With everyone starting their New Years Resolution, I thought I would take the time to discuss a topic I find very interesting. First, we need to start with the defining of the word diet. A diet is not what you want to do if you are looking to lose weight. A diet, by definition, is a temporary change in the way you eat to lose weight. The key word in that sentence is TEMPORARY. If you truly want to lose weight and keep it off, you do not need to diet, you need a change in lifestyle. With that being said, there are great ways to help you to lose weight quicker. One of the most interesting ways I have come across recently is commonly called: The Afterburn Effect.
Physiology Background
In order to understand why the background effect can work, you need to first understand a little about how the body burns calories. The body's number one source for fuel is glucose. Glucose is a form of sugar that we get from our food, mainly carbohydrates (or carbs as they are generally called). Glucose is used in the body to create energy in the form of ATP that our body then uses to run our chemical reactions. All of this together is considered the calories we burn throughout the day. If we do not have carbs to burn or for some reason your body cannot use carbs as a fuel source (like type II Diabetes) your body must look elsewhere for fuel to make ATP. Your body will then look to your fat stores to use the fat to make ATP. The difference between using fat to make ATP or using carbs to make ATP relies on one important thing: Oxygen. Carbohydrates will use oxygen to make ATP and fats do not.
How The Afterburn Effect Works
The Afterburn Effect works in theory by trying to make your body work in an anaerobic (without oxygen) environment so that your body will use fat to make ATP instead of the food you ate that day. So how do we make our body do this? Well, it is actually quite simple. Have you ever done a physical exertion for a short period of time that makes you breathe very hard even after you have stopped that activity? This is placing your body into what is called oxygen debt. Think of it this way, you have done all of your exercises and your body needs to replace the oxygen you used to make the energy necessary to do that exercise. It is like filling up your car with gas. You don't fill up the car while you are driving the car, you replace the gas you used while driving. This is the same way our body works. We burn oxygen while exercising and need to replenish it after working out, so our body continues to breathe hard even after we have stopped our physical exertion. This is where The Afterburn Comes into play.
As we talked about above, if your body is without oxygen, it must use your fat as an energy source to keep us awake, alert, and alive. The Afterburn Effect is thought to work in this way: first you provide up to 5 burst of energy during your workout each for 30 seconds in duration. During this 30 seconds, you exercise as hard as you can (example: sprint for 30 seconds versus jog). During these bursts of energy, it is thought that you will quickly burn up your stores of oxygen, leaving behind only the fat as a fuel source for the rest of your exercise. This, ideally, will allow you to burn more fat and therefore, lose more weight during each workout. It is also thought to allow you to continue burning fat calories up to 48 hours after you have completed your exercise. This means that you can potentially continue to burn fat long after you have completed your exercise.
Sounds great, doesn't it! To continue to burn fat even if you are no longer exercising. Sounds almost too good to be true. It has a lot of scientific backing that leads me to believe that it really can work. As always, consult your physician before beginning any exercise or diet regime to make sure your body can handle the stress of the workout. Given the science behind this theory, it is worth a shot to try to add to your routine. I would love to hear your thoughts on The Afterburn Effect.
Disclaimer: The above information is intended for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to be used as medical advise. Always, see your physician to be properly diagnosed before trying any course of treatment.
