Fat is the way for our body to store energy. When we consume more energy or calories than we need, our body stores energy for later use. This is a fascinating function that our body has and probably took millions of years for our body to learn how to prevent from starvation.
In this article, I’ve illustrated how our body physiologically functions in terms of fat storage as well as fat usage. This article will also provide what is the ideal process of enabling the body to use both glucose and fat as energy source.
Before starting, lets talk about ideal situation for fat utilization. We do carry around storage form of energy called fat. Even when one weighs about 150lb with 10% body fat, the same person will be carrying over 61,000 calories. So ideal situation would be enabling our body to use fat as a primary energy source. Issues that 70% of the population is facing is not only not being able to use fat as energy source but also adding more fat to the storage, which is leading to other health issues.
Of course, individual may have underlying conditions that causing the body to store fat but more we understand the foundation of fat metabolism this may help train the body to become fat burning machine and regulate fat storage.
It is a lot of information to learn so take your time and enjoy the learning process.
1. Insulin, Glucagon, Brown Fat and White Fat
In our body, we do have 2 types of fat. Brown fat and white fat. Brown fat has higher concentration of mitochondria which makes the color of the fat cells brownish. White fat on the other hand has less mitochondria and making the color of the fat cell whiter.
Why are this fat important? It helps us understand how we can improve our metabolism and utilize fat more efficiently. To understand this, we need to go through understanding of two hormones, insulin, and glucagon.
Insulin and Glucagon
Insulin and glucagon are both secreted by same organ called pancreas. Although they are both secreted by same organ, however, they have completely opposite characteristics. When insulin is working hard, glucagon doesn’t want to do anything. When glucagon is working insulin is not working at all.
Insulin is a hormone that is widely known. It is a transporting hormone that is secreted when the food is consumed. Purpose is to transport nutrients to cells. Glucagon on the other hand is not so well known, but it is secreted when insulin is not working due to fasting or low carbohydrate diet. Simple way to remember is insulin likes to store and glucagon likes to spend.
When you want to get more nutrients and gain more mass (fat or muscles) you want the insulin to be working. However, if you want to exhaust your fat and focus on cleaning up your system, then you want glucagon to be working.
Brown fat and White Fat
If you have kids, you may have witness this. After taking a bath infant does not shiver as much, whereas adults do and feel cold with the temperature difference between shower and outer environment. This is because, infants have more brown fat than adults. Brown fat as mentioned earlier has more mitochondria which means can produce more energy or heat. As we get older, unfortunately, those brown fat get smaller. White fat on the other hand is just a storage and by itself does not produce any heat or energy.
Brown fat even with adults, is set around chest cavity where heart, lungs and other vital organs sits. Whereas white fat usually sits in subcutaneous and visceral area. Although they have different structure, depending on insulin or glucagon, they can act like one or the other.
For example, when insulin is working brown fat will work like white fat and stay calm and watch the white fat accumulates. When glucagon is at work, white fat will start working like brown fat and start emitting heat and able to burn more energy.
When Insulin is High
Insulin's job is to store. Therefore, when insulin level is high, all our fat cell will act like white cell. In fact, our metabolic rate decreases, which makes total sense. When you want to store something, you do not want to waste or get rid of anything. For our body, when we are eating food, all the nutrients should not be wasted. For this reason, our body does not want to increase metabolic rate, where it can have the chance of wasting the important nutrients.
So, while the insulin is high, mitochondria rich brown fat will act like white fat and entire body will act to store food you’ve consumed rather than use them.
It is recorded that when the insulin level is high, whether from diet or insulin treatment, one can increase their fat mass by 20lb within 6-month period.
When Glucagon is High
Glucagon's job is to spend. Therefore, when glucagon level is high, all the fat cells will start acting like brown fat. Metabolic rate during this time is about 10% higher, which also make sense. When you are either fasted or lower in carbohydrate, the body need more energy to live. So, the body will be using stored energy called fat as energy source.
2. Physiology of Mitochondria
When discussing metabolism, or converting food into energy, it is important to understand what mitochondria does. Mitochondria is an organelle that lives in our cells and its major function is production of energy. Whether you are sleep, sitting, exercising, reading book, and so on, mitochondria are consistently at work providing use with energy that we required to complete the tasks.
The process of mitochondria producing energy from fat and glucose for our daily performance is called Mitochondria Respiration. We have three energy sources that can be converted into energy, fatty acid, glucose, and lactate. Glucose will convert into two molecules called pyruvate and lactate. Lactate can be utilized as energy source at higher athletic performances, however, must be trained to be able to do so.
Ideal primary energy source is fat. Reason is fat as fuel is clean, produces less CO2 than glucose, and we store a lot. Stored fat or triglyceride can break up into 3 fatty acids and glycerol by the enzyme called hormone sensitive lipase (HSL). Fatty acid, then, with a help of the amino acid called carnitine, it enters mitochondria through the CPT1 transporter. Once the fatty acid enters the mitochondria, the process called Beta-Oxidation starts. This is the process where mitochondria further break down into acetyl-CoA. After the breakdown into acetyl-CoA then enters the last phase called Kreb cycle then to electron transport. Through this process mitochondria can generate 129 ATP from fatty acid.
Glucose has 2 pathways. First pathway is glucose breakdown to pyruvate through a process called glycolysis. This process is happening outside of the mitochondria. Then pyruvate enters mitochondria and convert into acetyl-CoA then enter Kreb cycle and electron transport like fatty acids. This process creates 32 ATP.
As we exercise, regardless of how fit you are, energy demand will increase. We do normally produce some amount of lactate, however, as energy demand increases, we create more lactate through glucose. Therefore, the second pathway for glucose is broken down to pyruvate with decrease in cellular oxygen, then convert into lactate. If there’s enough MCT1 transporters in mitochondria, the lactate enters mitochondria then convert back to pyruvate. Pyruvate converts into acetyl-CoA and enters Kreb cycle and electron transport. In this process 32 ATP is created.
