Once upon a time, there was a little muscle cell. It was a smart little muscle cell. It knew that the best way to create energy was to burn fat and sugar together. It was also a conservative little cell and only used as much fat and sugar as it needed, so it wouldn’t be wasteful because it knew that one day it may need to use that excess energy.

So the great body stored that extra energy as fat. Fat burns in our muscle cells like a big old log in a fireplace. The fireplace that our cells use is called mitochondria.

A mitochondria is a small organelle inside of the cell. Every cell has at least one, but the ones we really want to focus on our the ones in our muscle cells. When our muscle cells don’t use much energy, they don’t need very many mitochondria.

(Why would you light every fireplace in your home if it wasn’t very cold?)Now as those your with fireplaces know, you can’t just light a log on fire. You need to have some kindling to start that log burning (i.e. newspapers, twigs, wood chips, and the like). Our bodies use sugar as kindling. To make sure that we always have a supply of kindling available, our muscle cells store the sugars as glycogen which gets broken down into glucose. When a muscle cell needs some energy it says to the body, Hey, give me one of those fatty acid (fat) molecules floating around in the blood stream, and I’ll mix it with one of my glucose (sugar) molecules.” Then it sticks the two in the mitochondria and lights the fire.

If the human starts to exercise, the muscle cell suddenly needs more energy to keep going. It screams out to the body, “Hey, I think we need some more fatty acid molecules to burn down here.” Of course, the body, being stingy with its fat reserves, doesn’t want to give up its precious fatty acids, so the muscle cell is forced to continue to work without it’s primary source of fuel.

After all of the muscle cell’s fatty acids supply is used up, it needs to find something else to burn, but all it can find is kindling (sugar), so it burns that. Unfortunately, sugar doesn’t burn as efficiently as fat. When sugar burns all by itself, it only burns partially. What’s left over is lactic acid. (Lactic acid is the stuff that makes your muscles burn when you’re lifting weights and leaves you sore the day after a big workout.)

After awhile, the muscle cell starts nagging the body again, “We really need some fatty acids here!” Eventually the body gives in and says, “Fine you want fatty acids? Here’s your fatty acids.” The body releases a huge flood of fatty acids, and the muscle cell quickly grabs onto them (just as every other cell that needs them gets a hold of them). The muscle starts burning fat and sugar together again (eliminating the terrible lactic acid), and they all lived happily every after.

The happy little muscle cell is just doing its thing one day, when the human starts exercising again. The whole process repeats, but today they all get a bit smarter. After the human exercises, the muscle cell and the body have a meeting. They decide that if this ordeal happens again, the body should release that flood of fatty acids a bit sooner than it did before because they don’t want to go through that whole lactic acid deal again. They also decide to build up some extra blood vessels near the muscle, so the cells can have better access to the fatty acid molecules when they are released.

On the third day, the human exercises again! Their plan works, but not well enough. They decide to release the flood in even less time and add a few more blood vessels. The muscle cell has another idea though. it decides that it can burn more fatty acids to make more energy if it has more fireplaces to burn the fatty acids in, so it orders up some extra mitochondria.

The process repeats every time the human exercises. Eventually, the muscles are just filled with blood vessels, ensuring that all the cells will have excellent access to the fatty acids. The body releases the fatty acid flood sooner and sooner until finally it just releases it when the human even thinks about getting ready to exercise. The extra little mitochondria keep burning fat and sugar even when the human isn’t exercising. The human becomes a 24 hour fat burning machine.

So remember, when you exercise, you’re goal isn’t to burn fat, it’s to become a fat burning machine!

The authors, from Princeton’s Brain Bio Center, stress the necessity of increasing the metabolism in overweight individuals as a means of weight loss. People who are overweight generally have a lower metabolism, and it is through this increased metabolism that fats and carbohydrates (and at times protein) are “burned.” There are three ways the body’s metabolism “burns” calories:

1) during rest, 2) during activity and exercise, and 3) during heat production. All three areas play a vital role in weight loss. Let’s look at each area separately.

