I have a secret to tell you…
You can have a cheat meal and continue to burn fat. And better yet, all of those carbohydrates you just consumed won’t be used to create even more fat. Yes, that’s right. You can splurge on a pizza, ice cream, or spaghetti and not completely ruin your diet. Don’t believe it? Look at the science.
1 Pound of Pasta and Still Burning Fat
This clinical study is an oldie, but it’s a goodie. Researchers took 6 individuals and measured how their bodies responded during an 8 hour period after 4 different scenarios: 1) 150 grams of pasta after rest. 2) 400 grams of pasta after rest. 3) 150 grams of pasta after a low workload exercise session. 4) 400 grams of pasta after a high workload exercise session.
Normally consuming that much pasta in one sitting would cause insulin to spike, fat burning processes to shut down, and triglycerides to be stored as fat. And that’s exactly what happened after scenarios 1 and 2 – the small and large pasta meals after rest. Not the ideal scenario this close to swimsuit season.
Surprisingly though, exercise changed everything. The body continued to burn fat as fuel (even after almost a pound of pasta), and none of the carbohydrates from the pasta were used to create fat. Impressive!
Side note: How is that possible? Your body uses burns ATP for energy. Unfortunately, you only have a limited of supply of ATP available, and your body doesn’t like using it unless it absolutely has to. Thus, it has to make it. Glucose from carbohydrates (or from glycogen, which is another name for stored carbohydrates in the body) is one of the major substrates for ATP production. Exercise, especially intense resistance training sessions, depletes the body’s glycogen stores. Because your body likes to have ample glycogen stores, carbohydrates that are consumed after a training session (like the pasta from the study above) aren’t burned for energy and instead used to replenish glycogen stores.
So you’re saying I just need to exercise, and then I can eat whatever I want and not get fat?
Not exactly. If you’re trying to lose weight, you still need to be consuming less calories than you are burning each day. However, an INTENSE exercise session will at least allow you to eat something other than chicken breasts, fish, and vegetables.
What kind of workout depletes the most glycogen?
- Resistance training sessions
- Multiple sets that last 30-90 seconds
- Big, compound movements like squats and deadlifts
- 60 seconds or less rest between exercise
