Metabolic afterburn theory - are you a believer?

NYCNika

My recent vacations and birthday eating spree have made me a believer.

The theory is that body enters "fat burning mode" after hard exercise and continues burning calories at higher rate for a while after.

Nothing else can explain my weight patterns, when there is many days when I eat more than I burn.

For example, 2 week vacation. Ate badly, but exercised hard almost every day.

Example day:
Belgian waffles with a latte for breakfast.
Pulled pork sandwich with beer for lunch. Extremely high fat ice-cream cone and another latte for desert.
Than hour and a half of gym (half hour cardio, than some resistance training) .
Cheese and prosciutto with 3 cocktails for dinner. Small piece of chocholate as a snack.

Nothing I could have done at the gym could even come close to burnig this off. Yet I finished my vacation less than a lb heavier, and 4 days later (eating 1,500 cal net for those 4 days) was back to pre-vacation weight.
I also feel the warmth and remnaints of that "flushed" feeling for few hours following hard workouts.

Greenrun99

Not so much as a metabolic afterburn being so high.. it does exist but don't assume its burning 100's of extra calories.. But I think you probably underestimate how much you can eat before you actually gain weight.. especially when you add in exercise... and that lb was probably water weight from sodium increase.. not actual gain.

NYCNika

Not so much as a metabolic afterburn being so high.. it does exist but don't assume its burning 100's of extra calories.. But I think you probably underestimate how much you can eat before you actually gain weight.. especially when you add in exercise... and that lb was probably water weight from sodium increase.. not actual gain.

Sodium increase was 4-5lb, but that was gone 2 days after I started to eat at home. I know restaurant meals have massive amounts of salt, so I don't freak out about gainig 4lb in one day when I know I did not eat 14,000 calories over maintenance. LOL

bcattoes

I also feel the warmth and remnaints of that "flushed" feeling for few hours following hard workouts.

I am a believer in the afterburn theory. One of the main reasons is the sentence above. I can feel it.

rileysowner

Afterburn is not a theory, it is measurable in a exercise lab setting. It is called EPOC which stands for excessive post exercise oxygen consumption. However, it only comes from certain activities, ie long duration cardio has almost none, interval training has much more. Also realize it is not nearly as high as some people make it out to be.

Acg67

My recent vacations and birthday eating spree have made me a believer.

The theory is that body enters "fat burning mode" after hard exercise and continues burning calories at higher rate for a while after.

Nothing else can explain my weight patterns, when there is many days when I eat more than I burn.

For example, 2 week vacation. Ate badly, but exercised hard almost every day.

Example day:
Belgian waffles with a latte for breakfast.
Pulled pork sandwich with beer for lunch. Extremely high fat ice-cream cone and another latte for desert.
Than hour and a half of gym (half hour cardio, than some resistance training) .
Cheese and prosciutto with 3 cocktails for dinner. Small piece of chocholate as a snack.

Nothing I could have done at the gym could even come close to burnig this off. Yet I finished my vacation less than a lb heavier, and 4 days later (eating 1,500 cal net for those 4 days) was back to pre-vacation weight.
I also feel the warmth and remnaints of that "flushed" feeling for few hours following hard workouts.

Doesn't even sound like you ate all that much

neanderthin

Afterburn is not a theory, it is measurable in a exercise lab setting. It is called EPOC which stands for excessive post exercise oxygen consumption. However, it only comes from certain activities, ie long duration cardio has almost none, interval training has much more. Also realize it is not nearly as high as some people make it out to be.

Also the slowdown (less activity than normal) after that kind of exercise can offset the extra burn.

Basically forget the after burn and just reap the benefits of the intensity and the duration of HIIT.

cgrout78

My recent vacations and birthday eating spree have made me a believer.

The theory is that body enters "fat burning mode" after hard exercise and continues burning calories at higher rate for a while after.

Nothing else can explain my weight patterns, when there is many days when I eat more than I burn.