Mitochondria Respiration in Exercise
How does this mechanism work in exercise? Energy usage can shift from fatty-acid, pyruvate, and lactate according to physical exertion. At rest, in healthy individual, fat utilization is the dominant. The body still use glucose and lactate but in terms of ratio, it is very low. This may change if you have sedentary or have high stress lifestyle. This can promote lactate level to increase. Problem is when you are not trained to use lactate as energy source, the cell in our body cannot hold it and spit it into blood stream. This may lead to fatigue due to change in blood pH, which also can lead to dehydration due to change in tonicity in the blood even when you are drinking water during the day.
Back to energy usage in exercise. As the physical exertion increases the ratio of energy usage starts to shift. At certain level of physical exertion, primary energy use will shift from fat dominant to glucose dominant. Eventually, the body will not be able to utilize fat as energy source not because lack of fat, but body needs faster fuel. This rate of change can vary depending on how the individual been trained.
Comparing fat and glucose, although fat can create more ATP than glucose, it is slower process to create energy though can be long lasting. Glucose on the other hand, despite the lower ATP creation, it is faster production of energy. What this means is, if your goal is to use fat as primary energy source, you want to keep the intensity level low such as brisk walk. If your goal is to lift heavy weight or perform in high intensity training, you will be utilizing glucose and lactate as energy source. Reason why heavy lifting or high intensity training prefers glucose and lactate as energy source is because the muscle can work more efficiently with glucose.
Which Energy System is Important?
This may bring you to the question of which energy system (fat and glucose) is more important. When you are thinking of longevity it is important to be training in both energy system.
In ideal world, you want the fat to be the primary energy source. Reason is it is long lasting, and our body has abundant of them. Even if you weigh 130lb and have bodyfat percentage of 10%, you have 13lb of bodyfat. Which means this person has over 53,000 calories stored in the body. Our body can only store limited amount of glucose. Let’s say you are consuming 300g of carbohydrate. That’s 1200 calories. No where near the number of calories through your body fat. Even if you were able to replenish immediately after or in between your physical activity, frequent intake of glucose may lead to insulin resistance.
Another reason is using glucose as energy produces CO2 in our body. So, frequent production of CO2, which is toxic, will cause the oxidation process in the body faster. It is very important fuel source for generating power, however, it is taxing to the body.
Training energy system should be designed towards what you are working for. My primary focus for my training is for soccer performance. Which means, I will need to sprint, run, kick the ball, withstand tackles and shoving for 90 minutes. Therefore, I will need to train in both fat energy system so I can save my glycogen as much as I can and glucose energy system so when I need the most strength, the body can use it. I will also need to train my body to be able to utilize lactate as energy source especially towards the end of the game.
If the primary goal for me was heavy lifting, then my primary focus would be training more in glucose energy system because I need more explosive movement which would be more efficient with glucose.
If the goal is fat loss, then it is necessary to train accordingly. For unfit individual, rather than focusing on calories, although it is somewhat important, think of what your body need to work on so that fat can be utilize more efficiently. If the focus is on fat loss, then exercising hard to burn off calories may not be a good place to start. I admire people training hard but may not leading to what they are wanting to accomplish.
3. Process of Fat Metabolism
Complete fat metabolism comes in 3 phases. First is catabolism or breakdown of fat. Second is transporting to organelle called mitochondria. Then third, mitochondria converting to ATP (adenosine triphosphate) or energy, carbon dioxide and water. When these 3 phases were met then the fat metabolism is considered successful or complete.
Fat Catabolism
Fat cell or triglyceride consists of two parts, glycerol, and 3 fatty acids. These two gets broken down or catabolized by enzyme called hormone sensitive lipase (HSL). This enzyme is signaled to be secreted by several hormones such as adrenaline, growth hormones(testosterone), and thyroid hormones to name the few.
This catabolic or breakdown signaling can be done by few methods. One method is exercise. This exercise can be weight training, walking, running, hiking, playing sports and so on. Another factor is through consumption of caffeine and capsaicin. Caffeine can find in coffee, tea, pre-workout, energy drinks and so on. Capsaicin is in chili or certain types of spices. One of the popular fat loss methods is fasted walking in the morning with coffee. If you were to practice this method, go easy on the walking pace and duration. This walking should be easy pace with no more than 30 minutes to not overstress the body, which will promote retaining of the fat rather than breakdown.
Fat Transport to Mitochondria
Transporting catabolized fat to mitochondria is done by amino acid called carnitine. Even when the body breaks down fat but not able to transport into mitochondria due to lack of carnitine the fat metabolism cannot be successful. Our body does produce carnitine; however, amount of secretion seems to decrease as we age. You can get carnitine from animal protein or through supplementing such as protein powder and essential amino acids supplements
Fat Convert to Energy
After transported into mitochondria, next step is converting fatty acid into energy or ATP. For this process to happen substances such as Co Enzyme Q10, Vitamin D and iron are required. Through this process fatty acid is converted into ATP (energy), CO2, and water. Our body does create Co-Enzyme Q10, however, like carnitine we tend to slow down the process of making it as we age. You can get Co-Enzyme Q 10 through food sources such as meat, fish, spinach, broccoli and so on. You may also supplement as need it.
4. Leptin and Ghrelin
Although it is somewhat complicated, it is fascinating to understand how our body can tell when we are hungry and when we are full. There are two hormones that dictates our hunger and satiety. They are Ghrelin and Leptin.
Ghrelin is known as the "hunger hormone" which is produced by gastrointestinal tract. As the mealtime gets closer blood ghrelin level increase and suggest us that it is time to eat.
Leptin is the opposite from ghrelin, and it is hunger inhibitor or "satiety hormone" which is produced by adipocyte or fat cells and small intestine. Leptin seems to take about 15-20 minutes to take an affect. This is a reason why we should eat slow for leptin to signal us that we had enough food rather than eating until we are stuffed which will be too much.
More than a Hunger Hormone
Ghrelin as mentioned earlier is known as the "hunger hormone". However, ghrelin's role is much more than that.
One of the roles is ghrelin regulates glucose homeostasis by inhibiting insulin secretion. Which means, when our glucose level decreases, ghrelin seems to signal pancreas to slow down or stop secreting insulin to avoid hypoglycemia or low blood sugar.
Ghrelin also seems to have impact on energy homeostasis meaning it may regulate energy intake and usage. In a mice study, using ghrelin promoted increase in fasted energy expenditure along with decrease cholesterol, triglycerides, and improved insulin sensitivity.
