Fat burning during recovery...

Chris Swansea
Chris Swansea Posts: 78
edited June 2009 in Road beginners
I caught the tail end of a TV programme last night about fat burning.

They explained that after excercise, the body keeps burning fat for another 22 hours, using it to replace the carbs burnt during the activity. I think that is what they meant anyway!

So, my question is, if you consume a recovery drink as soon as you finish (pretty essential for me after a fast 40 miler - otherwise I can't walk the next day) - does that cancel out the 22 hours of extra fat burning?

Is it a choice between hobbling around with sore legs or a few extra fat calories burnt?
Trying my best to do 300 miles a month on and off road.

Comments

  • Alex_Simmons/RST
    Alex_Simmons/RST Posts: 4,161
    If you don't recovery and can't ride properly the next day, then there's your answer...
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    which channel? Can I get to it on i-player or 4OD etc?

    Bit of Googling the subject suggests that a high protein / low carb recovery drink won't interfere too much with the post-exercise fat burning, but if you wolf down a load of carbs it will.

    Also found several summaries confirming what seems logical; high intensity interval training is better for weight loss / muscle building / performance improvement than pootling along at 60% MHR for hours on end.
  • MAXTHEDOG
    MAXTHEDOG Posts: 29
    Chris,

    I saw the same programme and have come across this before under another,more technical name - EPOS,Excess post exercise oxygen consumption! Honest.If you google it you'll see loads of info about it.Its true as well,it works,most fat gets sorted after you've finished.My PT reckons on the most benefits are to be had if you've exercised at a high intensity.
    Regards,
  • bompington
    bompington Posts: 7,674
    I should be getting really fit then, I've been recovering for 5 days since I was last on my bike...
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    Come on, which channel was it on??? I want to see if I can catch it on the pc
  • Trying my best to do 300 miles a month on and off road.
  • mats
    mats Posts: 94
    A BBC channel, there is something about it on the BBC homepage
  • If you don't recovery and can't ride properly the next day, then there's your answer...

    Ah... but what if weight loss/fat burning is your priority?
    Trying my best to do 300 miles a month on and off road.
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    Muchas grassy-arse.

    Can't access it from work, our server's in Germany so the BBC site thinks I'm not a licence-payer and won't let me see it!

    I'll 'ave a look tonite at home.
  • Thanks MAXTHEDOG. Found this...
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excess_pos ... onsumption

    I need to read this a few time so it sinks in but it seems that in most cases the EPOC effect works best after anaerobic excercise, so I suppose you would have far less recovery issues/problems anyway?

    So do some lung bursting interval work and go to bed on an empty stomach :)
    Trying my best to do 300 miles a month on and off road.
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    I think do the intervals then go to bed properly hydrated and following a high protein snack / drink
  • Alex_Simmons/RST
    Alex_Simmons/RST Posts: 4,161
    If you don't recovery and can't ride properly the next day, then there's your answer...

    Ah... but what if weight loss/fat burning is your priority?
    Not being able to ride properly the next days means you'll burn fewer calories overall.

    Consistency is key.
  • IanTrcp
    IanTrcp Posts: 761

    So, my question is, if you consume a recovery drink as soon as you finish (pretty essential for me after a fast 40 miler - otherwise I can't walk the next day)


    Really? I'm not a wool-shirt-and-sandal-wearing-single-pannier-dawes-galaxy-rider, but I do know that "recovery drinks" have only ben around for a few years. I'm not suggesting that they're not valuable, only that it seems unlikely that you can't walk the next day if you don't have one after a couple of hours riding!

    Are you sure that your problem isn't one of heightened sensitivity to modern marketing techniques? :wink::wink::wink:
  • bahzob
    bahzob Posts: 2,195
    If you don't recovery and can't ride properly the next day, then there's your answer...

    Not the case. Depends on workout you've just done + what the next day ride will be. I think the above is only always the case if you have consecutive long hard days like a stage event (e.g. Tour of Ireland/Wessex). Or if (like the pros where concept of recovery food started) you are doing multiple hard workouts in a day.

    Like many other things there are no absolutes here and best for people to do bit of trial and error and find out for themselves if need recovery products or not.

    Doing this may save some money.

