Does your body burn fat or muscle first?

fat What happens to body fat when you exercise? Your muscles first burn through stored glycogen for energy. “After about 30 to 60 minutes of aerobic exercise, your body starts burning mainly fat,” says Dr. Burguera.

health.clevelandclinic.org - Where Does Body Fat Go When You Lose Weight? - Cleveland Clinic

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What happens when you diet and exercise

What happens to body fat when you shed pounds — do you sweat it out, pee it out or breathe it out? The answer is yes, yes and yes. Advertising Policy Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy How on earth does this happen? “It helps to understand that our bodies are designed to store excess energy in fat cells,” says endocrinologist Bartolome Burguera, MD, PhD. If you’re carrying extra pounds, it means you’re taking in more energy (calories are units of energy) than you’re using. “The extra energy is stored in adipose tissue all around your body in the form of triglycerides,” says Dr. Burguera. Smaller amounts of energy are stored in your liver and muscles as glycogen.

How does your body use energy? In more ways than you’d think:

When you’re resting. Your heart needs energy to pump, your lungs to breathe and your brain to think. (That’s your basal metabolism.) Your heart needs energy to pump, your lungs to breathe and your brain to think. (That’s your basal metabolism.) When you’re active. Your muscles need energy whether you’re only getting up from a chair or running a marathon. Your muscles need energy whether you’re only getting up from a chair or running a marathon. When you’re eating. Your digestive system needs energy to break down and store food.

What happens to body fat when you diet?

When you diet, you take in fewer calories than your body needs. Because of this deficit, your body turns to fat reserves for energy.

The byproducts of fat metabolism leave your body:

As water, through your skin (when you sweat) and your kidneys (when you urinate).

As carbon dioxide, through your lungs (when you breathe out).

“Meanwhile, fat breakdown liberates energy for biological functions and physical activity,” he says. “It also generates heat, which keeps body temperatures normal.”

What happens to body fat when you exercise?

Your muscles first burn through stored glycogen for energy. “After about 30 to 60 minutes of aerobic exercise, your body starts burning mainly fat,” says Dr. Burguera. (If you’re exercising moderately, this takes about an hour.) Experts recommend at least 30 minutes of cardio two to three times a week. They also recommend weightlifting and resistance training. Increasing muscle mass may help you burn more calories and raise your basic metabolic rate. Exercise also increases your respiratory rate, so more CO2 leaves your body when you work out.

About exercise and weight loss

“Exercise is key to weight loss and to maintaining that weight loss,” says Dr. Burguera. But it may take time to move the number on your scale, so be patient. Everyone’s response to exercise varies: Some people lose weight, others maintain it, and a few may even gain a few pounds. “Generally, however, people who successfully lose weight and keep it off tend to be physically active — up to an hour per day,” he says. “Engaging in some form of exercise three times per week is highly recommended.”

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Does a fast metabolism make you age faster?

podiumrunner.com - Does a High Metabolism Make You Age Faster? - PodiumRunner

A new study accepted for publication in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism claims that people with higher metabolic rates age faster and die younger than people without them, Science Daily reports. “We found that higher endogenous metabolic rate, that is how much energy the body uses for normal body functions, is a risk factor for earlier mortality,” said the study’s lead author, Reiner Jumphertz, according to Science Daily. This conclusion only applies to resting metabolic rate, not to energy expended during exercise. Researchers evaluated 652 healthy Pima Indian volunteers. They tested 24-hour energy expenditure (energy expended at rest, as determined in a respiratory chamber) in 508 volunteers and resting metabolic rate in 384 of the volunteers over a period of 11 to 15 years. During the study period, 27 participants died of natural causes. Researchers linked higher energy expenditure with an increase in risk for natural morality. The findings may explain, Jumphertz said, why “reductions in metabolic rate, for instance via low calorie diets” may benefit human health. Before you start jumping around thrilled that you will live longer than your naturally skinny friends who can eat anything because they have high metabolisms, consider this: a study highlighted in Science Daily in 2009 found exactly the opposite, although the test subjects were mice. The study, published in 2009 in the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, found that mice with high metabolisms live just as long as those with slower metabolisms. I seems to me like the study with Pima Indian volunteers was of such small scope–both numerically and ethnically–that it hardly can be deemed conclusive. So party on, those of you who feel lucky to have high metabolisms. It might be a while before scientists decide your metabolism is or isn’t a blessing.

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