For example, 2 week vacation. Ate badly, but exercised hard almost every day.

Example day:
Belgian waffles with a latte for breakfast.
Pulled pork sandwich with beer for lunch. Extremely high fat ice-cream cone and another latte for desert.
Than hour and a half of gym (half hour cardio, than some resistance training) .
Cheese and prosciutto with 3 cocktails for dinner. Small piece of chocholate as a snack.

Nothing I could have done at the gym could even come close to burnig this off. Yet I finished my vacation less than a lb heavier, and 4 days later (eating 1,500 cal net for those 4 days) was back to pre-vacation weight.
I also feel the warmth and remnaints of that "flushed" feeling for few hours following hard workouts.

Doesn't even sound like you ate all that much

Thats kind of what I thought...2k cals maybe...

cwolfman13

Example day:
Belgian waffles with a latte for breakfast.
Pulled pork sandwich with beer for lunch. Extremely high fat ice-cream cone and another latte for desert.
Than hour and a half of gym (half hour cardio, than some resistance training) .
Cheese and prosciutto with 3 cocktails for dinner. Small piece of chocholate as a snack.

That's not really that outlandish and probably far fewer calories than you think it is. Also, people tend to vastly underestimate their body's caloric needs and ability to maintain weight....thus the plethora of people who think they have to eat 800 calories per day or they'll gain. I've found maintenance to be very easy so long as I exercise...and I eat and drink beer like a fish and easily consume 2700 - 3000 calories pretty regularly.

firstsip

Afterburn is not a theory, it is measurable in a exercise lab setting. It is called EPOC which stands for excessive post exercise oxygen consumption. However, it only comes from certain activities, ie long duration cardio has almost none, interval training has much more. Also realize it is not nearly as high as some people make it out to be.

Let's not forget that a scientific theory is just short of a fact: there's repeated evidence confirming observations, and metabolic afterburn has certainly had countless studies done on it showing the same thing (ex: cardio results in some for a few hours, strength training results in more for longer, etc.). I'm not sure if it's even considered a "theory," frankly, for how solidly evidence has signified SOME change in oxygen consumption and metabolic function after different forms of exercise.

NYCNika

My recent vacations and birthday eating spree have made me a believer.

The theory is that body enters "fat burning mode" after hard exercise and continues burning calories at higher rate for a while after.

Nothing else can explain my weight patterns, when there is many days when I eat more than I burn.

For example, 2 week vacation. Ate badly, but exercised hard almost every day.

Example day:
Belgian waffles with a latte for breakfast.
Pulled pork sandwich with beer for lunch. Extremely high fat ice-cream cone and another latte for desert.
Than hour and a half of gym (half hour cardio, than some resistance training) .
Cheese and prosciutto with 3 cocktails for dinner. Small piece of chocholate as a snack.

Nothing I could have done at the gym could even come close to burnig this off. Yet I finished my vacation less than a lb heavier, and 4 days later (eating 1,500 cal net for those 4 days) was back to pre-vacation weight.
I also feel the warmth and remnaints of that "flushed" feeling for few hours following hard workouts.

Doesn't even sound like you ate all that much

Thats kind of what I thought...2k cals maybe...

Hmm. 3 cocktails alone would be around 900 cal. And that wasn't low fat proschiutto. And who knows how much butter are in restaurant waffles.

And this birthday weekend, among other things I ate this (half of plate of each):

and this


and 1.5 slices of that:

(thats cream and crepes layers), one of them green tea one.
Not to mention wine and beer.

Run 10K(that should cancel out one slice only). But no weight gain.

TheSlorax

I am not a believer. There are a few pieces of important information missing in your proposal of this theory - your TDEE, the amount of calories you burned exercising every day, and how many calories you ate exactly.

NYCNika

I am not a believer. There are a few pieces of important information missing in your proposal of this theory - your TDEE, the amount of calories you burned exercising every day, and how many calories you ate exactly.

