Garry Holmen garry@mda.ca
3) Fat Reduction Nutritional and Exercise Hints
Probably one of the most talked about problems in the fitness industry in the
last decade. Millions have been spent on magic supplements, gym memberships,
books, videos and other products that have all promised the holy grail:
fat loss.
(Hmmm... did I say millions... perhaps I should be competing with Covert
Bailey for my slice of the pie. 8^) )
This article will deal with how to use your body's hormones to help you
take the steps in the right direction.
3.1 The Fat Trail - From point A to B
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How does what we eat translate into fat deposits? Well first off all we
should realize that all fats are the same (a few minor exceptions... I'll
deal with them later.) Poly-unsaturated, saturated... doesn't make a
difference when we talk about body fat. Basically, all fats are triglycerides.
This means they have a glycerol ring and 3 fatty acid chains attached to
this ring (view it like a kite with 3 tails). They don't mix with water
which our bodies consist ~95% of. So the first thing our digestive system
does is make this fat water soluable by breaking these triglycerides apart,
absorbing them through the intestine and sends them along in the blood stream.
Once there they can either be absorbed into the adipose tissue (fat) or into
other cells through their mitochondria ( I think of mitochondria as little
fat furnaces. 8^) ). So if we want to lower our body fat levels what we
want to do is minimalize the amount of fat going into the adipose tissue
and maximize the fats being absorbed into the mitochondria.
3.2 Muscles and Fueling Them
----------------------------
Most organs and cells burn fat (besides the brain and red blood cells)
partially and some do exclusively (lung and kidney are prime examples...
yes... your breathing is actually burning fat.)
We can think of our fat reserves as a large fuel tank of gas. So what
we want to do is poke more holes into the fuel tank so that more comes out
than goes in... Pretty simple right? Well the biggest problem is that the
largest mitochondria sources are the muscles and they have other fuel
reserves: glycogen and protein. Glycogen provides more intense energy and
protein a less intense energy than fat.
Muscles at rest burn 100% fat... just not a lot of it. As your muscles work
the percentage of fat burnt drops off and the amount of glycogen being
burnt increases. As well your body doesn't burn fat and glycogen at
constant levels... when your muscles just begin moving more glycogen is
burned and over time the amount of fat burned increases. As well when muscles
are at work they cannot burn pure fat reserves; they need to use glycogen and
oxygen as well. So the key is to burn as much fat as possible on the glycogen
reserves you have.
Typical studies show the following information:
At 30% heart rate fat provides 35% of the total energy needed at the beginning
and 62% of the energy after 4 hours.
At 65% heart rate fat provides 39% at the start and 67% of the energy after 2
hours.
3.3 Burning Fat Efficiently
---------------------------
Releasing fatty acids (which the mitochondria burn) is a tightly regulated
system. No wonder it can be tough to lose fat at times! Even your body is
working against you.... But you can do things to increase fat breakdown
(called cyclic AMP by the experts. Well almost... the more cyclic AMP
the more the fat gets broken down [Hmmm... can't remember what AMP stands
for right now. I'll get back to you later] ).
So bascially you want to increase your cyclic AMP so that you can burn more
fat. Here are the good guys:
ephedrine - This can increase the amount of epinephrine in the body which
is one of the prime binders to the fat cell receptors to cause
fatty acids to be released. This raises the levels of cyclic AMP.
growth hormone, and cortisol - Both modify the adipose cells so that more
fat is broken down for the same amount of
stimulation.
theophylline(tea) and caffeine(coffee) - Both of these chemicals inhibit an
enzyme called phosphodiesterase (an enzyme
that removes cyclic AMP.) By inhibiting this
enzyme you get more cyclic AMP and more fat
breakdown.
And of course the bad guys:
insulin and nicotinic acid - Both of these inhibit fat breakdown by
increasing the production of phosphodiesterase.
(No chocolate before working out I guess...)
So once you get cyclic AMP going you'll have fatty acids in the blood stream.
If you leave them their they'll just go back into the adipose tissue so you'll
want the muscle to burn it. As well you'll want to reduce the glycogen
from your muscles so that on your next meal the glucose goes there instead
of back to the adipose tissue.
