Lose Fat Fast - Which Is Better?

which is better for maximum weight loss walking or running every year millions

of people resolve to lose weight but every year millions of people gain the

weight back is that because they did something wrong

or because they are lacking in character and well power a lot of people believe

in the notion of no pain no gain that we have to suffer in order to get results

but is that really how it works for weight loss and fat burning or is

that more of a cultural conditioning that we should be more deserving of

success if we suffer first well in this video you will learn the truth about how

it really works so that next time you resolve to lose weight you can do it

once and for all coming right up

hey I'm dr. Ekberg I'm a holistic doctor and a former Olympic decathlete and if

you want to truly master health by understanding how the body really works

make sure you subscribe and hit that notification bell so that you don't miss

anything so the idea of losing weight and burning fat based on exercise like

walking or running it's based on the idea that we have to expend energy we

have to use up energy or calories and therefore some of that energy is stored

as fat and therefore if we expend more energy than we would burn the fat and

that makes a lot of sense but it's not as simple as that so first we want to

look at where does that energy come from and how is it different if we're walking

or running or is it different all right so the two ways that the body makes

energy is called oxidative phosphorylation it's a big word but it

simply means that we're making energy in the presence of oxygen it means we have

enough oxygen supplied that we can send the fuel into something called a

mitochondria and that mitochondria uses oxygen to oxidize the fuel and this fuel

could be fat or glucose and if we have enough oxygen then we're gonna make fuel

we're gonna make energy called ATP that's just the the cellular currency it

doesn't really matter what it is it's just the currency of energy in the cell

and we can make 38 units of ATP from one unit of glucose and fat is a larger

molecule so we make more than 38 ATP but that's not really important the

important part is that it's a very efficient way of making energy and in

the presence of oxygen we can make a lot of it

and all of that oxidation is happening in the mitochondria so because that is

the preferred and the most efficient way for the body to make energy and because

at rest and at moderate levels of exercise the body prefers to use that

and it prefers to use fat for fuel at rest for our basal metabolic rate and

for low intensity exercise we use about 85% of the energy from fat and about 15%

of it from glucose but both of those fuel sources are channeled into the

mitochondria for the use of oxygen to make ATP all right

the alternative way of making energy is called glycolysis and that word means

it's from two parts its glucose glycol means sugar and lysis means to break

apart or split and that's exactly what it is so when we don't have oxygen when

oxygen is not available or when it's not available in sufficient quantities when

we're falling short then the body relies on glycolysis it starts splitting sugars

and this does not happen in the mitochondria this is a separate

mechanism it happens inside the cell in the cytoplasm but outside the

mitochondria this is not very efficient at all and we can only make two ATP's

from one unit of glucose so when we have oxygen we can make 19 times more energy

than when we don't have oxygen so what this means is this is an emergency way

of making energy it's it's super super important for a crisis such as when we

don't have oxygen or when we have to make a sprint when there's an emergency

when we have to escape from something then we have a backup fuel we have a

method of making energy but it's very inefficient it costs us to make a

certain amount of fuel we have to use up a lot of glucose a hundred percent of

this mechanism of this glycolysis comes from glucose hence the name glycolysis

it's about sugar you it doesn't work for fat so if you're planning to walk or run

in order to burn fat and to lose weight then we would want to understand does

this happen more during walking running or does that happen more and what's the

balance how does that really work when can we burn the most fat because

ultimately that would be the goal so there's something called aerobic

metabolism that means with air and we're gonna assume that when you're walking

that you're walking at an intensity where you're basically below 120 beats

per minute of heart rate because at that heart rate for most people you're gonna

be breathing normally you're not going to be huffing and puffing excessively

you're going to be breathing in and out in in deep breaths but at a steady rate

and you're not going to be huffing and puffing what that means is you have

enough oxygen when you're not huffing and puffing you're supplying enough

oxygen to provide the mitochondria enough oxygen to stay with the oxidative

phosphorylation without needing to get in to start splitting sugar and because

of that the aerobic metabolism aerobic exercise which is all activity when

you're less intense than huffing and puffing you're gonna burn the vast

majority of your fuel from fat especially if your fat adapted so if

your fat adapted you're probably going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of

85% burned from fat and about 15% from lucasz but this is not glycolysis this

glucose is still going into the mitochondria for oxidation as you

increase your intensity then that percentage the glucose percentage is

going to go up just a little bit but not a whole lot because this is still mostly

with with oxygen but as you cross over as you cross into an aerobic and you

start huffing and puffing now there is no longer enough oxygen to provide the

mitochondria with enough substrate with enough oxygen to maintain this

phosphorylation this oxidative phosphorylation so we can't rely on this

exclusively anymore so on top of this the body will start breaking down

glucose it will start with glycolysis it will start splitting sugar molecules and