It is possible that during fasted state, ghrelin can signal body to start using fat as energy source, which makes sense because during fasted state our resting metabolic rate higher than when we are consuming food. This will also show that ghrelin can indirectly create heat (thermogenesis) in a process of increase in fasted energy expenditure. This is most likely due to heat produced while metabolizing fat into energy source called ATP (adenosine triphosphate).
Ghrelin can also indirectly increase muscle mass by increasing food intake, regulate bone formation, and cardio-protective effect. When you look at it, being hungry is not a death sentence. It is ok to feel hungry and not eat for a while.
Satiety Hormone
Leptin is a hormone for us to know when we had enough food and stop eating. Without this hormone it is difficult to know when we are full and may end up eating more than we should. It is also a key factor to understanding obesity pandemic across the globe.
Leptin in small increase can suppress appetite and lead to decrease in body weight, however, in obese population this affect does not seem to take place. There is a condition where leptin's ability to suppress hunger or increase in body's energy use is decreased called leptin resistance. Main symptoms of leptin resistance are consistently hungry and increase in food intake despite adequate or excess amount of body fat (2). Possible reason is transportation of leptin from blood to brain across blood brain barrier. Since leptin is secreted in adipocytes (fat cells), obese individual may secrete excessive amount of leptin due to excess amount of fat, which may cause to decrease the permeability at the blood brain barrier, which leads to not able to signal satiety.
There is a functional and anatomical relationship between fat cells and immune cells. This also leads to assumption of leptin may have effect on immune system. Leptin is a proinflammatory, which means excess amount remain in the blood may cause inflammation and affect our immune system.
Appetite Signals Are Important
It is important to understand why we have both hunger and satiety signals, and it is also important to understand what they mean.
There have been several clients of mine who came to discuss about they're not getting hungry. Ghrelin being secreted in gastrointestinal tract; the person may have digestive issue and may not be able to secrete ghrelin properly. Solution that was discussed was consuming water-soluble fiber, such as oatmeal, apples, beans, to help rejuvenate gut bacteria along with replenish gut bacteria colony with probiotic and prebiotics and seems to be working well.
From weight management perspective, you should learn to regulate ghrelin frequency to your dietary needs, however, if you have tendency to undereat, you shouldn't ignore your hunger signal and may need to force to eat even if you are not sensing hunger to avoid health complication.
Leptin or satiety signals are also important. When you are getting full, it is important to place your fork down and stop eating. I do understand the feeling of wanting to finish everything on the plate, however, to avoid obesity and other health complications it is important to learn to save it for next meal. Since leptin is secreted by adipocyte or fat cells and small intestine, it is ideal to maintain body fat under control and improve your digestive health.
5. Dietary Considerations for Fat Loss
When looking at science our body seems to work differently from one another. Nothing to be surprised about. Some people do well with low fat and some people do well with low carb when it comes to weight loss. Although there is a basic science about carbohydrate increase insulin secretion which is not ideal for fat loss, however, it is also fact that some people have done well with low fat diet.
Personally, my body prefers low carb diet when I want to lose extra fat. However, increasing carbohydrate in my diet works well when I want to perform in soccer. It is important to know what works better for you.
Know the Difference
It is important to understand how the diet looks like for both low carb and low-fat diet. Although I'm don't practice calorie counting, for our conversation purpose it may make sense to differentiate the two diets. Let's set the calorie to 2000 calories per day to keep the math simple.
There are three types of macronutrients, protein, carbohydrates, and fat. In 1g of protein and carbohydrates there are 4 calories and 1g of fat possess about 9 calories.
When practicing low fat diet, the ratio of carbohydrate, protein and fat would be 6:3:1. This is the example of low-fat diet. Ratio can be adjusted according to your needs. But let’s keep this ratio and work with the calories and amount of each nutrient. Carbohydrate from above example will be 60% of 2000 calorie which will be 1200 calories. Since carbohydrate has 4 calories per gram, amount of carbohydrate per day will be 300 grams. For protein which will be 30% (600 calories) would be 150 grams. Fat is 10% (200 calories) in this example so it would be about 22 grams.
When practicing low carb diet the ratio of carbohydrate, protein and fat can be 1:3:6. In 2000 calorie diet, carbohydrate will be 50 grams, protein 150 grams, and fat about 133 grams.
Majority of times people mix these two concepts and not being specific to the body. When you are wanting to gain muscle and lose fat, which are specific goal, information you give to the body also needs to be specific. Imaging you are at the work and has specific goal set by your managers, but instruction given to you is not specific. It is going to be hard to attain the goal. This is same for the body. Don't mix the diet!
Although I'm not huge fan of calorie counting, however, I do monitor what I eat and assess what I should eat for the next meal. If I am working on low carb diet but I had pasta for lunch, I will minimize carbohydrate (rice, pasta, bread) for dinner and have fish and vegetables.
Don't Mess with Protein
People tend to get weird about protein. During fat loss, along with other macro-nutrients, they have tendency to lower the protein intake, which is not a clever way to lose weight because it leads to muscle loss, which also lead to slowing down your metabolism.
Most likely when you are on fat loss program, you are exercising or being active on regular basis, which is very important to maintain higher metabolism. However, without adequate amount of protein you will not have enough building blocks to repair muscles, tendons, and ligaments that has been damaged through your physical activities.
It is critical, especially in fat loss, to have adequate amount of protein whether you follow low fat or low carb diet.
If you are having difficulty meeting the protein requirement, it is ok to take them from supplements like protein powders. There are various protein powders available to meet everybody's needs including people who have lactose intolerance to those who follow vegan diet. If you are not sure of which to choose, you should ask your trainer or nutritionist for more advice.
Choose Your Fuel Source
When you are choosing low carb or low-fat diet you are technically choosing what energy you are preferring to use. In other words, regardless of what you are following you will need adequate amount of energy source.
Often when people follow diet, they tend to be consuming both carb and fat or equally lowering both. What this process does is it teaches the body to utilize protein or amino acids from consumed protein or muscles to breakdown into fuel. I hope that is not what you are wanting to do. The body can use protein or amino acids as an energy source but that is in a process of starvation, which creates more complication making fat loss even harder.
Some of the consequence of inadequate amount of energy source (carb or fat) is lower metabolism, hormonal imbalance and decline in immune system.