3.4 Plan of Attack
------------------
So for best fat burning we want growth hormone, cortisol, caffiene and
epinephrine in the body in elevated levels but to have no insulin
or nicotinic acid present... Hmmm... sounds pretty difficult to obtain but
it's not. When you wake up early in the morning and prior to breakfast
your body has elevated gH and cortisol levels. Add a coffee (or if you're
like me tea 'cuz I hate coffee.) and you're set. (I don't take ephedrine
because in Canada (where I live it's a prescription medicine.) Even in the
USA I would urge that you see a doctor first before taking ephedrine
casually. Know the side effects and benefits of any drug before you take them.
(While you're at it look at the side effects of caffeine! From all my
readings I'ld suggest not going over 2 cups of the drip kind... but that's
another topic... 8^) ]
Now go to the gym and do moderate aerobic exercise (about 60% heart rate)
for about an hour (about the time the above levels start to come down.) and
then do some sprint training (increase the intensity from 60% to 90% and
back down to 60% in cycles every minute or so.) for about another 15 or
so minutes just to deplete the muscle glycogen. (Note: If this is too
long for you or is too much of an effort than reduce the time spent in each
cycle or reduce the heart rates to where you are comfortable and work up from
there.
This advice is fairly standard... but most fat reduction plans forget the
importance of the muscle itself. Muscles are the prime burners of fat and
during aerobic exercise there is a tendancy to actually burn muscle protein
as a fuel as well (remember the muscle will burn it's own protein stores
for fuel.) So what you want to do is keep (if not increase) your muscle mass.
The reason why this isn't espoused heavily is because the prime target for
fat burning advice is geared towards women and the majority have a fear that
gaining muscle will make them large, man like and otherwise grotesque. This
is far from the truth... gaining muscle is very hard and even more difficult if
you're doing an aerobics schedule like the above. The morale here is don't
be afraid of the weight room or gaining a bit of muscle. Most studies show
that by gaining muscle women will have a less chance of osteoporosis in the
long term... amoung other good benefits.
3.5 Other Advice
----------------
1) Water - If you're trying to burn fat your body is most efficient if it
has amply water intake. I suggest at least 8 cups a day... any
temperature is fine.
2) 5 smaller meals instead of 3 larger ones -
Remember that the muscles and liver take first priority at the
glucose resources that you get from food. So by taking smaller
meals more often you're letting your body burn glucose between
each meal and thus allowing more of your food to go to your muscles
rather than to the adipose tissue.
3) Eat more early and less later -
Your largest meals should be the ones earlier in the day. People
who skip breakfast or eat more calories later are causing their
body to break up their muscle protein for fuel... thus less muscle
less fat burnt.
4) Eat a diet with about 45% carb, 35% protein and 20% fat -
Break your calories consumed into roughly this breakup. I suggest
a higher protein level because the body is less efficient at
converting protein to fat. As well many people look at the 20% fat
level and think that's too high. Just be warned that people on VLF
diets with <10% fat calories tend to have skin, hair and other
problems... the body still needs fat to operate correctly. It is
quite common for women on VLF diets to reduce their estrogen levels
as there is not enough fat available to produce that hormone at the
regular levels.
5) Combine aerobics with weights -
As I mentioned above make sure you put weight work in your fat
burning plan. I'ld suggest 4 days of about 1-1.5 hrs aerobic work
and 2 days of weight work. Make sure you get some rest in there
too!
6) Cycle your diet and work out intensity -
The body gets used to things it does every day. So what I tend
to advise is to pick 2 or 3 days where you cycle either your diet,
your exercise intensity for that day or both. This keeps your body
guessing and relearning how to become efficient enough to hold on
to its fat stores.
- cycling your diet can involve either increasing/decreasing the
protein/carb levels, decreasing the total calories ingested by
about 100-200 cal (for 1 day only... see below).
- cycling your workout could involve going less intense for longer
or more intense for shorter periods. Vary your exercises.
7) Don't starve yourself -
The BIGGEST mistake people make when they are trying to lose weight
is just that... losing weight. Fat loss is the important thing not
your weight. Don't reduce your calorie intakes to ridiculous
levels because then your body will go into starvation mode to
survive on those levels. You'll lose muscle (very bad) which will
make it that much harder to burn fat... it's a nasty catch 22.
(I'll post average caloric intakes, etc in my reference section.)
As a rule of thumb most women 20-50 should be intaking about 1400
calories each day. Men should be around 2200...
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