How to burn fat efficiently

MyNewLeaf

Hi, I'm new here, so I don't know if this has been posted before...

I read on an alternative health site about a fat-burning formula, supposedly the most efficient way to burn body fat.

It goes like this:

Wake in the morning.
Ingest only 1 cup of water and nothing else.
Exercise right away.
Ingest protein within 30 minutes of exercise. Ideally, the protein is absorbed quickly, and they recommend whey powder for that. I am too prissy for whey powder, so I just eat some other protein, plus veggies, and hope for the best.
Here's the important part: don't ingest anything sweet for two hours after exercising. That includes sugar, fruit, and carbohydrates. Is this a low-carb diet in disguise? No sir-ree, but I suppose it's a low-carb breakfast.

WHY do this? Turns out, if you eat carbs, fruit or sugars before the 2 hour mark, your effort from exercising will be eaten up by those foods. So instead of your body burning fat, you'll just be burning through your breakfast instead.

Now, for the rest of the day, beyond the 2 hour point, eat as you wish. Eat normally. All that matters in terms of burning the most fat is to not have anything in there that can be burnt for fuel besides your own bodyfat.

I hope this helps someone. Heck, I hope it helps ME. I'm great in theory. It's in practice where I get into trouble. Ergo, my 41.6 BMI. But hey, I'm workin' on that!

sarah44254

if only I could exercise in the morning I already go to bed early enough to be a senior citizen. I don't want to go to bed at 7 just so I can wake up and exercise =/ dang

vettle

me too - there is no way in hell I can exercise in the morning. tried it a few times, just doesn't work! good post though.

FitNurseToBe

I have heard this before. I t sounds great in theory. I'm going to give it a try. I need some kind of motivation to exercise.

shesblossoming

I'm trying to exercise as much as I can in the morning, so this really helps. Thanks.

ninerbuff

Hi, I'm new here, so I don't know if this has been posted before...

I read on an alternative health site about a fat-burning formula, supposedly the most efficient way to burn body fat.

It goes like this:

Wake in the morning.
Ingest only 1 cup of water and nothing else.
Exercise right away.
Ingest protein within 30 minutes of exercise. Ideally, the protein is absorbed quickly, and they recommend whey powder for that. I am too prissy for whey powder, so I just eat some other protein, plus veggies, and hope for the best.
Here's the important part: don't ingest anything sweet for two hours after exercising. That includes sugar, fruit, and carbohydrates. Is this a low-carb diet in disguise? No sir-ree, but I suppose it's a low-carb breakfast.

WHY do this? Turns out, if you eat carbs, fruit or sugars before the 2 hour mark, your effort from exercising will be eaten up by those foods. So instead of your body burning fat, you'll just be burning through your breakfast instead.

Now, for the rest of the day, beyond the 2 hour point, eat as you wish. Eat normally. All that matters in terms of burning the most fat is to not have anything in there that can be burnt for fuel besides your own bodyfat.

I hope this helps someone. Heck, I hope it helps ME. I'm great in theory. It's in practice where I get into trouble. Ergo, my 41.6 BMI. But hey, I'm workin' on that!

Myth. If you workout too intense you'll end up catabolizing lean muscle tissue. Also whether you eat protein or carbs or sugar, it's going to be broken down for energy to fuel the body if it needs it.
You body can't tell what you eat. It just goes through the chemical processes necessary to do what it needs to to provide nutrients and energy to the body.

Articeluvsmemphis

interesting. maybe this theory works at night too because it seems i burned way more fat exercising then hitting the sack. lol but good post, I'll try this as well. geeh I have no life, I can exercise whenever almost, haha.

ninerbuff

You want to burn fat more efficiently? LIFT HEAVY (as you can) and HARD (intensity) on all your exercises. The metabolic boost raises your resting metabolic rate. You burn more calories resting (including sleep) than all the exercising in a day. The fuel used at rest is FAT. Raise that resting rate and you burn fat more efficiently. Nuff said.

MyNewLeaf

Niner,

The thing with that high intensity stuff is how injury-prone it makes the average person who doesn't understand proper form. That blonde 'little' diet guru guy who successfully turned lots of fatties into meatheads about 10 years ago (including women - they all started looking like professional bodybuilders under his tutelage), was also responsible for a great many injuries when people were pushing themselves beyond their capabilities under the auspices of exercising for the best gains.

But now there is that primal exercise idea of giving it your all (regardless if it's treadmill, lifting, or whatever exercise you choose) for short bursts like our tribal ancestors did and then take breaks in between. Sounds interesting to me, so long as one is very careful to not create injury. I also like that this idea makes the workout only 21 minutes since I'm not a fan of exercise!

