HEALTHY EATING, FITNESS, WEIGHT LOSS AND FITNESS CHALLENGES

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Fasted Training, Stubborn Fat and Weight Loss

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to share something that I do from time to time that helps with weight loss and reduction of stubborn fat.

Let me introduce you to Fasted Training. I was introduced to Fasted Training about 3 years ago and I'll try to summarize my personal research into this post.

Fasted Training can be a Fasted Cardio Workout or a Fasted Strength Training Workout.

What is Fasted Training?

Like the name implies, Fasted training is training that occurs in a Fasted State. So, what is the Fasted State? The Fasted State (not religiously o) is a period usually 8 -12 hours after your last meal. So typically, when you wake up in the morning, you have "fasted" through the night. Your first meal of the day "breaks" that "fast".

The prime time to do a fasted training is in the morning before you have breakfast. Why? because it is convenient. It is easier to fast through the night, than to fast through the entire day and then workout!

So why train fasted?

1. Because in a fasted state, your body has zero to no sugar floating around in your blood stream and your liver glycogen stores are probably low at this time, your body HAS NO CHOICE but to break down stubborn fat as a source of energy. Fats contain more calorific energy (  9 cals) than sugar (4 cals).

2. Training fasted improves your Metabolic Conditioning. Our metabolism affects the way our body function from fat utilization to glucose uptake to hormone secretion..EVERYTHING! Training fasted helps condition your metabolism. It gives your system a jolt, and that jolt will help "tune" your system to run more efficiently.

3. Training fasted improves your glucose sensitivity in the short term. Weight gain, Obesity and almost every disease condition has an underlying factor known as "glucose resistance". This means that body is not sensitive to glucose. It therefore takes a LOT of glucose for your body to start producing insulin to bring the glucose levels down. This leads to weight gain, over time diabetes, and other disease conditions.

How to Train in a Fasted State 

1. 15 mins to your workout, take some BCAA (branched Chain Amino Acids), if you don't have that, use some Whey Protein or like me, the egg white of 1 boiled egg.

2. Workout should be 30-45 mins long

3. A light meal post workout. Or a protein shake.

4. Eat breakfast

NOTE: If you are hard core, you can skip the pre workout protein. However, keep in mind over time, this will lead to muscle mass. So apply caution.

Who Should Train Fasted

Anyone looking to lose stubborn fat.

How Often Should I do This?

Once a week. Not more than 3 times a week or you'll start to lose muscle mass.

NOTE: Fasted Training is not a magic pill. Everything in Moderation. You have to eat and sleep adequately for this work. Over-doing this can actually lead to WEIGHT GAIN, FATIGUE and a WHACK METABOLISM. So again, please tread carefully. 

Be Well,

Phunkie O.

3 comments:

  1. I've read that you dont necessarily need to do fasted cardio in order to lose weight. and HIIT is the way to go to burn stubborn fat.

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  2. A lot of the fitness people I follow, subscribe to fasted training. I do it and it works for me, might not work for other people.

    There's no magic bullet to losing weight, fasted training is just one more tool in the repertoire of tools. It has other benefits that are important to good health outside of weight loss.

    You are right about HIIT. Considering that HIIT can be either cardio (e.g. sprint intervals) or strength training (e.g. kettle bell tabata)or a combination of both strength and cardio, I decided to not be specific. But thanks, for the input.

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  3. Don't waste the benefits of an intense workout by eating the wrong kind of food after you exercise. Reach for a healthy post-workout back pain relief product -bodyaline snack instead of that jelly doughnut calling your name, and your body will thank you for it. More...

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