When you are choosing a diet make sure to appropriately consume adequate amount of energy source. If you are on low carb diet, you will need to increase fat intake and lower carbohydrate intake. If you are on low fat diet, you will need to increase carbohydrate intake and lower fat intake.
In a 2000 calorie diet example above, if you are on low carb diet your daily allowance of carbohydrate is 50g and fat intake is 130g. If you are on low fat diet, you should be consuming 300g of carbohydrate and 20g of fat per day.
Add Cheat Meal When Plateau
When you are going through fat loss, there will be a plateau. The body will become efficient at functioning at the diet you are in. Timing of adaptation may vary from person to person; however, it will happen.
The common question is should you change the diet or lower the calories. The answer is adding cheat meal every 2-4 weeks. When you are on diet, you want your metabolism to be always high so you cannot afford to lower the calorie to bring the metabolism lower. This will make fat loss harder.
Instead add a cheat day. Although I say cheat day it is clean cheat day. Clean cheat day means you are still consuming healthy food but not needing to worry about carb or fat. You get to eat type of food that you would normally eat.
By adding cheat day, not only you can enhance your metabolism, but you will also get to avoid boredom of the diet. Let's face it. It does get monotonous after a while. Typically for me, I would be on low carb diet for most of the time so I would add in carbohydrates like rice, noodles, bread, and potatoes during my cheat day.
6. Effect of Protein to Our Diet
When working on diet for health, fat loss or whatever may be, question usually rises what affect protein has with insulin. And this is very good concern and need to be addressed properly. We hear so many different answers to the questions on protein promote insulin spike and get you out of ketosis or protein has no effect and help burn off more calories upon consumption.
So, what is the answer to the questions? Does protein have any effect on insulin or glucagon? To understand this topic, we need to bring back insulin and glucagon.
Insulin and Glucagon
As mentioned before, insulin and glucagon are secreted in same organ called pancreas. They have complete opposite characteristics. Main role of insulin is to store. So, when insulin level is high then the body will work on storing the nutrients. Therefore, majority of times, when we consume food or beverages with calorie, the insulin will be elevated and work on storing the nutrients in those food or beverages.
Glucagon on the other hand has a role of spending. Only time when glucagon will be working is when the insulin level is low. When glucagon is high and active, it works towards utilizing fat as energy source. This is why we don't die even when we are sleeping or starving.
Catabolism, Anabolism, and Insulin to Glucagon Ratio
To understand further conversation regarding insulin and glucagon, you will need to learn insulin to glucagon ratio. When insulin and glucagon ratio is high the body will be in anabolism. Anabolism is body's way of building phase. So, after you do your workout, you do want to be in anabolic state so your muscle, ligament, bone will be rebuilt to be stronger.
When insulin to glucagon ratio is low, the body will go through a pathway of catabolism or breaking down. Catabolism may sound scary but very important process. Without catabolic process, we are not able to utilize fat as energy source nor can we eliminate some of the old cells that we do not need.
Both anabolism and catabolism are dictated by the insulin to glucagon ratio. Depending on what your goal or focus is, you can manipulate your diet to manage your insulin to glucagon ratio.
Let's put insulin to glucagon ratio into daily perspective.
When we are fasted for more than 2-3 hours our insulin level usually is lower. When insulin level is lower, glucagon level will be higher. Therefore, insulin to glucagon ratio will be low. This will be in catabolic state where body will be using and wasting energy. During this state, because the body is willing to exhaust the stored energy, metabolic rate will be higher.
When we consume carbohydrate, insulin level increase. As the insulin level increases, glucagon secretion is inhibited. Hence, the insulin to glucagon ratio will be high. This is a anabolic state where the body wants to store. While insulin to glucagon ratio is high because the body want to store energy, the metabolic rate will be lower.
Therefore, consuming carbohydrate will increase insulin and lowers glucagon. When consuming fat, insulin effect is lower and promote glucagon secretion. Protein is interesting. Depending on dominating hormone, protein or amino acid can play a role in insulin secretion or glucagon secretion.
Understanding Gluconeogenesis
Most of the people has decent understanding of what insulin does but not so much for the glucagon. To understand the importance of glucagon, we will need to understand the importance of gluconeogenesis. Gluconeogenesis is the process of liver creating glucose from protein or amino acid in the absence of carbohydrate. In other words when insulin to glucagon ratio is low, the liver will turn on the process of gluconeogenesis to provide the glucose to cells that absolutely need it called red blood cells. Red blood cells do not have mitochondria, which is power generating factory, and require fast producing energy source or glucose.
Effect of Protein to Insulin and Glucagon
Let's put everything together and see what happens when we add protein to all this.
When looking at insulin effect on protein consumption, scientists generally use amino acid called alanine. There are several amino acids that can promote gluconeogenesis and alanine seems to be efficient so is often used for studies.
During fasted state while insulin level is low, when ingested with alanine will keep the insulin level lower and doubled the secretion of glucagon. Therefore, insulin to glucagon ratio is low. Meanwhile, with carbohydrate consumed state and add alanine, would increase the insulin secretion, and lowers the glucagon. Therefore, insulin to glucagon ratio is high.
Why would fast state with alanine promote insulin to glucagon ratio to be low? The answer to this is because of gluconeogenesis. When body is creating glucose from amino acid or protein, it is in somewhat emergency state where body is only creating glucose that body actually needs. Therefore, if the insulin level spikes, insulin will gather what glucose is made and put it into storage because that is its role. Remember the one cell that does require glucose? That's right red blood cells. Which means, red blood cells cannot be nurtured properly, and we will eventually go into comma. In a way this is a way of our body protecting us, which is amazing.
Comparing 3 Different Diet with Protein
So, let's put this to how we eat and what effect we can see by adding protein. To look at this, let's compare fasted, standard American diet, and low-carb diet.
After fasting for more than 24 hours, the insulin to glucagon ratio is .8 which is very low and is considered catabolic state where body will be using fat as energy source and process called autophagy may start.
Standard American Diet (burger, fries, ketchup, cereal, doughnuts, orange juice, etc.), has insulin to glucagon ratio of 4, which is considered anabolic where body will be storing energy in a form of fat.