It is not realistic to know all these things. That is why we don't know everything with great degree of certainty.

There is really no way to know how many calories I ate in those meals that other people prepared. But, a good bet -- it is A LOT.
And I burn less than 100 cal per mile. So max burn from 10K is 600 cal.

rileysowner

Afterburn is not a theory, it is measurable in a exercise lab setting. It is called EPOC which stands for excessive post exercise oxygen consumption. However, it only comes from certain activities, ie long duration cardio has almost none, interval training has much more. Also realize it is not nearly as high as some people make it out to be.

Let's not forget that a scientific theory is just short of a fact: there's repeated evidence confirming observations, and metabolic afterburn has certainly had countless studies done on it showing the same thing (ex: cardio results in some for a few hours, strength training results in more for longer, etc.). I'm not sure if it's even considered a "theory," frankly, for how solidly evidence has signified SOME change in oxygen consumption and metabolic function after different forms of exercise.

The bigger issue is how much it contributes to total calorie burn, and from what I have read it is not huge number on a daily basis, although over a longer period of time the cumulative effect becomes more substantial.

In terms of the OP, it is very unlikely in that short of a time frame that is made any significant difference. It is more likely that activity was higher than thought, and the calories were not as high as was thought since the extra calories for that length of time from EPOC would not be that much.

ItsCasey

Actual weight gain and loss doesn't happen overnight. If you have a "bad" weekend, you're not going to wake up on Monday with a few more pounds of fat on you. Similarly, if you have a weekend with a huge deficit because of a lot of physical activity, you're not going to wake up on Monday with a few pounds less fat on you. If you're losing weight over a period of time, then you are consuming fewer calories than you are burning.

It's likely that your day-to-day lifestyle is more active than you perceive it to be if you think you are eating a ton of food and not gaining any weight. Yes, hard exercise helps, but EPOC is not enough to cancel out an excess of several hundred calories above maintenance. So either you're not eating as much as you think you are, or you're more active in general and have a higher TDEE than you realize.

etoiles_argentees

EPOC is much lower than thought, usually only 3 to 7%. Plus what I've heard lately is that it lowers over time.

bcattoes

Afterburn is not a theory, it is measurable in a exercise lab setting. It is called EPOC which stands for excessive post exercise oxygen consumption. However, it only comes from certain activities, ie long duration cardio has almost none, interval training has much more. Also realize it is not nearly as high as some people make it out to be.

There was a controlled study done in NC that showed an average afterburn of 14 hours after 45 min sessions of cardio (spinning). The participants were all young fit men, so the results may vary with other groups, but all participants showed a significant afterburn from the cardio.

cdahl383

Here's some info from this natural bodybuilder's website on the afterburner effect...

http://scoobysworkshop.com/afterburner-effect-melts-away-fat/

It makes sense in theory to me. You'd think your metabolism would stay elevated slightly for a little while after doing some prolonged moderate to hard cardio training vs just burning the calories during the actual exercise itself. I doubt its a huge number, but every little bit helps.

cdahl383

Does anyone have a link to any of these studies done? I'd be interested to read up on it. Most of the stuff I've read thus far is just summarized stuff on someone else's website but I'd like to see the actual study results just for fun.

NYCNika

For someone who exercises 5 times a week, it would add up to a significant amount over a year.

bcattoes

Does anyone have a link to any of these studies done? I'd be interested to read up on it. Most of the stuff I've read thus far is just summarized stuff on someone else's website but I'd like to see the actual study results just for fun.

Here is an article about the NC study re: cardio afterburn. It says it was published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise in 2011, but I find their site hard to search and could only find a link back to the newpaper article. I first saw it in a medical newletter, which was discarded long ago.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-02-01/health/sc-health-0201-fitness-burn-20120201_1_post-exercise-exercise-scientists-metabolism

cdahl383

Cool thanks! Interesting article. Goes to show that there is some proof to burning more calories after the cardio session is over. Every little bit helps, I'll take it!

