Article written by Free weight loss guide blog
The basic scientific truth that no one seems to talk about is that your body has two energy sources it can choose.
To keep the science lingo to an absolute minimum – I refer to these 2 primary energy sources as sugar and fat.
Ultimate you have a choice to burn fat or burn sugar – as a primary source of your energy.
It is a choice you make through the way you choose to:
- Think about life
- Train and experience movement
- Eat and feed your body, mind and spirit
Technically you will always be burning sugar and fats at the same time – the real question is what is your PRIMARY or dominate source of energy.
Fat or Sugar?
When I work with my clients I ‘m always talking about fat-burning or sugar-burning as though they are exclusive and I will do that throughout this website for the sake of convenience.
But, please take note what it really means – when I say you are a Fat Burner, what I am saying is that your body’s favorite type of energy is FAT!
Naturally, the next question is how do you know if your body is burning sugar or fat?
Well, technically you can always go to an exercise physiology lab using scientific analytical equipment – but that simply is not practical.
Ideally you should be able to complete a self-check or scan and establish a sense of what fuel your body is burning.
An effective skill to learn is to listen and understand your body’s messengers.
According to fitness & nutrition expert Caroline Smith, these “metabolic messengers” can give you clues about what energy source you are using.
During exercise there a specific:
- Auditory
- Visual
- Breathing
pattern clues that will tell you exactly whether you are burning sugar or fat.
The real advantage of training your body to burn fat is being able to do so at rest or any time after you exercise.
This is the component that is often missed by advocates of high intensity training.
They often speak of ‘metabolic activity’ after exercise and point out that the more muscle you have the more calories you burn.
What they don’t say is what kind of calories do the muscles burn during rest? Is it fat or sugar?
Without the science lingo I will attempt to give you a story about what happens with high intensity training and your metabolism.
It is true that you will burn more fat and total calories per exercise session if you work at a higher intensity.
But the real question for weight management is:
– What is the total number of calories burned in each day?
– What is the main source of energy during exercise?
When you train at high intensities you utilize your sugar stores for energy.
And when you do that, you need to feed your body sugar to replace these emergency energy stores in your muscle and liver.
When you finish your workout your body will be craving sugar, so you feed it sugar –
- Bananas
- Apples
- Gatorade
- Powerade
- Powerbars
- Balance Bars
are all sugar based foods and drinks that people commonly use during and after a high intensity workout.
And when you eat sugar, you set up a vicious cycle “sugar begets sugar”! When you eat sugar you need to keep on eating it!
Imagine all the insulin that pumps into your body every time you eat sugar. Is there any wonder that Type II diabetes is such a problem in America!
“Go Hard or Go Home” and “Faster and BIGGER is Better ! “
These are the North American cultural messages about exercise and they are dangerous!
Do you know what insulin does beside regulate your blood sugar?
It promotes fat storage of the extra sugar that you do not need. Then you add the high intensity stress component and increase cortisol release for even more fat storage.
So, what you have is a recipe for fatness!
Many of my clients complain that they exercise and exercise hard, but never seem to loose the fat! This is why – they are caught in the FAT – TRAP induced by a body craving sugar as its fuel.
Okay, let’s return to the post high intensity exercise scenario I was describing above…
…the next day you repeat – you rush to the gym, complete a high intensity exercise routine, and feed the body sugar.
What do you think a fat burner supplement will do for a sugar burner?
A Sugar-Burner’s body is completely confused – a fat supplement is working against the way you are training your body!