Don’t Eat Sugar or Carbohydrates For 2 hours After Your Cardio Workout – 60-80% of the fuel you use during your cardio workout is glycogen (sugar) already stored in the muscle. The harder you workout (intensity & heart rate) the more calories you burn and the more glycogen (sugar) you burn. The 2 hours after your workout is over your body will refuel 50% of the calories you just burned during your workout back into your muscles. To make sure you refuel with your body fat in this window you must avoid any sugars or carbohydrates. Your body’s preferred fuel source is sugar so if you drink or eat sugar in this two hour window you’ll refuel your muscles with the sugar instead of your body fat. Yes you will still burn fat for the rest of the day but the #1 key to fat burning is to keep your blood sugar level low to moderate so your muscles are forced to burn your body fat. Every time you eat a high sugar or high glycemic index meal your body is forced to burn some of the sugar in the blood stream before it can go back to burning it’s body fat. Most people stay in this high blood sugar state and end up turning the additional sugar into body fat and in the long run become over-weight and diabetic. This tip always freaks people out but remember the way you eat to lose weight is not the same as an athlete that has to keep their muscle loaded with glycogen. You eat based on your goals. Weight-gain, Weight-loss and Performance all require different and specific plans. Be careful not to sabotage your fat burning with a high sugar smoothie after your cardio workout.