    Also I think one reason people get confused about not losing weight when cycling is that they overcompensate for exercise in terms of food consumed during/after workouts so end up consuming way more calories than they burn.
    Martin S. Newbury RC
  • BeaconRuth
    BeaconRuth Posts: 2,086
    IanTrcp wrote:
    Are you sure that your problem isn't one of heightened sensitivity to modern marketing techniques? :wink::wink::wink:
    :lol::lol::lol:

    Ruth
  • BeaconRuth
    BeaconRuth Posts: 2,086
    Having now caught up with the programme on i-player, the two 'tips' out of the 10 which intrigued me were the one about 'under-reporting' and the one about dairy products.

    I'm staggered by their statistics for the lady who 'under-reported' what she was consuming. Despite keeping a video and a written diary she was declaring something like 30-60% less than she was actually consuming. :shock: Unfortunately they didn't go into how she was under-reporting - by missing out whole items, or by under-measuring the weight of foods? I guess I'm intrigued by this one because I suspect that it is a significant error for many people.

    And the dairy products seemed like a very clear experiment - and a good explanation for differences in weight loss despite consuming the same number of calories.

    As for the op's question - it seems fairly self-evident that the quicker you replace the lost glycogen from exercise, the less your body will draw on the fat reserves in the following 24hrs. So a recovery drink is going to be detrimental to your fat-burning........ except that, to Alex's point, you would be better off getting fitter, stronger, faster on the bike and doing lots more riding if you want to slim down. I guess ultimately the question you've got to answer is how much riding/training are you doing? If you can't ride very far or often and elite performance is not your aim then recovery drinks are not really a priority and possibly should not be used. If you want to race seriously then focus on your performance, train hard, have your recovery drinks and your bodyfat should look after itself.

    Ruth
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    I've only caught up with half the programme so far, but it's quite interesting stuff. So I should be adding a bit of extra protein to everything, chucking it in the blender with a drink, then eating the resulting slurry from a tiny plate. Looking forward to the second half!

    I got my Zip-Vit drinks bottle and sample goodies last week, and gave them a go on Sunday. 50 undulating miles, 4 hours including a couple of stops, 6-10am to avoid the heat. The allegedly lemon energy drink was vile and watery, the chewy energy bar looked and tasted like dried apricots preserved in lard, and the orange gel was so thick and sticky I almost needed to chew it to get it down. OK, so they got me round without any bonking, but when I got home I dumped the rest of the stuff in the bin and went for my usual recovery routine of a pint of sweet tea, couple of hobnobs and a play with the dog.

    All that stuff might be scientifically formulated, but it tastes vile and appears to me to be a very expensive way of buying sugar. I'm not an elite athlete (not even sure the term athlete applies at my age) so I'll stick to fruit squash with a bit of added sugar and salt, and a selection of bananas, fig rolls, cereal bars and jelly babies. Yummy
  • Lunar Tick
    Lunar Tick Posts: 62
    I caught the tail end of a TV programme last night about fat burning.

    They explained that after excercise, the body keeps burning fat for another 22 hours, using it to replace the carbs burnt during the activity. I think that is what they meant anyway!

    So, my question is, if you consume a recovery drink as soon as you finish (pretty essential for me after a fast 40 miler - otherwise I can't walk the next day) - does that cancel out the 22 hours of extra fat burning?

    Is it a choice between hobbling around with sore legs or a few extra fat calories burnt?

    It's true that after a long ride, fat oxidation levels remain raised for some time. However, fat cannot be turned into carbohydrate, so you'll have to consume carbs to replenish your stores of muscle glycogen.

    Some studies have shown that by delaying the intake of carbohydrate after training, you can enhance the post-exercise fat burning effect. However, this comes at a heavy price; your muscles are primed to soak up carbohydrate right after training and if you miss this window of opportunity, it becomes harder to replenish muscles adequately, especially if you're planning on cycling the next day. And since you burn fat on every ride, no matter hard or gently you cycle, not being able to cycle the next day due to fatigue because you held back on post-exercise carbohydrate doesn't make sense. My advice therefore is to get that carbohydrate down your neck as soon as possible after training!
  • dg74
    dg74 Posts: 656
    Does this still work if I come home after a ride and sink 6 bottles of San Miguel and chicken breasts with salad in pitta bread? (ok, ok it's a kebab but how I described it sounded betterer ) :D
  • Garz
    Garz Posts: 1,155
    Manly modern day kebabs come in naan!