Low carb diet (ketogenic, vegetarian, Mediterranean, etc.), has the insulin to glucagon ratio of 1.3. It is higher than fasted state of course but still in a level of catabolic state and similar biological process is happening as fasted state.
So, what happens to the ratio when protein is added?
In fasted state, insulin to glucagon ratio turn from .8 to .5. Meaning glucagon secretion was promoted.
Standard American diet, insulin to glucagon ratio turn from 4 to 70. So over 20 folds of increase in insulin secretion. This is probably one of the reasons why protein has such negative reviews on some of the research studies.
Low carb diet, insulin to glucagon ratio turn from 1.3 to 1.3. There is 6% difference so the number itself will not change.
Special Consideration
If you are doing fasting or consuming low-carb diet, and still having a fat loss issues, most likely insulin that has not been received by cells may still be floating in your blood stream. If that is the case, it is important to lower the protein intake in the initial phase of fat loss. Just because you are not consuming carbs does not necessarily mean your insulin level is low.
You can check your HbA1c level with your physician but if you are not seeing fat loss results, most likely your insulin level is relatively high. You can exhaust those floating insulin through exercise and combination of low-carb diet and fasting.
7. Importance of Hydration
It is common knowledge that we need water to live. Even from weight loss and muscle gain perspective we know drinking water or hydration is essential. Yet when it comes to fine detail like, why we need it, what benefit will it have, and timing of drinking water is often overlooked. Just by saying "hydration is important" may not be convincing and I feel the same way. So, let’s start the hydration journey with understanding of what our body use water for.
Water in Our Body
Adult human body is made of 60% water. It is also important to know that there are two major locations that we need to be familiar with. Intracellular fluid (ICF) which consists of two-third of water in the body, and extracellular fluid (ECF) which consists of remainder of one-third of water. About 25% of ECF is for blood/vasculature and 60% of ECF is interstitial fluid, which is fluid found in the space of the cells.
Water composition in our body may change due to our body composition. Muscle is about 75% water and fat tissue is 10% water. Therefore, comparing person who has 10% body fat to 30% body fat the water contents in our body will be different.
Importance of Tonicity
Tonicity is a measure of concentration in solution compared to another. For example, if we place our blood into different concentration of solution what will happen? It is important to remember that our body strives to maintain equilibrium. With blood example, there are 3 things that can happen.
First is called isotonic where both solutions, blood, and another solution, are equal, therefore there will be no changes.
Second is hypertonic where concentration of solution that red blood cell is in is higher. When this happens, because water content will be higher in the blood the water within the blood flow into the solution, which will shrivel the red blood cells.
Third is hypotonic where solution has lower concentration than the red blood cell. When this happens, because water content will be higher in the solution the water in the solution will flow into the blood, which will swell the red blood cells and may eventually rupture.
Because pure water has tonicity of zero, when infused it to vascular system the cells in the body would rupture. Which means when giving IV in hospital, it is important to give solution that is close isotonic meaning closer tonicity to the blood. However, depending on the condition, solution can be hypertonic or hypotonic.
Dehydration
There are two different types of dehydration. The term dehydration that we commonly use is defined as a loss of water without losing sodium. Because of water content is being lost concentration of solution or tonicity will increase. Since majority of water is in ICF, primary pure water loss affects intercellular volume rather than circulatory or blood volume.
Second type of dehydration is volume depletion or hypovolemia. This primarily refers to loss of extracellular volume as well as sodium content. Best example is sweating which is least extreme case for hypovolemia. When you sweat not only, we lose water but also electrolyte as well. Therefore, when you exercise and sweat a lot or when you are in very dry and hot environment without rehydrating with water and electrolyte you may experience lightheadedness due to loss of water, electrolyte which can lead to loss of blood volume.
Ways we can lose water is by urine, sweat, and respiratory surface. Urine, probably is, the most common way that the water leaves the body. This is due to filtration mechanism by kidney. We also lose water from skin by sweat. When you think of surface area of skin, sweat can significantly decrease water volume especially when you are active and/or in hotter environments. Least commonly known way is respiratory surface. When you remove lungs and spread it on the floor, it can cover tennis court. Lungs facilitate gas exchange mainly with oxygen and carbon dioxide. Since the final common pathway of metabolism is carbon dioxide and water, we are breathing out carbon dioxide and vapor. Which means when the air is hotter and drier more of them are being exhaled. So when you are on the plane it is important to hydrate since the air is much drier.
There are substances such as caffeine and alcohol that can speed up the dehydration. They are both in a category of diuretics, which means it forces you to pee. Caffeine usage is common prior to exercise either with coffee or pre-workout. Although there are benefits, however, it is important to hydrate frequently during the workout because you will be losing water faster than usual. If you consume alcohol, it is beneficial to drink water after each drink.
Dehydration and Effect on Exercise Performance
When monitoring exercise performance there are two major variables, cardiac output and VO2. Cardiac output is how much volume of blood can the heart pump out per minute. VO2 is how much oxygen can be utilized. Although VO2 is very important metric in physical performance, however, it doesn’t seem to get affected by dehydration.
Cardiac output, however, will have impact by dehydration. When heart is pumping out more blood during exercise, heart must receive that much volume of blood. Since the blood volume can decrease when we are dehydrated (i.e., sweating), heartrate will increase to maintain the level of performance.
For example, if you donate blood prior to your workout, because of the blood volume decrease your exercise heartrate will go up even when you are exercise intensity is at the level you are used to. This is same when you are exercising in a hot and humid environment where the body is forced to sweat. Therefore, in those two situations it is a commonly advised to hydrate more frequently.
Another effect of dehydration is when losing volume and not replacing it may not be able to replace glucose as well. This may sound great for those who are wanting to lose fat, but it is the opposite. While we are exercising, whether it is lifting weight, hiking, gardening, playing sports, our body needs glucose replenishment to produce more energy or ATP (adenosine triphosphate). Glucose is the substrate for ATP. Even if we take glucose supplements such as glucose gel or even fruits, the water itself is not replenished, therefore, body cannot facilitate absorption of those nutrients including electrolytes.
Although dehydration is not the only factor that decline your physical performance, however, it is one of the issues that we see often.
Hydration with Supplements
Currently we have various product options with sports nutrition even with replenishing electrolyte and glucose. Although it may be challenging to monitor, paying attention to tonicity of solution is important as we’ve discussed earlier.
