Article for INFOCUS MAGAZINE – How to burn fat fast for optimum shape on the set

Do you want to get in shape and understand how to get or keep a slim shape? Let`s have a quick look into the details of the `fat burning`process of your body and you will know how to slim down – without any fashionable diet!

A view into your bodies `power house`

When you start to workout, your body can supply the energy needs mostly from `glycogen`. Glycogen is a substance into which your body breaks down carbohydrates and with which energy is stored in your body for an effort up to two hours, depending on type and intensity of training. After the depletion of this energy source you have to take in about 30-60g of carbohydrates per hour if you want to avoid a decrease in performance quality,

The `power house` of the muscles, the so called “mitochondria”, only can use glycogen directly, so everything you eat has to be broken down into glycogen before the muscle can effectively use it.

How to control fat burning

To understand how you can burn fat or lose weight you first have to know how your body stores `fat` as an energy source. This will lead to an understanding how to avoid gaining weight and how to lose weight effectively. This simple process has its roots in the metabolism of carbohydrates.

Glycogen is the most important energy source of the human body which supplies organs and cells. A lack of glycogen results in a disturbance of the function of organs and cell metabolism.

The blood sugar level has a central function in the carbohydrate metabolism, which is mainly determined by the supply, consumption and storage of glucose as glycogen in the liver.

There are different kinds of carbohydrates, monosaccharide, disaccharide and polysaccharide. Disaccharide and polysaccharide are broken down in monosaccharide so that the energy can be resorbed in the small intestine. From there it is transported with blood circulation to cell metabolism and transported primary to the liver.
To store glucose in the liver it has to be broken down into glycogen. About 150 g glycogen can be stored in the liver and in the muscles. Following a physical activity will result in depletion of this depot first, because the body can transform it into energy quickly.

If the storages in the liver and the muscles are fully charged with glycogen, the rest will be stored as fat.  This is the critical point to understand the fat burning and weight gaining process: if you eat too much carbs, and keep on eating, more and more fat is stored in your body. The solution for effective weight loss therefore is regular exercising on the one hand, following a balanced low to medium carb diet on the other hand. Chose preferably carbohydrates with a `low glycemic index` or low `GI`, because this kind of food is the most healthy and affects your blood sugar level less than food with a high GI.

What is the meaning of the `glycemic index` and glycemic load of food for your daily life?

The glycemic Index (glyx) of a food type shows the effect of food containing carbohydrates on the blood sugar level. A wide spread opinion still is that the glyx has an important role for reduction of body fat. Today, there are several researches which show that the blood sugar level is influenced by a few factors, which can even vary from day to day and from person to person. For weight loss the `glycemic load` of food is more important, because it also reflects, beside the type of carbohydrate, the amount of food consumed.

A daily negative caloric budget, meaning that you eat less than the amount of calories you actually need, still is considered the best choice to reduce body fat. No evidence exists that nutrition with low glycemic load has the best effect on human health, but it is assumed that a balanced nutrition with overall low glycemic load will serve you best in the long run to reduce weight and keep / improve health.

Please refer to the table below to understand the difference between low, medium and high values for glycemic index and load:

Please find here an overview over sample food types with high, middle and low glycemic load. Eat especially food with low to medium glycemic load, rarely food with high glycemic load.

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