January is finally over, and while we're sure many of you abandoned your New Year's resolutions to hit the gym in the first couple of days, others have stuck to it.
We've already covered the amazing effects that doing 100 pushups a day, running 5k a day, and cycling every day can do for your body, although we don't imagine many of you are running 365 marathons in a year.
While there are many reasons why someone would readdress their health journey, they might also be fascinated by the processes going on inside their body. After looking at what a 36-hour fast can do in terms of fat loss, Gravity Transformations is here to show what goes on inside us as complex machines of flesh and bone when we burn fat. Certain hormones, enzymes, and signaling pathways ensure that our bodies burn fat, with Max Posternak saying that those with more fat will typically have a harder time burning it due to their hormones working against them.
There are four main steps that your body has to go through to burn fat. Step one involves your body receiving the signal to burn stored fat for fuel in the first place, although there's an important difference between burning fat and losing fat.
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Even when in a calorie deficit, your body will flip between storing and burning fat. Step two involves a calorie deficit, and although Posternak says those who are 'highly out of shape' or using steroids can lose fat while eating a calorie maintenance or even a small surplus, most need to be in a calorie deficit.
As body fat works as an energy reserve, he explained: "If you're in a calorie deficit, the energy from food alone isn't enough to fuel all bodily processes and activities, which means the energy needs to come from somewhere else."
One pound of fat can be the equivalent of anywhere between 3,436 and 3,752 calories, but whether entering a calorie deficit through diet or through working out, research suggests that neither is a 'better' way of doing it.
The second step is the transmission of signals, as a calorie deficit is shown to affect hormones like glucagon and adrenaline, while step three is triggering lipolysis. Even though lipolysis is key to burning fat, entering this stage still doesn't necessarily burn fat cells – it simply empties them. Aside from the red blood cells and brain cells, most human body tissue and cells are able to use fat for energy.
This is the last phase of fat loss, known as fat oxidation.
At this point, triglycerides have been released from your body's fat cells and transformed into fatty acids. These have then been transported to the target tissues that need energy, before being turned into Acyl-CoA by Coenzyme A and entering the energy center of a cell (the mitochondria), where it can be burned off.
Some manufacturers will suggest supplementing with L-carnitine to help this, although Posternak says this isn't the case.
Interesting, most of the byproducts created when we burn fat are exhaled as carbon dioxide or passed out through sweat and urine.
Your body produces the hormone called leptin that lets your brain know you're full, but as you gain body fat, it's possible to develop leptin resistance. Posternak says the best thing you can do to combat the likes of leptin and insulin resistance is to eat a healthy diet full of wholesome, single-ingredient foods.
Telling us to focus on the likes of fish, sweet potato, and broccoli, while avoiding sugar-loaded processed foods, will help drop blood sugar and create a calorie deficit. Finally, exercise can help boost the hormones associated with fat loss.