again because this is very inefficient we're gonna start using up a lot of

carbohydrate rather quickly nothing is ever zero or a hundred

percent in the body there's always a mix of different pathways and different

activities but we can say for sure that if you are fat adapted and you're doing

aerobic you are in the vast majority of fuel provided from fat but as you start

huffing and puffing now the glucose becomes dominant so the intensity is

going to determine how dominant it becomes but pretty much as soon as

you're huffing and puffing you're going to be using more glucose more

carbohydrate than fat so right here we want to start thinking that a lot of

people think that oh well you know it's just about calories that no pain no gain

if I burn more calories if I run faster then I earn more fat but that's not how

it works because you can't burn more fat than you can provide oxygen for the only

way to burn fat is with oxygen so you can only burn fat

up to the aerobic threshold then you you can't do it that mechanism kicks it

doesn't kick out but it can't increase anymore we have to add this on top of it

okay so then the question is what happens

after that what are the other effects that we need to understand well one

thing we want to keep in mind is how long can you keep this up for all right

because you're wanting to burn energy you're wanting to burn that fat and if

you can keep something up for hours like you can go for a walk for hours you can

do an a leisurely bike ride for hours you could do some easy rollerblading for

hours if you're fit and capable and skilled to do that but if you're running

and huffing and puffing you can't really keep that up very long depending on how

fit you are and how fast you go maybe 20 to 45 minutes if you do it on a regular

basis we're not talking about doing a marathon every day so if you can go a

whole lot longer then you can burn a whole lot more fat again if you do this

you're going to burn some more calories but the calories won't be coming from

fat because the oxygen sets the limit so another thing that happens when we go

from aerobic which is a rather leisurely state into anaerobic which is a more

high-stress state is we change the perception of the body we go from a

peaceful to an emergency state we're kicking in an emergency metabolic

system the reserve pathway so now we're going to burn through we're going to

start using up glycogen and glucose rather quickly so think of glucose and

glycogen as this little reservoir right here so some of this can be stored in

the muscle for direct use by the muscles but the

glycogen in the muscles cannot come back out of the muscles it can't re-enter

circulation it can't go back into the liver and become blood sugar for the

rest of the body so when we start using up glucose it's not just the muscles but

the whole body starts sensing the need for more glucose and when the body needs

more glucose then other than the muscles which makes the fuel for the muscles the

only other reserve we have is the liver and the liver can only store about 400

calories of glycogen about a hundred grams that's not very much at all

and it doesn't want to blow all that glycogen all at once so it starts to

look for other ways and the primary way to create more glucose is cortisol and

the cortisol starts telling the liver to convert some of that glycogen but it

also starts looking for other sources in the body like amino acids and protein so

anywhere that the body can start to source more more substrates more of

things that it can turn into glucose cortisol is going to tell the body to do

that that once become more dependent once we start using more carbohydrates

then we start becoming more dependent on carbohydrates and because the reservoirs

the the stores of carbs is called glycogen they're very limited in the

body and once we start burning through them the body is going to start looking

for more immediately and one way that it's going to do that is by raising

cortisol so early on the cortisol is simply going to tell the liver to break

down some glycogen to maintain blood sugar because we're going through it

faster the muscles are using most of it and they sort of have their own supply

but other parts of the body are also looking for more glucose now that were

burning through the reserves so the liver has to break down glycogen to

raise blood sugar to supply the body and now with that higher cortisol we're also

going to increase insulin because once we retrieve the glucose from the liver

we break down glycogen the glucose gets into the bloodstream now we need insulin

to get it back from the bloodstream and into the cells that need it if we stick

with a walking if we stay in aerobic then we're never gonna trigger

significant amounts of cortisol when a stay on a low cortisol level that means

that our ability to burn fat and our ability to stay fat adapted is much much

better right so if we eat a low-carb diet and we teach the body to start

burning fat we're much more likely to stay in that fat adapted state if we

don't go in and start burning that emergency fuel whereas if we start

burning the emergency fuel now we increase the tendency for carb

dependence so think of this as the this little spike here is the little

reservoir from glycogen that's how carbohydrates are stored

whereas this orange area is our fat reserves so first of all we have a whole

lot more fat reserves and that's why we gain weight and that's what we're trying

to get into that's what we're trying to burn away and if we're fat adapted now

we have good access to that the doors are open

whereas if we're carb dependent then we're gonna burn through this little

carb reserve and then we're going to look for other carbs we're never really

going to get significantly or predominantly into using the fat for

fuel so we'll burn through the carbs and then because of the cortisol because we

stay carb dependent now we burned up the stores we're gonna

get hungry again right we're gonna get cravings because the body says hey you

know this is an emergency we used up the carbs and we're probably going to need

more in the future so let's make sure that we fill up so we

keep this topped off for the next time an emergency comes around whereas if

your fat adapted then there's no emergency you got all this this fuel to

use up there is no stress there's no emergency there so it's not just about

how many calories you burn it's how many calories are you gonna eat how what's

your tendenci going to be for eating and having cravings afterwards so with

aerobic you are probably if your fat adapted especially you're probably not

gonna have any extra hunger if you were fasting before and you go for a walk

you're probably not gonna come back and be ravished whereas if you go for a run

if you get into this burning through carbs then an hour after you're probably

going to be ravenous and if you watch some of my videos you know that insulin

is the main hormone that we're concerned with insulin is released it's secreted

it's stimulated in response to blood sugar so when we have high cortisol when

we exercise and trigger cortisol that's going to raise blood sugar so we're also

going to raise insulin and insulin like we've talked a lot about it is a fat

storing hormone so after you're done with the exercise if you eat a bunch of

carbs then you'll be more likely to store those carbs because insulin

converts carbs into fat and it has a tendency to promote the storing of that

fat and it has a tendency to prevent the breakdown and the burning and

utilization of that fat so everything about fat burning and weight loss is

about reducing insulin and reducing insulin resistance

and once we shift from fat-burning to car burning

we're also shifting more back into insulin resistance so aerobic exercise

during aerobic we are actually almost in pure fat-burning and if we don't trigger