As for your debunk, well, I don't believe it without reliable corroboration. It also seems illogical given how sugar metabolizes so easily into bodyfat in the first place, but whatever works for you, that's great! Clearly whatever you're doing is working for ya.

To everyone who can't exercise in the morning... gah, I'm so with you. I need an exercise partner because if I'm not pushed to do it, I'll just sleep longer instead. The above formula is what I'm hoping to do, should I get my butt in gear enough to exercise.

sweettoothfairy

It all comes down to one fact, what works for you and regimen you can stick with for longer time....for me, i workout in the end before bed coz tht way i know how much i have eaten in entire day and how many calories i have to burn to get the net calorie deficit.

anelahm

ive heard that after a workout you should eat simple carbs to stabalize your blood sugar since its low from working out, and to fuel your body and replenish nutrients to your muscles quickly...or something like that...? and then an hour after get some protein in. anybody have input on this?

JohnGym

Myth. If you workout too intense you'll end up catabolizing lean muscle tissue.

You are wrong.

I exercise on an empty stomach 5 times a week, often with intensity levels to cause burst blood vessels and nose bleeds.

I get stronger every week. Catabolism doesn't work like that. That is bro science taken from the likes of bodybuilding.com or flex.

JohnGym

You want to burn fat more efficiently? LIFT HEAVY (as you can) and HARD (intensity) on all your exercises. The metabolic boost raises your resting metabolic rate. You burn more calories resting (including sleep) than all the exercising in a day. The fuel used at rest is FAT. Raise that resting rate and you burn fat more efficiently. Nuff said.

This on the other hand, I completely agree with.

Azdak

The fatal flaw in most of these theories is that they assume that what happens during an exercise workout is somehow a discrete event, unaffected by anything else that happens during the day.

The most powerful and efficient way to "burn fat" is to maintain a calorie deficit. The effect of that deficit stimulates changes to a far greater magnitude than all of this tinkering around.

JohnGym

The most powerful and efficient way to "burn fat" is to maintain a calorie deficit. The effect of that deficit stimulates changes to a far greater magnitude than all of this tinkering around.

Correct.

ninerbuff

Niner,

The thing with that high intensity stuff is how injury-prone it makes the average person who doesn't understand proper form. That blonde 'little' diet guru guy who successfully turned lots of fatties into meatheads about 10 years ago (including women - they all started looking like professional bodybuilders under his tutelage), was also responsible for a great many injuries when people were pushing themselves beyond their capabilities under the auspices of exercising for the best gains.

But now there is that primal exercise idea of giving it your all (regardless if it's treadmill, lifting, or whatever exercise you choose) for short bursts like our tribal ancestors did and then take breaks in between. Sounds interesting to me, so long as one is very careful to not create injury. I also like that this idea makes the workout only 21 minutes since I'm not a fan of exercise!

You are equating intensity with "super heavy weight" based on the assumption that doing this will build big muscles and is the main cause for injury. While I will agree that using poundages that ULTIMATELY challenge you can cause joint and injury if performed wrong, that's not what I mean. Light weights, weights done for high reps, don't have the same effect on metabolism as "heavy weights". Heavy is subjective. What may seem heavy to a female who is new, is light to a female who is seasoned. And the interval training you're speaking of is done with "high intensity". Bursts of power forces higher intensity.

ninerbuff

You are wrong.

I exercise on an empty stomach 5 times a week, often with intensity levels to cause burst blood vessels and nose bleeds.

I get stronger every week. Catabolism doesn't work like that. That is bro science taken from the likes of bodybuilding.com or flex.

Anecdotal. Because you claim it happens isn't proof. Try clinical science.

Glucose, the primary source of fuel for all body cells, is derived primarily from carbohydrates, although, if needed, glucose can also be metabolized from protein. After a meal, some of the glucose not used immediately for fuel travels to the liver or skeletal muscles, where it is converted to a compound called Glycogen--through a process called glycogenesis--and stored for energy. Any excess glucose is stored in adipose tissue as fat. The liver has a greater capacity for glycogen storage than muscle: Liver cells can typically store up to 8% of their weight as glycogen, while muscle cells can typically store up to only 3%. The liver is responsible for maintaining adequate levels of glucose in the body. As the body’s glucose level drops, the liver converts some of the glycogen back into glucose--through a process called glycogenolysis--and releases it back into the bloodstream. Muscle cells, on the other hand, are unable to reconvert glycogen to glucose. Instead, they convert glycogen directly to fuel through a process called glycolysis.