Things we need to keep in mind is what we are losing while exercising and what is your purpose of exercise. When we are exercising, we do sweat. Depending on individual, amount we sweat may vary, however, we still do sweat. Through sweating we are losing both water and sodium. Needless to say, those are content that need to be replenished. Using electrolyte powder mixed with water can be beneficial. Supplement in gel form, however, may be enough to replenish glucose and electrolyte but not water.
If you are working on fat loss, using powder mix with sugar may not be ideal for the body lose opportunity to replenish muscle glycogen through fat. This is same with post workout fruits such as banana and apple for its high sugar content especially fructose. If you need to replenish electrolyte and water, during and after your physical activity use the electrolyte powder with no sugar mixed with water. Lightheadedness we may experience during exercise is not due to glycogen or glucose depletion but more towards dehydration, depletion of minerals and decrease in oxygen saturation level due to intensity and duration of the exercise. Therefore, when you do get lightheadedness during the physical activity, you should get hydrated with electrolytes then work on deep breathing.
If your goal is to improve performance (strength, endurance, etc.), what you will replenish with will be determined by duration and intensity of the activity. Lets say if you are planning on lifting weights for 2 hours. Then you may need at least 20oz of water with mixture of glucose and electrolyte to maintain strength and cardiac output during the exercise. We do see some people eat banana during exercise, however, if you are exercising your digestive system is not ready for sympathetic nervous system is the dominant. Therefore, sports drink with sugar and electrolytes will be more suitable for it can be absorbed. Essential amino acids mix can also be helpful in sustaining strength during your physical activity.
When choosing electrolytes, more than potassium, sodium replenishment is important because that is what you sweat out. Potassium is important and popular mineral to avoid muscle cramp, however, can be deadly when over consumed.
Primary Hydration is Water
Although using supplement mix to maximize benefit of hydration and improve on flavor in water is great, however, the primary hydration should be with pure water. This is because the blood is 90% water
You can get water from eating vegetables, fruits, soup and so on, however, main source for hydration should be pure water to balance the tonicity within the blood.
Ideal timing of drink water are:
Immediately after waking up
Prior to consuming food (including snack)
Before, during and after exercising
Before Bedtime
Hydration is most simple form to improve our physiological functioning. If you are struggling to get hydrated, see if you can start from drinking a glass of water prior to eating any food
8. Improving Metabolic Flexibility Through Exercise
When training clients, I look at 5 different components in their physical capabilities. Those components are strength, mobility, stability, aerobic efficiency and anerobic performance.
I will start off by sharing information on how to build strength and size in muscles, which may help improve the metabolism. Then lead into training intensity to focus on fat utilization called Zone 2 training.
Benefits of Building Muscle
Before sharing how the muscle can be built, let’s talk of why we should consider building muscles. In this article, when I say building muscles, I’m referring to both strength and size of the muscles.
Media is doing a great job of emphasizing the importance of muscle building not just for visual perspective but also for the longevity. With a process of muscle building there are several other benefits that can come with it. Those are, able to move better, able to lift heavier object without injury, stronger bone, metabolic profile, such as blood pressure, resting heartrate, VO2, blood sugar, etc. Process of muscle building can also improve our cognitive functions, stress management, and improve in self-esteem.
In ideal world, everybody should be considering strength training provided that those benefits, listed above, is what people are looking for.
Never Too Late to Start
There has been number of studies done with elder population with over 80 years old that when they were put through a strength program for 12 weeks, 45 minute per session 3 times per week, scientists observed 15-20% increase in both muscle strength and size. It is better to start at earlier age, however, it is never too late to start building muscle.
Importance of Recovery
Although exercise is important, it is also important for the body to recover after the exercise session. Muscle strength and size improvement happens with stressing the muscles by exercise and recover from stress through nutrition and sleep.
I won’t cover too much detail on nutrition or sleep, however, if the nutrition is not adequate and sleeping less than 7 hours a day, you may not be able to recover and may experience more struggle to get results.
Quality Over Quantity
Quality of the exercise is far more important than how much weight and how many reps you are lifting. When you are exercising, you are sending message to the body for what you are wanting to accomplish. Before worrying about how much you can lift, and number of repetitions learn the exercise skill properly.
Popular exercises such as squat, deadlift, push-ups, pull ups are all great exercises, however, it is a complicated exercise. Just because you see on media don’t jump into challenging with those exercises but learn how to master those movement pattern.
When exercise or movement is practiced in a wrong manner, the body will respond in kind and may end up being strong but not able to move the way you would like. There are people who can squat heavy weight but not able to walk properly because their hip is stiff or may be able to bench few hundred pounds but cannot raise the arm because the shoulder is tight.
Learn the technique properly first then work on improving by increasing the load and volume of exercise.
Load and Volume
Load is referring to how much weight you will be lifting. Volume of exercise refers to how many repetitions and sets you will be performing. Depending on what your goal is load and volume can vary.
When you are working on building strength the load should be heavy enough to challenge you for 1-7 reps per sets. When you are working on building muscle mass or muscular endurance the load should be heavy enough to challenge you for 8 or more repetitions.
Progressive Overload
Once you learn the proper technique of the exercise you can challenge yourself to see if you can perform in same way with resistance. Loading can be done by using, dumbbell, barbell, kettlebell, machine, band and so on. After 2-4 sessions with added weight, you can increase resistance (2.5-10lb) or increase the volume of exercise. As you add load, make sure the technique is not compromised. Lifting heavier weight with compromised technique is considered ego lifting. Nothing wrong with it but it is a recipe for injury.
Tempo of Exercise
When performing exercise, controlling the tempo can change how the body feel even with the same exercise. For example, when you do dumbbell row with 20lb you can do 10 reps as fast as you can, or you can do 10 reps but with pause for 2 seconds at the top position and 3 seconds to bring the weight back to starting position. Amount of stress you place on the muscles will drastically changes even when using same weight and repetitions. Choice of tempo can vary with what you are wanting to accomplish during the training session.
Frequency of Training
Frequency of the training can be determined by your recovery. Commonly, people tend to recover from their training within 24-48 hours. However, if you are deconditioned or new to the strength training, the recovery time may take longer. For this reason, initial guide to strength training frequency is 2-3 times per week with 1-2 days in between sessions.
