Did you know that exercise does not burn fat?
Exercise creates a delayed effect of fat burning. Barely any fat is burned DURING exercise but instead is burned 14-48 hours AFTER exercise (1).
And the most interesting part of this is that the great majority of fat is burned during deep sleep. Poor sleep is a definite barrier to burning fat. This means you burn fat in the body’s RECOVERY process.
Fat-burning hormones are most active in the middle of the night.
But it is crucial that you understand how to use the variables of exercise to create the biggest bang for your buck, i.e., burn the most fat. These variables are intensity, type, duration and frequency.
Let’s first talk about INTENSITY. Fat-burning hormones are triggered by intensity of exercise, and the more intense, the more fat gets released (2).
The next factor is TYPE of exercise. Since hormones work in waves, as in circadian rhythm (e.g., sleep cycles, menstrual cycles), then it would make sense to exercise on a wavelike pattern — interval training.
Sustained (same pulse rate) exercise works against the normal rhythms of the body. Short bouts of intense exercise activate more growth hormone (fat-burning hormone). Sustained exercise activates more cortisol (stress hormone). Cortisol can nullify growth hormone, canceling out the effects.
The next factors are DURATION and FREQUENCY. The optimum duration for exercise is between 25 and 40 minutes; and since your body does the burning during the RECOVERY cycle, exercising every other day is best.
The only Catch-22 is if you are an Adrenal body type. This type needs to walk and will lose more weight with light workouts, due to the sensitive reaction to stress. However, once an Adrenal, not always an Adrenal.
Study my book The 7 Principles of Fat Burning
especially the exercise chapter, while doing the eating plan. Chapter 10 will give you the foods highest in potassium, calcium and magnesium, which are great for the Adrenal body type.