Glycolysis is a cellular anaerobic process which, through a complex series of steps, breaks down muscle glycogen into pyruvic acid during high-intensity exercise. This process rapidly produces a small amount of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the necessary fuel for body cells. However, if too much pyruvic acid accumulates in the muscle during glycolysis, it can substantially slow down or even stop the process of ATP formation. Therefore, after one or two minutes of high-intensity exercise, a subsequent process of energy formation begins--oxidation

Oxidation, an oxygen-requiring process of energy formation, produces over 95% of the energy used by muscles during moderate and prolonged exercise. Oxidation immediately converts much of the pyruvic acid formed through glycolysis to ATP. However, during prolonged exercise, if an athlete is unable to breathe in oxygen quickly enough to oxidize pyruvic acid into ATP, some pyruvic acid is converted to lactic acid and diffused out of the cell. It then circulates throughout the body until it can be reconverted to pyruvic acid once oxygen again becomes available. If excess accumulation of lactic acid occurs, extreme fatigue can set in, which can greatly impair the athlete’s performance.

Glucose is needed by the central nervous system to keep the body functioning. Therefore, during periods of moderate exercise lasting longer than 20 minutes, the body works to conserve stored muscle and liver glycogen. It does so by reducing the percentage of fuel derived from glycogen to only 40% or 50%, with the remainder supplied by fat. During exercise periods lasting longer than 4 or five hours, as much as 60% to 85% of fuel produced by oxidation may be derived from fat.

Fats need carbohydrates in order to burn efficiently. The breakdown of carbohydrates generates oxaloacetic acid, which is needed for the breakdown of fats into fuel. If insufficient carbohydrate levels exist, the levels of oxaloacetic acid may also drop, making it difficult for the body to continue producing a high level of fuel from fat. Although the body can break down fats in the absence of carbohydrates, it does so at a much slower rate. When the glycogen stores in the muscles and liver are depleted, and the blood glucose level begins to fall, athletes begin to experience fatigue, lack of coordination, light-headedness and lack of concentration. This experience is commonly known as "hitting the wall" or "bonking".

Asimov, Isaac. The Human Body—Its Structure and Operation. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1963. pp. 238-239.

Crouch, McClintic. Human Anatomy and Physiology. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1971. pp. 428-431.

McArdle, Katch, Katch. Essentials of Exercise Physiology. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 1994. pp. 35-56, 61-66, 146-148, 184-185.

If glycogen is depleted, then glycolysis is the next step. Once muscle glycogen is depleted, then gluconeogenisis (breakdown of non carbohydrate substances for energy) occurs. If you've "fasted" then glucose would be limited. Since you need carbs to break down fats for energy at a HIGH rate, then high intensity training would trump using fat as the energy source since you're working out on an empty stomach and have not ingested any carbs. So where would it get it? Muscle.

ninerbuff

The fatal flaw in most of these theories is that they assume that what happens during an exercise workout is somehow a discrete event, unaffected by anything else that happens during the day.

Have to agree somewhat. Hormones, stress, and rest all will affect it.

The most powerful and efficient way to "burn fat" is to maintain a calorie deficit. The effect of that deficit stimulates changes to a far greater magnitude than all of this tinkering around.

But in a sedentary person, this would include burning of lean muscle tissue.

JohnGym

You are wrong.

I exercise on an empty stomach 5 times a week, often with intensity levels to cause burst blood vessels and nose bleeds.

I get stronger every week. Catabolism doesn't work like that. That is bro science taken from the likes of bodybuilding.com or flex.

Anecdotal. Because you claim it happens isn't proof. Try clinical science.

Glucose, the primary source of fuel for all body cells, is derived primarily from carbohydrates, although, if needed, glucose can also be metabolized from protein. After a meal, some of the glucose not used immediately for fuel travels to the liver or skeletal muscles, where it is converted to a compound called Glycogen--through a process called glycogenesis--and stored for energy. Any excess glucose is stored in adipose tissue as fat. The liver has a greater capacity for glycogen storage than muscle: Liver cells can typically store up to 8% of their weight as glycogen, while muscle cells can typically store up to only 3%. The liver is responsible for maintaining adequate levels of glucose in the body. As the body’s glucose level drops, the liver converts some of the glycogen back into glucose--through a process called glycogenolysis--and releases it back into the bloodstream. Muscle cells, on the other hand, are unable to reconvert glycogen to glucose. Instead, they convert glycogen directly to fuel through a process called glycolysis.

