. This leaves the topic of the timing of food intake in relation to your exercise. This is a common question for many individuals who are trying to lose a few extra pounds. The underlying physiology principle is how to minimize the influx of insulin and carbohydrate usage when the goal is to oxidize (burn) your body fat. Time Machine. Let's go back to the early 1900's and you live in France. It's 6:00 am, you get up, get on your bike and ride to the local bakery to pick up a fresh baguette. It's now 6:45 am, you are back home and start to eat breakfast. Time shift again back to 2012, it's 6:00 am, you get up, get dressed, head downstairs and starting eating breakfast. At 6:45 am you are driving downtown and start typing on your computer. Do you see the problem? It's the professional's secret! We need to move prior to eating if you truly want to stay lean or lose those last 5 lbs of fat. Where's the evidence? The fantastic part of being in today's high tech world is that we have equipment and years of research that can explain the above professional secret. We use metabolic diagnostic machines to determine the effects on food on fat and carbohydrate burning. Our bodies are highly sensitive to the chemical composition in all types of food. If you eat a high glycemic based food prior to exercise, your body will burn sugar. If you eat an ultra low glycemic food or no food prior to exercise, your body will more burn fat. Simple. A Metabolic VO2 Test Below is a sample case study of an active female; 43 years who did a metabolic VO2 test in the morning using two different fuel sources over two days A) Oatmeal and B) Water. The test consisted of walking at 3.0 mph and progressing up a 7.0 mph run. Note the change in fat burning between the oatmeal and water.     If you have less than 60 minutes to work out and you want to lose fat effectively, you need to minimize or eliminate the amount of moderate to high glycemic index foods prior to exercise. Why? The human body is lazy. It likes the fast fuels like cereals, fruit and breads prior to exercise. These foods make us feel energized and ready to go. However, this also becomes addictive and before you know it you will always need to have the "sugar push" prior to the morning run or workout. The question comes down to "do you want to burn fat" or do you want to be pumped up for that short morning workout? Here is a table for high and low sugar foods:   As much as the body loves the fast fuels, it is also highly adaptive meaning that the body will burn fat if we give it a chance. Much can be learned about the human body by disrupting our routines of eating or training and then watching the body readjust to a new state or equilibrium (Kabisch, 1992). Those of you are who have been used to "pre-loading" prior to your workouts will see the most benefit. The key is to let your body fuel itself. There are a few ways to do this depending on your commitment and desire to burn fat. Just like the French cyclist, move first and then have your breakfast after Eat prior to your workout, but the food must consist of low glycemic index. Restrict your consumption of carbohydrates prior to aerobic exercise What's the end result? By not pre-loading sugar based foods prior to working out, you allow yourself to burn fat and potentially lose some weight. You do not necessarily have to add more hours of training or workout harder to get your desired result. Simply put, keep the workouts that you are doing and think about what you are eating. Remember the motto "Move the Eat." Cory Fagan BPE, MSc Cory is an exercise physiologist and coach for TCR Sport Lab in Calgary. For further correspondence you can contact him at cory@tcrsportlab.com References: Kabisch, D. Medical management of elite athletes. In J. Karvonen & P.W.R. Lemon (Eds), Medicine in Sports Training and Coaching. Basel: Karger, 1992, pp. 1-21. Yeo, W.K., A.L. Carey, L. Burke, L.L. Spriet, and J.A. Hawley. Fat Adaptation in well trained athletes: effects on cell metabolism. Applied Physiology Nutrition Metabolism. 36: 12-22, 2011. The Glycemic Index. www.glycemicindex.com. Human Nutrition Unit, School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences, University of Sydney.