After a while you may increase the session to 4-5 sessions, depending on your goal, however, if you are always sore, then may need to reduce the frequency. As mentioned earlier, if your body is not recovering, you are not getting stronger or more fit.
Zone 2 Training Definition of zone 2 is your highest metabolic work that you can sustain while keeping the lactate level low (below 2 mmol/L). Biochemically, when exercising, our body use glucose, fatty acids, and oxygen and go through chemical process. This process is also known as mitochondrial respiration because majority of the chemical process to create energy is done within the mitochondria. While in zone 2, the fat utilization is generally higher than the glucose. As the lactate level increases, this shows that more glucose is being utilized as energy.
Consequence of Training Without Understanding Mitochondria
Biggest issue that I see with people who are starting to train or coming back to training from injury or busy schedule, they focus more on how much calories they can burn off per session to make up for the lost time. This can become counterproductive because, the body need to be trained or retrained to metabolize fatty acid as energy source, which requires us to train in Zone 2 for majority of the time to help recreate transporter in the mitochondria to bring in more fatty acid to convert them into energy. Training above your zone 2 will only allow you to use more glucose and not much of fat. When you have not been training, you will need to train the body at appropriate intensity.
Here is another problem. As mentioned earlier, when the physical exertion gets higher the body will produce lactate. People who have been trained at and above lactate threshold may able to utilize lactate as energy source. However, if you have never trained or have not been training in lactate threshold intensity level, chances are the mitochondria may not be able to use the lactate as energy source, which it will be spit out into a bloodstream. This can become a problem since lactate is acidic which can bring the blood pH level down to acidic as well. Complication comes when people assume they had great workout and deserve wine, beer, energy drinks, coffee, sugary food. Along with lactate, these are all low in pH level which means acidic that can lower the blood pH level. Normally body will work to bring back the blood pH level through hydration, proper nutrition, and sleep, however, when low blood pH level continues, the body can go into condition called metabolic acidosis where blood pH level gets below 7.35. Symptoms of metabolic acidosis can be fatigue, accelerate heartbeat (tachycardia), dizziness, loss of appetite, shortness of breath, headache and so on. Commonly, this condition is for those who have kidney issues but can’t rule out the possibility of training and dieting in a wrong manner, which may have potential to cause the similar the same condition.
By the way, training hard is not a bad thing. Training hard without understanding of purpose is a problem. Chasing after the calorie through exercising probably is the trend that should never existed.
Zone 2 and Mitochondria Respiration
Biochemistry of mitochondria respiration is complicated to understand. But when understanding why we need to train to improve mitochondria respiration and how, will make better sense.
In healthy individual, from resting to lower intensity activities, such as walking in a grocery store, walking up and down the stairs, the body or mitochondria should be utilizing fatty acid as a primary energy source. While the exercise intensity is low the body does use glucose as energy source and produce lactate but in a minimal amount.
As the physical exertion increases to brisk walk, jog, run, bike, row, longer duration stair climbing, weightlifting, the body may demand more energy supply. For people who are fit, they may still utilize fat as primary energy source, however glucose demand and usage may increase. This level of physical exertion is called Zone 2 where primary energy source is fatty acid and sustaining lactate level low.
As the physical exertion increase even further, whether this could be intensity and/or duration, the body will demand glucose as energy source and produce more lactate. Eventually, there will be a point where the body utilizes glucose only and the borderline is called lactate threshold.
Mitochondria Adaptation Through Zone 2 Training
When you train in Zone 2, you are training the mitochondria to utilize fatty acid as energy source more efficiently. What is happening is because the demand of fatty acid is increasing by training in Zone 2, the mitochondria need to have more transporters which allows to bring in more fatty acids. Eventually the body can utilize fatty acid more efficiently even at the higher exertion.
Another benefit with Zone 2 training is low accumulation of lactate. Those who have high stress or have metabolic issues, they may already have higher lactate level even at rest. This may mean that training above the Zone 2 may push the lactate into the bloodstream, which may cause more metabolic issues. However, if the training is in Zone 2, this may allow the person to exercise without accumulating too much lactate.
Ways to Find Your Zone 2
By now you may be thinking of how to find zone 2. There are several ways to find the zone 2 and can be separated into two categories, direct and indirect.
Direct way to find the zone 2 is through a device called metabolic cart. This is where you will be strapped with mask that is connected to the computer which reads the oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange while monitoring your heart rate and lactate. Heartrate will be monitored with heart rate monitor and lactate is through blood by finger plucking.
There are 2 indirect ways to find the zone 2, which will not be as accurate as metabolic cart but give you a rough idea. First is calculating 180 minus your age. So, if you are 50 years old the zone 2 heartrate will be 130bpm (beats per minutes). What I typically do is take this subtract 10 bpm to give a rough range. So, for someone who is 50 years old, the zone 2 range is from 120-130bpm. Reason why I subtract is because I want their body to be trained to use fat as energy source and minimize the possibility of going over the zone 2.
Second way is using RPE, which stands for Rate of Perceived Exertion. In other words, how you are feeling while you are exercising. Usually there is a number scale but what I typically tell my clients is keeping the intensity level such that you are exercising but still can have a conversation. So, when I do have training session with client, I typically converse with client while they are exercising to see where they are in physical exertion. Of course, to have fun at the same time. This is convenient since you won’t need heartrate monitor to check for those who prefer not to wear any monitoring device, which I kind of understand.
Although indirect way is easy, but it is not as accurate as direct way.
9. Importance of Sleep
Sleep is unique habits that we possess. We know it is important, however, while sleeping, we don't make anything, we are not working on anything, we are not reproducing, and we are not consuming. Of all the important features that we have, sleep is the most unproductive habit and yet it is important enough that we cannot survive without it.
Effect of Sleeping 6 Hours or Less
Here are some interesting data for when you short cut your sleep.
Almost 1 out of 2 adults are sleep deprive, which means not getting 7-9 hours of sleep. 1 in 3 adults are trying to survive with 6 hours of sleep.
Probability of having no health issues with less than 6 hours of sleep is 0. Health issues is including diabetes, obesity, depression, Alzheimer, cancer, Parkinson, infertility, chronic inflammation and so on.
