Thursday, October 15, 2009

But wait, there's MORE!

Remember how last week I gave you two great ways to burn more fat during your workout??!

Yeah?!


Ok, folks, well today I'm sharing
MORE (MORE - More - more) secrets to successful fat burning workouts!

That's right!

Ok.

Enough of that excited fitness guru voice. I can NOT keep that up for very long, so let's cut to the chase. Today I'm sharing some valuable, research-based information on eating and exercising well for fat loss, courtesy of the formidable Dr. Len Kravitz (you wish. No, this Kravitz is definitely not the rock star). Here we go.


Listen up, early AM exercisers:

If your exercise routine begins with rolling out of bed, please, for goodness sakes, please eat something! Research shows that after fasting all night, morning workouts will be 20-25% less effective (you'll move >20% slower & therefore burn >20% fewer calories) unless you eat something before the workout.

  • If your goal is to lose body fat, pick a low-glycemic index food, encouraging your body to use stored fat energy for exercise fuel rather than the food you just ate.
  • For example, eat a quarter of an apple, a few spoonfuls of yogurt, a half glass of skim milk, a handful of dates.

Dieters, beware:

If you're dieting (ie, significantly reducing the number of calories you eat per day with the goal of losing fat), please incorporate exercise into the program.

  • With dieting alone, studies show that up to 28% of the weight lost is muscle. This causes your metabolism to slooooowwwww down, resetting the vicious dieting cycle.
  • With dieting plus regular cardiovascular exercise, approx. 4% of body weight lost is muscle.
  • With dieting plus resistance training, individuals lose less than 1% of their original muscle mass.

See, now isn't that nice? I'd love to hear if you're trying any of these strategies!


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yogurt? Dates? SKIM milk?? Surely you jest!

Dad K.

Anne Koski said...

Well you're in luck, because pistachios are also on the list.

T. said...

Funny. :) Actually, I just read something in a LifeFitness mag about how whole milk is healthier than skim milk-! I know, I know, but the article was about how whole milk had a lower lactose level and lower glycemic index, I believe. It seems to be the "trade fat for sugar" dilemma that diabetics play with. But...it was pretty interesting. We are trying it because I have to watch that.

Well...there doesn't seem to be time for 90-120 minutes of "intervals", much as I'd like to just take off walking. But I can tell you that after reading your post, I am trying to bump up my effort on the stations-!

Anonymous said...

I can do pistachios. They go well with my personal drink of choice (and it's not skim milk...).