Fitforgood • December 4, 2019
How to enable your body to use your BODY FAT for fuel
Understand how your body uses Energy
Think of a car. You fill up your tank at the gas station , use the fuel in the petrol tank to move around and then the petrol tank approaches Empty. After it becomes empty it dips into the reserve tank (also fuel) right??
Now think of your body, the glycogen in your muscles are the petrol tank and your fat is the reserve tank. Yes, some of us have bigger "reserve tanks" than others..
For your body to start using and burning fuel from its reserve tank or its fat, we need to empty out the petrol tank so the body can actually begin using the fat for fuel.
What do most of us do? We work out cardio and resistance training , empty out our petrol tanks which is muscle Glycogen and then fill up the tank again with fuel (food- and many a times with unhealthy food). So the question to ask is when does you body have a chance to burn the fat (reserve tank) for fuel if we are filling up the petrol tank all the time?
I used to do it for 15 years working out, doing cardio, doing resistance training , etc. and not achieving any fat loss. Honestly just think of the time you are spending at the gym day in and day out and if your not spending the time your in a worse position.
Here is how you do it
What fills your Muscle Glycogen(Petrol tank) up is food, Carbohydrates in particular. So the goal should be to lower your glycogen stores to a point where you body can start burning fat. Also, watch how many carbs you have through the day. You can eat veggies to replace the carbs and cut out all rice, bread, sugar and other refined foods.
CARDIO CARDIO CARDIO
Cardio exercises allow you to burn a lot of calories within a given time. I am talking about steady state cardio for 45 mins are the correct heart rate.
When is the best time to do this to allow your body to use fat for fuel?
It is when your body's glycogen stores are at its lowest, for most people this is as soon as you wake up in the morning. Your body has been using sugar in your blood(fuel) all night while you slept to repair its self and any other metabolic processes.
So in the morning when you wake up your glycogen stores are low, Now is the time you want to do your cardio. It is called Fasted Cardio.
Fasted Cardio
Doing cardio in a fasted state. which means you haven't eaten anything or drunk any carbohydrate or protein shakes prior to hitting the gym in the morning. The first 10 mins you body will use the remain blood sugar it has left it , it will then start using fat for fuel. You want to consult with a personal trainer on what your heart rate would be for this cardio as it changes as your fitness level increases.
You can do you resistance training in a fasted state and then do your 45 mins of cardio after that as well. The resistance training will insure your glycogen stores(petrol tank) hits "Empty" so your body will dip into the Fat for fuel (reserve tank)
I recommend resistance training 3 times a week with 45 mins of cardio after that. On the days you do not do resistance training(days in between your resistance training days) you can do 1 hour of cardio. Morning times worked for me the best.
As you can see it worked for me.
DIET
Now what should you diet be. I do not recommend a diet as a "Diet" is temporary and you will revert to your old ways of eating that caused you to gain weight in the first place. I ask you to give me 2 weeks of your existing nutrition and I help educate you on what it is your are eating and what you should be focusing on , allowing you to modify your existing eating and hence making your nutritional plan more sustainable so you do rebound and start putting on fat again.
DNA-based coaching is a personalized approach to guidance in areas like fitness, nutrition, and wellness that utilizes an individual's unique genetic information. By analyzing specific genes, coaches can gain insights into a client's predispositions and tendencies related to various aspects of their health and well-being. This information is then used to create tailored plans and recommendations that are more likely to be effective for that individual.
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