burning fat and cardio

From the beginning: I hate for anyone to come in 1/2 through my postings and missrepresent me. From an earlier post: simple and complex carbs. It doesn't matter what form you digest them in. Once they enter your digestive system they are broken down do glucose. Our body use some glucose for immediate ATP, the rest is stored as glycogen. The enzyme amalyze breaks it down without any wait. As long as you have carbs in your system it will be used as fuel before fat. In order for us to have carbs in our body that are not ready for use we would have to eat them while exercising which we rarely do. I think you have gotten a bit confused on the breakdown of carbs. Glycogen is carbs, they are not two different substances. Yes this is a complex matter and not all that easy to grasp so it's easy to be confused on the terminology. I lean towards that as long as you have carbs in your body they will be used. Not until the glycogen has been depleted will your body start using the stored fat. So the key is to eat moderate amounts of carbs to ensure that the fat will be tapped into as soon as possible.

OK folks this is certainly an interesting topic but there is a great deal of confusion surrounding the issue as well. SO, there are several topics I will discuss: 1. Total Calories: Regardless of where the calories are coming from, the caloric burn for 30 minutes of jogging on the treadmill is the same whether you are doing it in the morning prior to eating or int he evening after you have eaten 2 or 3 meals. Sorry, just because a higher percentage of calories burned will come from fat if you perform your cardio in the morning, does not equal more weight loss. It just means that you are utilizing a different energy source at that time. Weight loss has much more to do with calories in and calories out rather than the particular substrate you are using at the time. Another similar example of this would be training heart rate. If you are performing cardiovascular training at 60 percent of your max heart rate, a higher percentage of calories burned are coming from fat than if you were training at 75 percent of your max heart rate. Does this make training at 60 percent of your max heart rate superior to 75 percent? Absolutely not!!!!!!!!!!! It makes no sense to spend 45 minutes performing cardiovascular exercise at a slower pace when you could burn the same number of calories in 30 minutes by simply exercising at a higher intensity.........and it leads me to my next point. 2. Performing cardiovascular training in the morning prior to eating is not a bad thing but since your blood sugar is at its lowest point of the day and a higher percentage of calories you utilize will be from fat, you may not be able to work out as intensely. You see, as you perform more intense exercise, whether it cardiovascular or weight training in nature, the higher the percentage of calories come from glucose. Additionally, if you exercise at 75 percent of your max heart rate versus 60 percent you are burning more calories per minute, even though a higher percentage is coming from glucose. More calories expended is better!!!!! What this ultimately means is that the intensity you are capable of working out at early in the morning may be lower than the intensity you are able to work out at in the afternoon when plenty of glucose is pulsing through you veins and muscle glycogen is readily replenished. Bottom line.....although exercising in the morning is not a bad thing (well unless you are hypoglycemic), do not expect any greater weight loss than performing the same exercise at any other time of the day. Sorry, just because a higher percentage of the calories you are burning are certainly coming from fat does not mean more weight loss. WHen you are sleeping you burn a higher percentage of calories from fat than when you are up walking.....does this mean you will lose more weight in your sleep than when you are walking......probably not!!!! Just get and stay active no matter what time of day it is. -Jeremy Gentles, CSCS

If you do cardio immediately after eating a meal, you'll still burn fat, but you'll burn less of it because you'll be burning off the carbohydrates you ate first. You always burn a combination of fat and carbohydrate for fuel, but depending on when you exercise, you can burn a greater proportion of fat relative to carbohydrate. If doing cardio first thing in the morning is not an option for you, then the second best time to do it would be immediately after weight training. Lifting weights is anaerobic (carbohydrate-burning) by nature, and therefore depletes muscle glycogen. That's why a post lifting cardio session has a similar effect as morning cardio on an empty stomach. Obvioulsy alot of us disagree with when is the best time to do cardio, and if we should or shouldnt be in a fasted state. Jeremy, no one is arguing the point (except you) I am just wondering. Are you here trolling for clients?

I think you may have misunderstood my point... My point is that is does not matter whether you burn more calories from fat when it comes weight loss. It is total caloric expenditure that really matters. It seems that you think you will lose more weight if the calories you are burning are from fat. This simply is not the case. So, if it does not impact weight loss one way or the other, why then is there an optimal time to perform cardiovascular training? The answer is, there really is not one. And no, I don't need clients....I do this because I enjoy helping and I have a formal education in exercise physiology.

Thank you, Jeremy.....I was ready to run screaming thru the gym!!!! Dee

Yeah, no need to do that. Just keep up the good work!

Jeremy Your info is on point, my brother is an exercise physiciologist (sp) and has told me the same. He has high profiled clients and is very successful and no I'm not seeking clients for him. He doesn't advertise because he doesn't have too. Wished that I had listened to him years ago.

Thanks for the info Jeremy and everyone. I just try to fit my workouts in when I can and its been working well so far! Tracy B

I think the best workout schedule is the one you can fit in and keep in the routine. Kathy

this is EXACTLY what I have been learning in my recent studies, thankl you so much for the info. I do have some trouble understanding and putting together all that I am learning, hope I get better at it all soon! I hope you dont mind a dumb question here, but I have gotten varying stories depending on who I talk to. one trainer told me to do weights first, then cardio, that I would burn fat more effciently. then another trainer told me to not do weights and cardio on the same days, to alternate, or if I HAD to do it on the same day to do cardio first, then weights and I would build more muscle, and with my fat history, I should really focus on building muscle to increase my metabolism. my body fat was calculated as 23.5 ( electrical impedance, dont know how accurate that is) Although at 4'11" and 135, my bmi is overweight range around 27. I dont feel over weight, (well - except when my body image issues are acting up) but I seriously have only a little layer of fat over my ribs etc. I am fairly happy with my size, try not to focus too much on the scale, but on how I look, feel, clothing fits. I am not a skinny stick girl, but a nice medium build for my size. which I like. Ideas? suggestions???