How to Train Your Body to Burn More Fat
Can you increase fat oxidation with specific forms of exercise?
Ahh … the age-old question: can you actually train, trick, or tip your body into some kind of enhanced fat-burning mode, sucking fat cells off your butt, thighs, and tummy more rapidly?
You’re about to discover the answer.
This topic came to the forefront of my attention when I noted a recent study, opens in a new windowRethinking the role of fat oxidation: substrate utilisation during high-intensity interval training in well-trained and recreationally trained runners. I know that’s a mouthful, but the study itself wasn’t too difficult to grasp.
The goal of the researchers was to look into the degree to which the rate of fat oxidation could be altered by training. In other words: can your exercise choice or exercise history affect the rate at which you burn fat?
Before we look into what the researchers discovered, allow me to make an important clarification: the title of this episode is not “Which diet causes you to burn more fat?” Why? Because we already know the answer, and I’ve given the nitty-gritty details in my two-part article series called opens in a new windowHow To Turn Yourself Into A Fat Burning Machine, in which I report on a University of Connecticut study that conclusively proved a high-fat, low carbohydrate diet could increase fat oxidation from an average maximum of 1.0 grams per minute to over 1.7 grams per minute.
But let’s say that you’re already not eating too many calories, but you’re also “being careful” with your carbohydrate intake and not engaging in a diet rich in foods such as processed starches, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, and other foods that can cause frequent fluctuations in blood glucose and a decrease in fat oxidation (an effect I describe in detail in opens in a new windowHow To Lose Fat Quickly). Can your training or a specific way of training also increase fat oxidation?
In this most recent study, researchers compared fat and carbohydrate oxidation rates using something called indirect calorimetry, in which you breathe in and out of a mask that measures oxygen consumed and carbon dioxide produced to give an approximation of your fuel use. Two different sets of subjects were measured while they exercised, with high-intensity interval training. Set one was comprised of well-trained, seasoned runners, and set two was comprised of slightly less well-trained recreational runners. The actual workout consisted of six, four-minute long running bouts separated by two minute recovery periods on a treadmill set at a 5% incline.
The researchers found that, despite similar ratings of perceived exertion, blood lactic acid, and carbohydrate burning rates, the well-trained runners performed much better on the workout (no surprises there!) but also had a nearly threefold higher rate in fat oxidation! So not only were they burning more calories overall, but they were burning an enormously higher percentage of those calories as fat.
Believe it or not, this is actually news. Increased fat utilization during exercise is well-known as one adaptation to exercise training, particularly endurance training such as running. But prior to this point, it was thought that you couldn’t burn large amounts of fat while exercising at high intensities. It turns out this simply isn’t the case, and in this study, runners exercising at over 85% of their maximum intensity still experienced fat oxidation contribution got nearly a third of their total energy expenditure!
In other words:
A) You don’t have to exercise in your “ opens in a new windowfat burning zone” to burn large amounts of fat
B) The more seasoned and consistent you are at exercise, the higher amounts of both overall calories and also fat you can burn, even at higher intensities
I realize that it seems like a broad, slightly non-specific recommendation to simply tell you that you can train your body to burn more fat by including endurance exercise, but also by not limiting your exercise to low intensities and being consistent with exercise. This seems pretty intuitive, doesn’t it?
I’m also going to give you a few other recommendations that will help you get your body to burn more fat, while avoiding frequent fluctuations in blood sugar.
In a very comprehensive podcast interview I recorded on opens in a new windowsimple steps to turning yourself into a fat burning machine, the advice basically comes down to this:
1) Do one short, aerobic workout as many mornings as possible a week, preferably in an overnight fasted state
2) Avoid frequent snacking
3) Save all your carb intake for the end of the day and up until that point eat high amounts of healthy fats with moderate amounts of proteins
4) Stay mildly physically active all day long (e.g. standing workstation, jumping jack breaks, etc.)
5) Keep your metabolism elevated by exposing your body to frequent fluctuations in cold and hot temperatures
6) Include a three-fold combination of endurance training, high intensity interval training, and weight training in your exercise protocol, and exercise (if possible) every day for 20-60 minutes
As you can see, many of these strategies are somewhat lifestyle based. For example, you can start off each day, before eating, with 10-30 minutes of very light activity (yoga, walking the dog, doing yard chores, etc.), take at least one cold shower each day, visit the sauna at least once per week, avoid non-nutrient dense carbohydrates, and be as active as possible all day long. Then, you can put the “icing on the cake” by alternating between one day of high intensity cardio and one day of weight training.
Once you step back and look at it, it really isn’t too complex to keep yourself in “fat-burning mode,” is it? So, what do you think? Do you have questions about how to train your body to burn more fat? Then head over to Facebook.com/GetFitGuy and join the conversation there! I’d love to hear what you have to say.
opens in a new windowImage courtesy of Shutterstock.