Are you burning enough fat?
Did you know that healthy mitochondrial function depends on exercise. Type 2 training is the best form. The difference in mitochondrial health between sedentary and active people is substantial.
Yup. Its an image of your mitochondrial processes.
Your eyes are not deceiving you! Your mitochondria are the best friends that you are likely taking for granted!
I studied these processes in my 1970s Kinesiology classes, but this updated image packages cellular energy metabolism very well. I found it in my copy of Human Physiology, An Integrative Approach by Dee Unglaub Silverthorn on page 783. It offers an excellent explanation of these processes under the heading Metabolism and Exercise. Three simple inserts explain:
Glucose comes from liver glycogen or dietary uptake.
Fatty acids can only be used in aerobic metabolism.
Lactic acid comes from anaerobic metabolism and can be converted to glucose by the liver.
Have I lost you yet?
I realize that this is more detail than many people wish to see, but some of you will keep reading to learn what it has to do with “burning fat”.
This post was inspired by a lengthy podcast discussion between Dr. Peter Attia and his guest Iñigo San-Millán, Ph.D. I was captivated by the title “#201 – Deep dive back into Zone 2 | Iñigo San-Millán, Ph.D. (Pt. 2) followed by…
“You can accomplish very important mitochondrial adaptations and very important metabolic adaptations by exercising one hour.” —Iñigo San-Millán
I suspect that your undivided attention was similarly grabbed by these words, right?
Key takeaways.
I listened to the whole discussion once, then the final twenty minutes two more times, then referred to this image in my text book to consolidate what I learned from this brilliant scientist. These are the lessons that truck me most profoundly:
Decline in metabolic health with age is normal and coincides with the gradual decline of function of the mitochondria (energy processing centres) in every skeletal muscle fibre. Both the utilization of carbohydrates (CHO) and fatty acids (derived from lipids stored in adipose tissue under your skin) are affected.
Exercise slows metabolic decline, expecially aerobic exercise (Type 2 training). The difference is profound in the mitochondrial functions of sedentary people compared with trained athletes in their ability to process both fats and carbohydrates. Fats are the preferred energy source of aerobicially trained individuals.
Humans were meant to move and had to do so throughout their history until recent times when technology enabled our sedentary lifestyles to become increasingly possible, and even preferred by many.
Metabolic Syndrome is poorly understood by almost everyone even though it affects virtually everyone who embraces a consistent sedentary lifestyle. The most common external manifestation is excess body weight up to and including obesity. The internal manifestations are type 2 diabetes and a constellation of other related health issues leading to the increasing incidence of cancers and cardiovascular diseases.
Intramuscular “fat globules” are discussed. The body stores these deposits adjacent to mitochondria. Their destinies differ when comparing sedentary people and aerobically trained individuals. Those globules will accumulate in the muscles of inactive persons resulting in “fatty muscles” simular to a fatty steak on your dinner plate. Aerobically trained people utilize those fat globules as energy. The fat does not accumulate in muscles the way they do in sedentary individuals who set themselves up for progressive mitochondrial disfunction over time.
Why did I write this?
Everyone has been told that exercise is good for them. That message means different things to different people. Some, its about their appearance: to have a great “beach body”. Others, especially as “middle age spread” begins to affects her dress size or the length of his belt. They are reminded every time they look in the mirror that their health risks are rising with their weight as each year passes.
I wrote this for those readers who want to know WHY exercise is good for them. Regardless of his or her motive, the person who has read this entire post realizes that some effort is required to learn how and why the quality and length of their lives depends in direct proportion to these lessons and the commitment to act on them.