!! Everyone should read this !!
drrif
Posts: 28
http://www.alsearsmd.com/lose-visceral-fat-you-cant-pinch/
Dear Health Conscious Reader,
There is a kind of fat that you don’t see. It’s toxic and it’s deadly.
Visceral fat is internal fat. It wraps around organs like your heart, liver, and kidneys. It fills up all the space in your abdominal cavity, so there’s no room left for your organs, nerves, and vessels to function properly.
It’s far more dangerous to your health than subcutaneous fat, which lies right beneath your skin. Subcutaneous fat is what you poke at and pinch. Like the “spare tire” you get around your middle.
Visceral fat is a storehouse for toxins that pump directly into your body. When you have too much visceral fat, you can almost guarantee you’ll develop heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Too much of it produces excess secretion of a substance called adipokine. This causes body-wide inflammation that leads to these diseases.1
You don’t have to be overweight to have it. Over 30 million normal-weight Americans have high levels of visceral fat. You can be perfectly thin on the outside and fat on the inside.
You see, your body gets to choose the type of fuel it burns during exercise. And any time you exercise at a medium pace for a long time, your body chooses fat as its fuel.
While that may sound like a good thing, it’s really the worst thing you can do. You don’t want to use fat during exercise, because it’s telling your body that you need fat for fuel. Your body hears, “Make more fat!” and it delivers. So, once you’re done exercising, your body continues to make fat and tuck it around your organs. Now you have even more fat to use as an energy source the next time you jump on the treadmill.
A much better way to get rid of deadly visceral fat is short-burst exercise. I use this principle in all of my exercise programs for my patients at my clinic.
Here’s the point you need to know …
Real fat burning doesn’t take place during exercise. It takes place after you exercise, as you recover. We call this “the afterburn,” and it’s one of the keys to PACE.
Short-burst exercise is simply short periods of exertion followed by rest. You start at the intensity and speed that’s right for you and gradually increase it until you’re breathing heavily. Then you stop and recover.
Short-burst exercise tells your body that you don’t have to make more fat and squirrel it away for the next time. You’re not going to exercise long enough to use it for fuel, so why make more fat?
Instead, when you keep your sessions brief, you use carbs for fuel during exercise and then use fat long afterward. Ten to 12 minutes is all you need to rev up your metabolism. Then, during times of rest, your metabolism burns up your visceral fat.
Visceral fat disappears very quickly when you exercise this way. When you follow this plan instead of doing hours of cardio, you burn up to 9 times the fat for every calorie burned.2
You can choose any form of exercise you like. It can be calisthenics or as simple as walking. The key is to start where you’re comfortable and build from there. Here’s a routine you can try at home:
Begin walking for a few minutes at a comfortable pace to warm up.
Increase the pace and lengthen your strides. Let your body adapt.
Now step up the pace until you’re breathing heavy. Keep up the pace for 2-3 minutes.
Now recover. Keep track of how long it takes your heart rate to return to normal.
Once your heart rate drops down, do another set. Do this between 2 and 5 times, depending on how you feel.
Combine your short-burst exercise program with a high-protein, low-glycemic diet. You’ll get the best results this way.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD
Fontana L., et al. “Visceral fat adipokine secretion is associated with systemic inflammation in obese humans.” Diabetes. 2007 Apr;56(4):1010-3.
Tremblay, A. Simoneau, JA., Bouchard, C., “Impact of exercise intensity on body fatness and skeletal muscle metabolism.” Metabolism. 1994;43(7):814-818.
Dear Health Conscious Reader,
There is a kind of fat that you don’t see. It’s toxic and it’s deadly.
Visceral fat is internal fat. It wraps around organs like your heart, liver, and kidneys. It fills up all the space in your abdominal cavity, so there’s no room left for your organs, nerves, and vessels to function properly.
It’s far more dangerous to your health than subcutaneous fat, which lies right beneath your skin. Subcutaneous fat is what you poke at and pinch. Like the “spare tire” you get around your middle.
Visceral fat is a storehouse for toxins that pump directly into your body. When you have too much visceral fat, you can almost guarantee you’ll develop heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Too much of it produces excess secretion of a substance called adipokine. This causes body-wide inflammation that leads to these diseases.1
You don’t have to be overweight to have it. Over 30 million normal-weight Americans have high levels of visceral fat. You can be perfectly thin on the outside and fat on the inside.
You see, your body gets to choose the type of fuel it burns during exercise. And any time you exercise at a medium pace for a long time, your body chooses fat as its fuel.
While that may sound like a good thing, it’s really the worst thing you can do. You don’t want to use fat during exercise, because it’s telling your body that you need fat for fuel. Your body hears, “Make more fat!” and it delivers. So, once you’re done exercising, your body continues to make fat and tuck it around your organs. Now you have even more fat to use as an energy source the next time you jump on the treadmill.