Glycolysis is a cellular anaerobic process which, through a complex series of steps, breaks down muscle glycogen into pyruvic acid during high-intensity exercise. This process rapidly produces a small amount of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the necessary fuel for body cells. However, if too much pyruvic acid accumulates in the muscle during glycolysis, it can substantially slow down or even stop the process of ATP formation. Therefore, after one or two minutes of high-intensity exercise, a subsequent process of energy formation begins--oxidation

Oxidation, an oxygen-requiring process of energy formation, produces over 95% of the energy used by muscles during moderate and prolonged exercise. Oxidation immediately converts much of the pyruvic acid formed through glycolysis to ATP. However, during prolonged exercise, if an athlete is unable to breathe in oxygen quickly enough to oxidize pyruvic acid into ATP, some pyruvic acid is converted to lactic acid and diffused out of the cell. It then circulates throughout the body until it can be reconverted to pyruvic acid once oxygen again becomes available. If excess accumulation of lactic acid occurs, extreme fatigue can set in, which can greatly impair the athlete’s performance.

Glucose is needed by the central nervous system to keep the body functioning. Therefore, during periods of moderate exercise lasting longer than 20 minutes, the body works to conserve stored muscle and liver glycogen. It does so by reducing the percentage of fuel derived from glycogen to only 40% or 50%, with the remainder supplied by fat. During exercise periods lasting longer than 4 or five hours, as much as 60% to 85% of fuel produced by oxidation may be derived from fat.

Fats need carbohydrates in order to burn efficiently. The breakdown of carbohydrates generates oxaloacetic acid, which is needed for the breakdown of fats into fuel. If insufficient carbohydrate levels exist, the levels of oxaloacetic acid may also drop, making it difficult for the body to continue producing a high level of fuel from fat. Although the body can break down fats in the absence of carbohydrates, it does so at a much slower rate. When the glycogen stores in the muscles and liver are depleted, and the blood glucose level begins to fall, athletes begin to experience fatigue, lack of coordination, light-headedness and lack of concentration. This experience is commonly known as "hitting the wall" or "bonking".

Asimov, Isaac. The Human Body—Its Structure and Operation. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1963. pp. 238-239.

Crouch, McClintic. Human Anatomy and Physiology. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1971. pp. 428-431.

McArdle, Katch, Katch. Essentials of Exercise Physiology. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 1994. pp. 35-56, 61-66, 146-148, 184-185.

If glycogen is depleted, then glycolysis is the next step. Once muscle glycogen is depleted, then gluconeogenisis (breakdown of non carbohydrate substances for energy) occurs. If you've "fasted" then glucose would be limited. Since you need carbs to break down fats for energy at a HIGH rate, then high intensity training would trump using fat as the energy source since you're working out on an empty stomach and have not ingested any carbs. So where would it get it? Muscle.

Oh dear. I have read many of your posts on here recently. I can see you have attempted to position yourself as some sort of training and diet guru. I have to say I disagree with pretty much most of what you have written.

You have posted a completely irrelevant study and then garnished it with your opinion.

I maintain, you are wrong.

3DFitness

Myth. If you workout too intense you'll end up catabolizing lean muscle tissue.

You are wrong.

I exercise on an empty stomach 5 times a week, often with intensity levels to cause burst blood vessels and nose bleeds.

I get stronger every week. Catabolism doesn't work like that. That is bro science taken from the likes of bodybuilding.com or flex.

x2 - I do the same thing. The last time I told someone it was a myth, they gathered a posse and began to ridicule me.

mideon_696

didnt read through anything after the OP.

wanna burn fat quick?
interval training. put in the most effort you think you can handle, then put in more.
dont eat carbs. by this i mean keep them low...sub 100gm every day. or less.

eat more fat. by this i mean healthy fats, and lots of them, in place of carbs.
I'm bad at explaining stuff, but it all works.

JohnGym

Myth. If you workout too intense you'll end up catabolizing lean muscle tissue.

You are wrong.

I exercise on an empty stomach 5 times a week, often with intensity levels to cause burst blood vessels and nose bleeds.

I get stronger every week. Catabolism doesn't work like that. That is bro science taken from the likes of bodybuilding.com or flex.

x2 - I do the same thing. The last time I told someone it was a myth, they gathered a posse and began to ridicule me.

lol. I await the backlash.

You look very lean to me. I know how lean I am. I am happy to continue with what i know :-)

Good luck mate.

