But then after a few weeks, you might notice that it stops. Maybe you push through and start to see yourself dropping more weight, or maybe you get frustrated and give up.
There’s a great new study that came out that talked about how regular exercisers release more fat burning molecules that increases the body’s ability to metabolize body fat, sugar, and amino acids.
The study, apparently the first of its kind, takes a look at how regular exercise -- that is, fitness -- alters metabolism right down to the level of chemical changes in the blood.
"Every metabolic activity in the body results in the product of [fat-burning] metabolites," said senior study author Dr. Robert Gerszten, director of clinical and translational research at Massachusetts General Hospital Heart Center. "A blood sample contains hundreds of these metabolites and can provide a snapshot of any individual's health status."
Here’s how they did it:
To trace the fat-burning molecules, the researchers took blood samples from healthy participants before, just following, and after an exercise stress test that was about 10 minutes long. Then they measured the blood levels of 200 different metabolites, which are released into the blood in tiny quantities.
And here were the results:
Exercise resulted in changes to levels of more than 20 metabolites that were involved with the metabolism of sugar, fats, amino acids, along with the use of ATP, the primary source of cellular energy, according to the study.
After running on a treadmill for 10 minutes, people who were relatively more fit had a 98 percent increase in the breakdown of stored fat, sugar, and amino acids, while less-fit people had only a 48 percent increase.
The question you’re probably asking yourself (because I asked myself the same question) is: If you’re not active right now, and you become active and stay active, can you increase the percentage increase in burning more fat?
The study says:
It's unknown whether training boosts the ability of people to burn fat more efficiently, or if more fit people were genetically able to burn fat more efficiently, though it's likely some combination of the two, Gerszten said.
I’m hoping that this means this will lead to another study where they look at exactly that.
If I had to guess though, consistent training will cause a consistent increase in the ability of the body to metabolize fat and sugar.
It makes sense if you think about it. If someone is sedentary, and then takes a stress test, they aren’t able to run at an intensity during that test as much as someone that is more fit.
I talk about interval training a lot and mention the concept of Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption in past posts and how when it comes to fat burning, your body burns more calories after the workout compared to calories burned after a slow steady state cardio workout.
I think a study like this gives more support to the concept that it’s about intensity rather than duration that is going to be a better indicator of overall fat burning and if you stay consistent, your overall maximum level of how well you burn fat should increase.
The bottom line is that if you are inactive, don’t take this study to mean that you can never train your body to start burning more fat. Get active in something, stick with it long term (and what I mean by that is,,,,forever…) and I think you’ll not only turn your body into a more efficient metabolic machine, but you’ll be reducing your chances for future heart disease, diabetes, and other ailments that can come with living a sedentary lifestyle.
www.leanbodytraining.com
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