Good evening, and I hope you had a great week last week.
Fat Burning is a 3-Step Process
Did you know that the process of fat burning is a 3-step process? Here is how it goes:
Step 1: mobilization. In this step, a triglyceride is broken down into its components: a molecule of glycerol and 3 free fatty acids. This is also the part where fat comes out of the fat cell.
Step 2: transport. Since fat can’t actually be burned inside the fat cell, the free fatty acids come out of the fat cell (which is called an “adipocyte”), and they are transported into the blood, and then into muscles, where they can actually be burned.
Step 3: oxidation. This is the actual “burning” of the fat. Oxidation is simply the process of using free fatty acids for energy.
What is the significance of all this? If you are trying to lose body fat, different steps will be problematic for you, depending on your level of initial body fat.
For the obese, the oxidation step will be problematic due to some form of initial insulin resistance. Meaning that the fat won’t be able to get into the fat cell, and then be oxidized. At least not as efficiently as in a lean person. How do they overcome this challenge? For them it’s quite easy. Just improve insulin sensitivity by exercising more and eating the right foods.
For the people in the middle, there won’t be much of a problem with either step.
For the very lean person (men under about 12% body fat, and women under about 20%, although this varies) who is lean everywhere else, but has a one or two “problem areas”, the biggest challenge is the mobilization step. Notice that areas with “stubborn fat” tend to be colder than areas that are leaner. That is because those stubborn areas get less blood flow (and therefore less nutrients) than leaner areas, so the fat can’t be mobilized as well. This is a particularly difficult problem to come across, but there are a few options to combat this.
One option that was proposed by a well-known author, Dr. Lonnie Lowery is to increase blood flow to the area by first performing high repetitions (30-50) of an exercise for the muscle underneath the fat, and follow it up with 30-60 minutes of light-moderate cardio. This will increase blood flow to the area and increase mobilization.