Madame_Goldbricker

I do HIIT classes & spinning. Not a clue if they do genuinely cause an afterburn effect or not, but I love pushing my body just that little bit harder than I think I can :drinker:

Mr_Knight

Here is an article about the NC study re: cardio afterburn.

""What matters is exercising at a high, unrelenting intensity for a prolonged period of time..."

Here's an article:

http://www.ncresearchcampus.net/partners-and-research/latest-research/metabolic-afterburn-enhanced-polyphenolic

Here's the paper:

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0072215

At 3:00 pm, subjects ran on treadmills for 2.5-h at approximately 70% VO2max.

With the additional context that the subjects were basically running a marathon every day, it seems pretty clear this isn't "afterburn", this is "repair".

rileysowner

Afterburn is not a theory, it is measurable in a exercise lab setting. It is called EPOC which stands for excessive post exercise oxygen consumption. However, it only comes from certain activities, ie long duration cardio has almost none, interval training has much more. Also realize it is not nearly as high as some people make it out to be.

There was a controlled study done in NC that showed an average afterburn of 14 hours after 45 min sessions of cardio (spinning). The participants were all young fit men, so the results may vary with other groups, but all participants showed a significant afterburn from the cardio.

From what I have seen of spinning, it would not fall into the category of long duration cardio. It is much more like interval training. Long duration cardio is done at a steady pace like jogging, rather than a high intensity pace like spinning, sprinting, or the like.

Azdak

Does anyone have a link to any of these studies done? I'd be interested to read up on it. Most of the stuff I've read thus far is just summarized stuff on someone else's website but I'd like to see the actual study results just for fun.

Here is an article about the NC study re: cardio afterburn. It says it was published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise in 2011, but I find their site hard to search and could only find a link back to the newpaper article. I first saw it in a medical newletter, which was discarded long ago.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-02-01/health/sc-health-0201-fitness-burn-20120201_1_post-exercise-exercise-scientists-metabolism

Saying "metabolic rate is increased for 14 hours" doesn't mean much unless one knows the actual total extra calories burned. I have seen a number of studies that have claim multi-hour afterburns, but the total calories were only 5 per hour--not enough to make much difference.

I have read the study cited in the article. It is an outlier from what I have read. Nieman reported numbers that were more than double what I have seen in the most optimistic research. He has done some other good studies in the past, so it is a study to take notice of, but, again, it is such an outlier that one has to be careful about overgeneralizing the results.

Azdak

Afterburn is not a theory, it is measurable in a exercise lab setting. It is called EPOC which stands for excessive post exercise oxygen consumption. However, it only comes from certain activities, ie long duration cardio has almost none, interval training has much more. Also realize it is not nearly as high as some people make it out to be.

There was a controlled study done in NC that showed an average afterburn of 14 hours after 45 min sessions of cardio (spinning). The participants were all young fit men, so the results may vary with other groups, but all participants showed a significant afterburn from the cardio.

From what I have seen of spinning, it would not fall into the category of long duration cardio. It is much more like interval training. Long duration cardio is done at a steady pace like jogging, rather than a high intensity pace like spinning, sprinting, or the like.

Personally, I think you can get a decent afterburn from tempo cardio--and, unlike HIIT and other forms of interval training, you burn a lot more calories during the workout as well.

A sustained effort of 80% VO2max for 45-55 minutes will generate an EPOC similar to that of a shorter, 100% VO2 max effort. I am not trying to make the argument for a specfic type of workout over another, just pointing out that certain types of continuous cardio can generate a substantial afterburn.

crandos

Here's some info from this natural bodybuilder's website on the afterburner effect...

http://scoobysworkshop.com/afterburner-effect-melts-away-fat/

It makes sense in theory to me. You'd think your metabolism would stay elevated slightly for a little while after doing some prolonged moderate to hard cardio training vs just burning the calories during the actual exercise itself. I doubt its a huge number, but every little bit helps.

lol scooby is natural