1. The resting state potentially can burn the highest amount calories—73% of our calories. One goal of any healthy weigh loss program is to increase the calories burned during resting. This is accomplished by the two remaining factors:

2. The fact is that inactive overweight people and lean people usually have the same level of physical activity. The difference is the lean person has a higher metabolism. Although physical exercise uses only about 12% of the daily calories burned, exercise causes the calories burned during the resting state to be dramatically increased. The calories burned during exercise, are almost insignificant compared to the increased metabolism resulting from exercise. Here, the total calories burned may be twice that of the exercise itself.

3. The body’s heat production accounts for 15% of the total energy used. This process, called thermogenesis, is highest during food intake and exposure to cold. The consumption of a meal can increase the metabolism, thereby burning more calories. And, exposure to cooler temperatures (below 71ƒF) has a stimulating effect on the metabolism. This effect is due to the presence of brown fat. One of the most important regulators of heat production is the thyroid gland. People who complain of feeling cold, and have low temperatures, often have low thyroid gland function. As discussed below, certain foods can increase markedly, the amount of calories burned during thermogenesis.

The authors recommend the following exercise habits to optimize weight loss:

a. Exercise in an environment below 71ƒ F if possible, such as Outdoors in cool weather. Avoid over-heated exercise areas indoors.
b. Take cool showers before and/or after exercise.
c. Avoid over-dressing. Wear loose-fitting clothing when exercising. Avoid sweat-suits which hold the heat and promote sweating.
d. Preferred exercises are continuous, rhythmical and ‘”aerobic’ in nature.

Some of these are walking, running, rowing, skating, skiing and swimming. After 30 minutes of exercise, the body “burns” more fats for energy.

e. The authors recommend a minimum of 20-30 minutes per exercise session, at least three times per week.
f. Lifestyle changes are also recommended: taking the stairs instead of an elevator if possible, or parking the car further away from the store.
The authors discuss the third category, diet, in more detail. Specifically, how certain dietary factors can change metabolism. Certain dietary factors can suppress (decrease) metabolism:

… A low calorie diet (caloric restriction) and short term fasting. A common example is skipping meals.
… Snacking throughout the day on high sugared foods (candy, colas, cakes, gum). Also, eating or drinking sweets before exercise prevents proper benefits.

Certain dietary factors can stimulate (increase) the metabolism:
… Dietary fats. Including vegetable oils like extra virgin olive or safflower. These fats contain “essential fatty acids.” Following digestion they are converted to substances called prostaglandins which help increase metabolism.
… High fiber foods including whole grains, fresh vegetables and fruits.
… Since certain nutrients are often low in dieters, the frequent self-imposed food restriction often restricts these vitamins and mineral even more. Vitamin B-6, zinc, manganese, and other important nutrients help convert fats to prostaglandins along with other processes important to increase metabolism. Consult your doctor for specific needs.
… Capsaicin, a naturally occurring substance found in hot spicy foods like Mexican chili peppers, stimulates the metabolism. The authors recommend including small amounts of capsaicin in the diet, if tolerated.
… Natural carbohydrates, including whole grain foods (breads, brown rice, pasta) fruits and vegetables, also help to stimulate the metabolism. Conversely, protein foods, such as meat and fish, can slow the metabolism.
Alternating a high calorie day with a low calorie day has a stimulating effect on the metabolism. The example given for men: one day consume 1700 calories, the next day 1200 calories, the third day 1700, the fourth 1200, etc. For women, 1400 calories the first day, and 1000 the next, is sufficient.
… Eating 3-6 meals per day has a stimulating effect on metabolism. 55% carbohydrate, 25% fat and 20% protein is recommended.
All white flour and sugar are to be avoided.

Related Articles: Diet Plateau, L-Carnitine

Author: Kristen Helmer Site: Kristen’s Guide

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