a lot of cortisol we're not going to leave that fat burning we're gonna be in

a stable state we're not gonna upset that balance now if we are in anaerobic

then some people might say that oh well all that matters is calories and I hope

we've debunked that enough that you don't think that's primary but calories

in calories out the equation still holds true all right so while you are running

you will be burning more calories per unit of time

but is that really important does that really matter well first of all you

can't keep it up as long so the total calorie expenditure is probably not

higher even though you can get more calorie burning in per minute so to

speak but because you're triggering the cortisol because you're triggering the

insulin because you're inhibiting the fat-burning then you are not going to be

successful in the long run with that because you will get more hungry you

will get significantly more hungry and what's going to happen then is that

suppose that you have the willpower to resist those cravings that you just so

immensely will strong strong willed that you can just go hungry and just fight

through it well you just burned up all your glucose

your body is gonna have to find it somewhere so if you can force yourself

through that that those cravings then the body is gonna start burning muscle

and turn that into glucose because you're basically forced the body to

reply the glycogen stores but if you don't put

any glucose and it's gonna have to find it somewhere else and the main source

then is going to be to break down muscles and that is obviously not what

you want both of these methods will increase growth hormone and that's a

good thing because growth hormone is a fat burning hormone and it is a muscle

building hormone however the mechanisms are different

because with anaerobic with the high intensity with a higher intensity then

it's the challenge it's the fitness challenge that's going to trigger the

growth hormone however that growth hormone effect will be more than offset

by the cortisol and the insulin and the cravings and the fact that you will have

to start breaking down muscle to compensate for the the carbs that you

burned up here however you will make growth hormone because you're promoting

the fasting all right so assuming that you're when you're

fasting your body starts burning fat there is a lack of protein and you all

get into a fat-burning state if you're doing keto then that fat burning state

will be even more intensified but the principle of fasting increasing growth

hormone is strongly accentuated by exercise so aerobic exercise and fasting

are sort of building on the same principle that you need to generate fuel

without adding any fuel to the body so here the exercise is adding to the

growth hormone without unbalancing anything else whereas here you're making

the growth hormone but you're offsetting it because you burned up the carbs your

major body carb dependent now you're going to break down muscle you're going

to increase the cortisol and the insulin and have a tendency to store more fat so

there's a lot of mechanisms but in this state because you're not stressing the

body everything is sort of flowing it's working with a body it's working on the

bodies terms of harmony whereas here when you're stressing it

now you have to provide the carbs and then once you provide the carbs now you

can't really burn the fuel anymore you just keep burning up and refilling that

that glycogen store so between walking versus running for maximum weight loss

the clear winner is walking however does that mean that you should never run

again or that no one should ever run or that walking is the only type of

exercise you should do of course not that's not how it works so who can run

what type of person would it be suitable for to run well someone who is fit

pretty much regardless of age I mean most people are probably going to be

younger if they're fit and lean but if you're 60 or 70 and you're fit and lean

then you could probably still do some running you also want to be insulin

sensitive meaning your body knows how to process fat and carbohydrates and if you

do a little bit of running and you tap into your emergency fuel you're not

going to upset or the balance too much or stress the body too much if you enjoy

running if you enjoy being fit so if you first fit you fit first of all and then

you want to maintain that or promote that fitness and if you enjoy some

variety just like doing different things then go for a run once in a while but

don't think that you'll be healthier the more you run or that you burn more fat

the more you run okay you still want to do most of your activity aerobically and

I've also done some videos on exercise where I talk more about not just the

aerobic and the anaerobic but the high-intensity interval training how

that works and how much to do of each of those then who should walk well if you

are already overweight then that means that you are pretty much insulin

resistant and you are not super fit then these people should you've you've kind

of broken your metabolism your body isn't ready for the type of stress that

this does that this imposes and if you impose the stress then you will hinder

your body from recovering from that insulin resistance you'll hinder your

body from smoothly and steadily staying in that fat-burning state and if your

primary interest also is just health then walking is better for most people

so there are many many different reasons to exercise in different ways but if

you're overweight and insulin resistance and you're trying to lose weight and

burn fat then walking is the clear winner so remember that if you're trying

to lose the weight once and for all which I'm assuming that that has to be

the case for everybody then it's all about reducing insulin resistance and if

you do that then you get a nice bonus of also dramatically reducing your risk of

high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease and stroke and dementia how

about that for a bonus if you enjoyed this video make sure that you look at

that one as well thank you so much for watching and I'll

see you next time