Men who sleep 4-5 hours a night may lead to having testosterones level equivalent to those who are 10-year senior to them. Female reproductive hormones can also have similar affect.
Every day we produce cancer cells. With this anti-cancer immune cells, we are able to prevent from having cancers. There was a study done with group of people and gave 4 hours of sleep for one night. What they saw was 70% drop in anti-cancer fighting immune cells.
Cardiovascular system can also get affected by 1 hour of sleep deprive. In the spring when we lose an hour of sleep there is a 24% increase in heart attack next day. In the fall, when we gain hour, there is a 21% decrease in heart attack on following day.
Science have found a strong connection with Alzheimer's disease related to sleep deprivation.
Sleep deprivation, from cognitive perspective, is characterized by reduced alertness, lack of ability to concentrate, difficulties with learning and memory, and difficulties with behavioral problem. If you asked pediatricians with these characteristics, they would diagnose this disorder as ADHD.
Sleep Deprivation and Metabolism
For weight perspective, those who sleep 6 hours or less has tendency to eat about 200 calories more, which adds up to 20lb increase per year. Reason why this happens is there are two hormones that control hunger. Leptin and ghrelin.
Leptin is responsible for signaling feeling of full or satiation. Ghrelin is a hunger hormone. When sleep is deprived, leptin response nosedive and ghrelin response skyrockets. In other words, you will be hungry more often and not able to stop eating even if you are eating more than you need because there is no full signal. Worst part is of all the excess calories that we consume because of sleep deprivation, we tend to choose heavy carbohydrate and simple sugar rather than healthy food choices like protein, leafy greens, nuts and so on.
When sleeping 6 hours or less, 70% of the weight loss is coming from lean muscle mass instead of fat mass, which is terrible for our metabolism. Throughout the evolution only time we were sleep deprived was when we were in starvation. This can be observed in animal behavior where they wake up when hungry and sleep when they are satiated. Sleep deprivation for us, our body cling on to our fat thinking we are in starvation.
Sleep alone is not the cause of obesity and other metabolic issues. Sedentary lifestyle, consumption of overly processed food, frequent food consumption is without a doubt plays a huge role in this pandemic in this country. However, those alone does not make things clear about what health issues we are witnessing today. Sleep seems to be one of the missing pieces and need to be considered in part of our healthy lifestyle.
5 Tips for Better Sleeping
Regularity
Keeping the sleeping schedule as much as possible is one of the key factors in improving both quality and quantity of sleep. Make sure to schedule your both sleeping and wake up time and stick with it. Initially you may not be able to fall asleep, but you can still get into bed at the time you have scheduled.
Darkness
We are living in darkness deprived society, which is affecting on melatonin or sleepiness hormone secretion. Even at home, there is TV, Laptop, iPad, Cellphone, and even room lights can be brighter than it needs to be. Start turning off some lights in your house 2 hours before your scheduled bedtime. This will signal the melatonin to start kicking in and help you get drowsy.
Temperature
It takes about 2-3 degrees Fahrenheit drop in core temperature for our brain to start a sleep cycle. Therefore, cooler the room temperature is, easier it will be to fall asleep. Ideal temperature for sleeping is 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Even taking hot shower before bedtime can help. You may think taking hot shower is warming the body, but it is opposite. When body gets warm, body will then work on cooling off. Because of this cooling off mechanism, the body slows down and become drowsy.
Use of Melatonin
Melatonin is hormone secreted by pineal gland in your brain signaling when darkness sets in to alert the brain that it is time to sleep. As we get older, it is possible that melatonin secretion become weaker, which is why older population has difficulty of sleeping.
Another incident may happen is when you travel into different time zone, where we experience jet lag. Jet lag is happening because the circadian rhythm is set in your primary location. Therefore, our melatonin signaling can be still set at our local time and not at our new destination time.
For these two instances, melatonin supplement can be helpful.
Minimize Stimulants Usage
Caffeine is one of the chemicals that we often use to keep ourselves awake and alert, however, it does affect our sleep. Even if you can sleep after drinking cup of coffee, the chemical is still there and can disrupt the sleep cycles. Caffeine has half-life effect of 6 hours and quarter-life of 12 hours. Which means if you drink caffeinated beverages at 12pm, caffeine will still in your system at 12am. I personally finish my caffeine intake by 8am because I need to get to bed by 9p to wake up at 4:30a (7.5hrs sleep).
Alcohol and marijuana are often used as sleep aid but there has been studies showing otherwise. Alcohol is sedative and not sleep aid. What alcohol does to our sleep is to disrupt with REM (rapid eye movement) cycle or dream cycle. There has been a study done with alcoholics where after they come out of alcoholism, because their REM cycle has been disrupted for long time that REM cycle start kicking in to make up for REM sleep that has been lost while the participants are awake, which is also known as delirium tremens.
Marijuana said to have more natural effect on sleep and help provide more deeper sleep. However, both REM cycle and non-REM cycle are both has its function, and we know that they are both important. Think about it. If brain goes extra work to get the REM cycle going even while we are awake, like how alcoholics experience, it is evident that it is that important.
I always thought exercise and nutrition were the two pillars that dictates better health, physique, and physical performance. But know I believe that those two pillars need to have proper foundation called sleep. Sleeping for 7-9 hours is 1/3 of our life. However, how efficiently will we live remainder of 2/3 of life is deeply correlated to that 1/3.
10. Habits for Ideal Metabolic Function
Ideal metabolic function is our body capable of utilizing fat, glucose, lactate as energy source yet primary energy source to be fat. Then the body can use both glucose and lactate when stressful event happens. To do so, nutrition, sleep and physical activities are required.
Building muscle mass and strength through strength training, the body will be needing more amount of food source to maintain the ideal physique. Muscles are very energy inefficient, meaning need more energy or calories just to maintain.
Here are the habits to improve your metabolic functioning.
Sleep 7-9 hours
3-4 meals per day without processed food
Follow the protein amount
Hydrate frequently
2-4 days per week of strength training (30-60 min)
5-7 days per week of zone 2 training (15-30 min.)
To create ideal metabolism it does take several month, however, once it is established it is not hard to maintain for all it needs is keep following the habits.
Kota Shimada
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