AlwaysWanderer

You want to burn fat more efficiently? LIFT HEAVY (as you can) and HARD (intensity) on all your exercises. The metabolic boost raises your resting metabolic rate. You burn more calories resting (including sleep) than all the exercising in a day. The fuel used at rest is FAT. Raise that resting rate and you burn fat more efficiently. Nuff said.

This on the other hand, I completely agree with.

Any advise for someone who doesnt want to gain muscle? And please dont say that women dont have enough testosterone to bulk up - they can and they do. I did. So how can I burn fat without lifting?

ninerbuff

Oh dear. I have read many of your posts on here recently. I can see you have attempted to position yourself as some sort of training and diet guru. I have to say I disagree with pretty much most of what you have written.

You have posted a completely irrelevant study and then garnished it with your opinion.

I maintain, you are wrong.

You can disagree. What I posted aren't studies, they are the backbone of how the body utilizes energy from protein, carbs and fats.
Philosophies differ. We may agree on some things and won't on others. It's good for members to hear different philosophies and let them see evidence and make up their own minds as to which they want to believe.

ninerbuff

Any advise for someone who doesnt want to gain muscle? And please dont say that women dont have enough testosterone to bulk up - they can and they do. I did. So how can I burn fat without lifting?

It's almost impossible to gain muscle on a calorie deficit. Even if the nutrition was spot on, you got enough rest, and your exercise was perfect, to gain muscle you need to be on a calorie surplus. To build muscle would mean gaining weight. There are exceptions (obese people who were sedentary, people who have never exercised before, athlete coming off a long layoff), but even then the muscle gain is minimal.
You can burn fat just doing cardio, but you'll also end up losing lean muscle tissue with it. That intern will lower your metabolic rate and will mean you'll have to do longer and longer durations.

foremant86

This is called Bonk training and it's very controversial and NOT for your average joe on here trying to lose weight and hell I think it's stupid for anyone to do something like this but hey it's your body so be my guest.

http://www.superskinnyme.com/Weight Loss/Exercise/Cardiovascular Exercise/Bonk_Training.html

ninerbuff

This is called Bonk training and it's very controversial and NOT for your average joe on here trying to lose weight and hell I think it's stupid for anyone to do something like this but hey it's your body so be my guest.

http://www.superskinnyme.com/Weight Loss/Exercise/Cardiovascular Exercise/Bonk_Training.html

Not really new. Competitive bodybuilders have been doing this for years with good results.

foremant86

This is called Bonk training and it's very controversial and NOT for your average joe on here trying to lose weight and hell I think it's stupid for anyone to do something like this but hey it's your body so be my guest.

http://www.superskinnyme.com/Weight Loss/Exercise/Cardiovascular Exercise/Bonk_Training.html

Not really new. Competitive bodybuilders have been doing this for years with good results.

I didn't say it was new, i said it was controversial and i'm well aware that athletes use this kind of training. I'm just saying it's not very smart. I don't jump on the band wagon of something just because athletes do it! lord knows they're just as dumb as the rest of us.

andrew384

Body builders do this to strip fat quickly and then after shows put some back on. Not exactly what the majority of people on here are looking for. I don't recall many people on here looking to build muscle mainly lose quite a few pounds and feel good/better about themselves. I think that in anycase if you are finding difficult to lose weight is to consult your gp as there may be medical reasons that no-one on here can possibly be aware of.

This is called Bonk training and it's very controversial and NOT for your average joe on here trying to lose weight and hell I think it's stupid for anyone to do something like this but hey it's your body so be my guest.

http://www.superskinnyme.com/Weight Loss/Exercise/Cardiovascular Exercise/Bonk_Training.html

Not really new. Competitive bodybuilders have been doing this for years with good results.
[/quote]

THCamel

I try to do this every morning, unfortunately the gym doesn't open until 9:30. I don't usually get to eat before 1pm. Drinking the whey is something that I should start.

If it's good enough for the athletes, I'm game

ninerbuff

Body builders do this to strip fat quickly and then after shows put some back on. Not exactly what the majority of people on here are looking for. I don't recall many people on here looking to build muscle mainly lose quite a few pounds and feel good/better about themselves. I think that in anycase if you are finding difficult to lose weight is to consult your gp as there may be medical reasons that no-one on here can possibly be aware of.

Actually many of them do it for 6-12 weeks. Doing cardio in the morning on an empty stomach for 30-45min at 60%-70% of you max heart rate wouldn't be too taxing on the body.
On the other hand training high intensity and tapping your glycogen storage then having the body to tap from another source could.