A much better way to get rid of deadly visceral fat is short-burst exercise. I use this principle in all of my exercise programs for my patients at my clinic.
Here’s the point you need to know …
Real fat burning doesn’t take place during exercise. It takes place after you exercise, as you recover. We call this “the afterburn,” and it’s one of the keys to PACE.
Short-burst exercise is simply short periods of exertion followed by rest. You start at the intensity and speed that’s right for you and gradually increase it until you’re breathing heavily. Then you stop and recover.
Short-burst exercise tells your body that you don’t have to make more fat and squirrel it away for the next time. You’re not going to exercise long enough to use it for fuel, so why make more fat?
Instead, when you keep your sessions brief, you use carbs for fuel during exercise and then use fat long afterward. Ten to 12 minutes is all you need to rev up your metabolism. Then, during times of rest, your metabolism burns up your visceral fat.
Visceral fat disappears very quickly when you exercise this way. When you follow this plan instead of doing hours of cardio, you burn up to 9 times the fat for every calorie burned.2
You can choose any form of exercise you like. It can be calisthenics or as simple as walking. The key is to start where you’re comfortable and build from there. Here’s a routine you can try at home:
Begin walking for a few minutes at a comfortable pace to warm up.
Increase the pace and lengthen your strides. Let your body adapt.
Now step up the pace until you’re breathing heavy. Keep up the pace for 2-3 minutes.
Now recover. Keep track of how long it takes your heart rate to return to normal.
Once your heart rate drops down, do another set. Do this between 2 and 5 times, depending on how you feel.
Combine your short-burst exercise program with a high-protein, low-glycemic diet. You’ll get the best results this way.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD
Fontana L., et al. “Visceral fat adipokine secretion is associated with systemic inflammation in obese humans.” Diabetes. 2007 Apr;56(4):1010-3.
Tremblay, A. Simoneau, JA., Bouchard, C., “Impact of exercise intensity on body fatness and skeletal muscle metabolism.” Metabolism. 1994;43(7):814-818.
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Replies
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Nicely done. Tnanks for the references.0
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What a fantastic very informative post. . Thank you. ..
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I have been running 25mins at med-high speed, switching to intermittent walking/high-speed running from today!!!0
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9 times more fat burn, thats amazing!0
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This sounds like awesome advice. Is basically good advice for everyone youth and adult?0
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I just read the full paper reference. What is interesting is that the intermittent program is less strenous, but delivers 9 times more fat burn...no brainer...0
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Here is an excerpt from the full reference, I have replaced some of the technical words:
In conclusion, these results show that vigorous exercise favors negative energy and lipid balance to a greater extent than exercise of low to moderate intensity.
The decrease in fat induced by the intermittent program was ninefold greater than by the low-med program.0 -
Thanks this was some really good info0
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Can you give us anymore examples of such exercises? Would the c25K program be a good example?
If, I don't hear back from you, then thanks for the information that you did provide. It'll be very beneficial.0 -
Can you give us anymore examples of such exercises? Would the c25K program be a good example?
If, I don't hear back from you, then thanks for the information that you did provide. It'll be very beneficial.
Pls read here, AL Sears recommends a few exercises:
www.alsearsmd.com/lose-visceral-fat-you-cant-pinch/0 -
This is the same thing as interval training 0
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Children do this. It's called "outdoor play". Well, they used to anyway.
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I don't mean to sound overly picky. This article sounds great! But does anybody else find it a bit vague? I know we're not all physicians and don't know and don't really need to know all the technical terms, but the article didn't really go into detail or cite anything. I don't really read a lot of online articles, so I don't know if citing your work is the norm, but not doing it always puts up red flags for me. Even people who have their Phd. in other professions cite their work.
Has anybody tried this over a long period of time? What were your results?0 -
This is the same thing as interval training
That's what I was wondering. I've been hearing alot about interval training being the way to go.0 -
I don't mean to sound overly picky. This article sounds great! But does anybody else find it a bit vague? I know we're not all physicians and don't know and don't really need to know all the technical terms, but the article didn't really go into detail or cite anything. I don't really read a lot of online articles, so I don't know if citing your work is the norm, but not doing it always puts up red flags for me. Even people who have their Phd. in other professions cite their work.
Has anybody tried this over a long period of time? What were your results?
Well actually this has been published scientifically, if you really want to you can read the full scientific paper here:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/00260495949025930 -
Also pls note, that the article is written by Al Sears...NOT ME.
http://www.alsearsmd.com/lose-visceral-fat-you-cant-pinch/0 -
I don't mean to sound overly picky. This article sounds great! But does anybody else find it a bit vague? I know we're not all physicians and don't know and don't really need to know all the technical terms, but the article didn't really go into detail or cite anything. I don't really read a lot of online articles, so I don't know if citing your work is the norm, but not doing it always puts up red flags for me. Even people who have their Phd. in other professions cite their work.
