Have you ever tried relentlessly to lose weight but NOTHING seems to work? You start to wonder, is it my diet? Is it my genetics? Is this exercise craze just a hype that doesn’t work? NO! Well the first two may be partially responsible, but the truth is so many people don’t understand what actually causes the body to shred the fat that it so desperately stores for its survival. If you don’t understand what makes your body burn the fat, how are you going get rid of that belly?
Your body has 5 major sources of energy. These include
- Adenosine TriPhosphate (ATP) [3 seconds]
- Creatine Phosphate [8 seconds]
- Anaerobic Glycolysis [2 minutes]
- Aerobic Glycolysis [15 minutes]
- Fatty Acid Oxidation [until you pass out]
Your body uses these energy stores in this order. When one source is depleted [average time to depletion] it moves on to the next source. So, what about fat loss can we deduce from this?
- Fat is stored heavily as an energy reserve for the body.
- Fat is the last source of energy your body wants to use.
- Your body will take at least 15-20 minutes to even think about burning off its precious fat reserves.
So what does this mean for those of us who want maximize our fat loss? It means you need to get into your target heart zone and stay there for at least 15 minutes before you can even begin to think you’ve shredded some poundage. Don’t get me wrong, you can burn calories and strengthen your heart in less time and in different ways. But there is only one way to tackle that fat: Deplete the first four energy stores, and then keep on going. There are two effective ways to do this.
- Do your weightlifting routine first. When you hit your cardio immediately after 30-45 minutes of weightlifting, your glycogen stores are depleted, and fat will be burned for energy almost immediately. (No food or drink other than water in between. This will replenish your glycogen and defeat the purpose.)
- Do 45-60 minutes of non-stop, rhythmic cardio in your target heart zone.
Got it? Good! Combine that with a well-balanced diet, and watch the pounds fall off!