Stomach fat

Karen, you said you are not lifting weights. You have to lift weights, if for any reason so you can lift your body when you are 80! I am a different body type from you, short and muscular, but part of the reason I am muscular is because I have been lifting weights for 25 years. I don't have the tummy pooch, and I think weight training helps a lot. My Mom and my sisters have it....they never lifted, and we all look very much a like, except weight training gives me a stronger body composition. So, resistance training is where it is at. Fit it in twice a week, somehow. NYsurfer, in my Exercise physiology class I don't remember them saying muscle is burned before fat. That sounds incorrect. In fact, it was taught that at rest, we burn a mixture of fat and carbohydrates, and exercise uses up your carbs, in the blood and then stored in the muscle and liver as glycogen. I need to look up once that is used up which substrate was used next, but I did not think it was muscle. That can happen on very low fat diet, where the muscle starts getting robbed. Carbs are the most effecient source, and muscle is actually a lot of work to catabolize. Fat gives you the most energy bang for your buck. Hey, Its true that at rest, you do burn fat and carbs. Also at rest, you are rebuilding any muscle that was worked during exercise. However, during exercise, your body uses glycogen stores (stored glucose in the muscles and liver) and burns it for energy. The body doesn't create glycogen during exercise, it burns it. Also, during exercise, your body is under a lot of stress. So while fat may give you the best bang for your buck in terms of stored energy, its very difficult to metabolize. So you go for the fastest buring energy sources... glycogen - muscle - fat. The main reason for this is that its easier to get the energy out of muscle as it can be converted to glucose. I think one of the main reasons for this order (under stress, of course) is that the brain wants glucose... its the only energy that the brain can use. So actual glucose goes first, then protein as it can be converted to glucose, then fat because fat turns into ketones, not glucose. This is the main reason that athletes are so concerned about post workout nutrition. You want to feed your body the proper nutrients in order to stop catabolic muscle loss. I'll have to go double check my textbooks and notes now :) P.S. I completely agree on the resistance training! Thats what made the biggest difference for me!

Karen, you said you are not lifting weights. You have to lift weights, if for any reason so you can lift your body when you are 80! I am a different body type from you, short and muscular, but part of the reason I am muscular is because I have been lifting weights for 25 years. I don't have the tummy pooch, and I think weight training helps a lot. My Mom and my sisters have it....they never lifted, and we all look very much a like, except weight training gives me a stronger body composition. So, resistance training is where it is at. Fit it in twice a week, somehow. NYsurfer, in my Exercise physiology class I don't remember them saying muscle is burned before fat. That sounds incorrect. In fact, it was taught that at rest, we burn a mixture of fat and carbohydrates, and exercise uses up your carbs, in the blood and then stored in the muscle and liver as glycogen. I need to look up once that is used up which substrate was used next, but I did not think it was muscle. That can happen on very low fat diet, where the muscle starts getting robbed. Carbs are the most effecient source, and muscle is actually a lot of work to catabolize. Fat gives you the most energy bang for your buck. Hey, Its true that at rest, you do burn fat and carbs. Also at rest, you are rebuilding any muscle that was worked during exercise. However, during exercise, your body uses glycogen stores (stored glucose in the muscles and liver) and burns it for energy. The body doesn't create glycogen during exercise, it burns it. Also, during exercise, your body is under a lot of stress. So while fat may give you the best bang for your buck in terms of stored energy, its very difficult to metabolize. So you go for the fastest buring energy sources... glycogen - muscle - fat. The main reason for this is that its easier to get the energy out of muscle as it can be converted to glucose. I think one of the main reasons for this order (under stress, of course) is that the brain wants glucose... its the only energy that the brain can use. So actual glucose goes first, then protein as it can be converted to glucose, then fat because fat turns into ketones, not glucose. This is the main reason that athletes are so concerned about post workout nutrition. You want to feed your body the proper nutrients in order to stop catabolic muscle loss. I'll have to go double check my textbooks and notes now :) P.S. I completely agree on the resistance training! Thats what made the biggest difference for me!