“Finish your workout…load up with protein and carbs.” An age old message we have been told since we first started doing exercise and if you’re exercising to build muscle and want to recover quickly in-between sessions it’s absolutely spot on. If you’re working out to lose weight…not so much. In my last post I talked about the fact that while high intensity cardio releases a lot of fatty acids into the blood stream it doesn’t necessarily burn them. To sum it up here, let’s say you go to a HIIT class. That class drives your body to release a ton of fatty acids into the bloodstream but whilst you are exercising at a high intensity your body will always prefer glucose as a fuel source as it’s simply easier to use and the lactic acid released through such intense exercise INHIBITS the burring of fat as a fuel. So the fatty acids just sit there in the blood for such a time as your body can actually convert them to energy to burn. Now if you finish that workout and go and eat something, following the advice we talked about earlier, you have just given your body an injection of glucose…and remember the body ALWAYS favours glucose as a fuel source over fat. So all that fat in the blood will simply be returned to the fat cells as the body burns the food you have just eaten. Meaning the net effect of your cardio session in terms of weight loss is a BIG zero. If instead you finished the HIIT session and then waited to eat (for around 45 mins to an hour) the body is starved of glucose for this time and so is FORCED to use the fatty acids now readily available in the bloodstream. What’s more as the lactic acid in the blood has been cleared it’s much easier for the body to actually burn these fatty acids as fuel. Meaning that your cardio session, or at least the hour following your cardio session, has a huge impact on fat burning. Sam. 😎🤙 Interested in how you can lose 6kgs in 4 weeks and then keep it off without ever going hungry, counting calories or spending hours in the gym? Check out our Fuel for an Active Life program.