Has anybody tried this over a long period of time? What were your results?
When physicians (or other scientists) write for a lay audience, they don't usually cite their work or other studies and this article/blog was clearly intended for a lay audience. Sometimes they will steer the reader to some key research, particularly if there are 1-2 newsworthy studies that they are commenting on (edit - and he does cite 2 primary studies), but I think oftentimes the thinking is that the primary research would be overwhleming to the average reader (and keep in mind the average health literacy level in the US is about a 5th grade level), and the savvy reader can go to PubMed or other reputable source and search out the relevant research themselves, or find more in depth reviews or books. In contrast, when they write for their peers, the work is heavily referenced. It just all depends on the intended audience.
BTW, I have a science PhD and write for a living, for both physician and lay audiences, so I know a little about these nuances :-) It's good to be skeptical though - use that skepticism to dig into the topic more! Knowledge is power!0 -
BTW, thanks for posting this article - it's great and consistent with everything I've heard or read recently - interval training is really in vogue right now - I didn't realize the connection to burning visceral fat, though - good to know!0
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bump0
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thanks for the info!0
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Isn't visceral fat part of essential fat? I could swear that it's main purpose is to protect your organs of impact, hence "wrapping around them."
Also, if burning fat while exercising tells the body to store more fat, how does high intensity exercise burn fat without telling the body to store more?
I'm not saying this article is wrong, I just think it was poorly written.0 -
Isn't visceral fat part of essential fat? I could swear that it's main purpose is to protect your organs of impact, hence "wrapping around them."
Essential fat is a part of visceral fat, and yes, your body does need a certain amount of essential fat around your organs (or viscera). The problem is excessive visceral fat - the difference is like wearing a necklace versus a noose. And as the author says, many people don't know they have excessive visceral fat because it's 'invisible' - you can be thin and still have it.0 -
Bump for later 0
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What I found interesting in the article is not necessarily the point about visceral fat, but that you burn 9X more fat by doing intermittent type exercise rather than low-burn cardio...0
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Very interesting....my question is can a workout routine such as cardio/calisthenics with small breaks(20 seconds) between each move combined with weight lifting be another example of what you're talking about? I have recently changed my routine to this form of 'circuit training' ...just wondering....0
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I think as long as you can get the effect of slow and then active exercise then it doesnt matter how u do it..0
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So by using this principle, wouldn't endurance athletes & ultra marathoners be loaded with visceral fat?0
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I don't mean to sound overly picky. This article sounds great! But does anybody else find it a bit vague? I know we're not all physicians and don't know and don't really need to know all the technical terms, but the article didn't really go into detail or cite anything. I don't really read a lot of online articles, so I don't know if citing your work is the norm, but not doing it always puts up red flags for me. Even people who have their Phd. in other professions cite their work.
Has anybody tried this over a long period of time? What were your results?
Well actually this has been published scientifically, if you really want to you can read the full scientific paper here:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0026049594902593
Thank you! I just wanted to be sure.I don't mean to sound overly picky. This article sounds great! But does anybody else find it a bit vague? I know we're not all physicians and don't know and don't really need to know all the technical terms, but the article didn't really go into detail or cite anything. I don't really read a lot of online articles, so I don't know if citing your work is the norm, but not doing it always puts up red flags for me. Even people who have their Phd. in other professions cite their work.
Has anybody tried this over a long period of time? What were your results?
When physicians (or other scientists) write for a lay audience, they don't usually cite their work or other studies and this article/blog was clearly intended for a lay audience. Sometimes they will steer the reader to some key research, particularly if there are 1-2 newsworthy studies that they are commenting on (edit - and he does cite 2 primary studies), but I think oftentimes the thinking is that the primary research would be overwhleming to the average reader (and keep in mind the average health literacy level in the US is about a 5th grade level), and the savvy reader can go to PubMed or other reputable source and search out the relevant research themselves, or find more in depth reviews or books. In contrast, when they write for their peers, the work is heavily referenced. It just all depends on the intended audience.
BTW, I have a science PhD and write for a living, for both physician and lay audiences, so I know a little about these nuances :-) It's good to be skeptical though - use that skepticism to dig into the topic more! Knowledge is power!
Thanks for the encouragement. I'm working on a scholastic degree and I get it beat in to my head to always check people's sources. Not to mention I'm naturally a skeptic! lol. Thanks again.0 -
bump0
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So by using this principle, wouldn't endurance athletes & ultra marathoners be loaded with visceral fat?
Probably not as they are already conditioned and in good health..they had to condition to get themselves to that phase..
This article is appealing to me because I can do 1-2 hours of high intensity tae bo (burning anywhere from 800-1500 cals), eat extremely healthy, and after a year and a half, I only lost about 10 pounds..and the weight came off when I was forced to "STOP" working out for a month or two. How odd. I am going to try what he's talking about.0
This discussion has been closed.
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