There are 2 enzymes that you need to control properly with your nutritional timing to help you improve your body composition:
LPL
Lipoprotein Lipase (LPL) pulls fats in from your blood into your cells to get stored as fat to use at a later time and will make you fatter
What turns this on and signals your body to make more of this enzyme?
High insulin eating
Fructose and artificial sweeteners
Consuming foods with soy ingredients
Feeling stressed
Increased estrogen levels
What turns this off and signals your body to make less of this?
Exercise
Physical activity
Deliberate cold exposure
Consuming foods and beverages that result in a <30mg/dL rise in your blood sugar levels
Anything that reduces your stress levels
HSL
Hormone sensitive Lipase (HSL) works inside of the cell to mobilize fats, breaks them down into free fatty acids, and releases them in the blood stream to be burned off
What turns this on and signals your body to make more of this enzyme?
Exercise
Physical activity
Deliberate cold exposure
Consuming foods and beverages that result in a < 30 mg/dL rise in your blood sugar levels
Anything that reduces your stress levels
What turns this off and signals your body to make less of this?
High insulin eating
Fructose and artificial sweeteners
Consuming foods with soy ingredients
Feeling stressed
Increased estrogen levels
Did you just notice that these 2 enzymes are opposites of each other?
Nutritional Timing
When should you eat and drink before exercise?
I recommend your last meal and liquid calories be 2-3 hours before exercise so that there is no food in your stomach, very little immediate energy in your blood, your fat burning hormones are high, your LPL enzymes are low, your HSL enzymes are high, and your body will be signaled to learn again how to burn your stored carbs/fat in your muscles and other places around your body for fuel.
Should you drink or eat during exercise?
If you eat or drink during exercise your body will rely on that energy for fuel first vs energy stored in your muscles, liver, and fat in targeted areas you'd like to change. This will result in no immediate or future changes in your body image, and negatively impact which hormones and enzymes are released during the workout.
I recommend you just drink water during exercise if you need it so you don’t spike your stress and sugar burning hormones during exercise, you burn fat better, you get into a fat burning state faster, and make more improvements from your workouts following.
When should you eat after a workout for optimal fat loss benefits and actually get results from your workout?
LPL enzymes shoot way up when the body realizes that you're done working out. Thus it is important to wait and eat until you are actually hungry. Some motivation for you is that your fat burning and muscle adapting hormones will increase 200-700% for the next 1-3 hours following a workout. When these hormones are done increasing, you then will experience hunger sensations, and should eat something. Unless you’re beyond your 8-11 hour eating window for optimal sleep, then just drink water and wait until morning.
It is important to get your max meal consumption of protein after a workout and multiple times per day, because it increases your muscle adaptation signal by 46% so you actually get results from your workout and start to heal your body as soon as possible. If you don’t get that max dosage of protein, your body will break down healthy muscle tissue to address the immediate repair needs of your muscles, resulting in muscle loss.
*If you’re interested to learn more, ask me for the educational lesson on how to calculate your goal specific calories and macros, which include all of the formulas.
NEXT STEPS
Click Here to Schedule your next Lifestyle Coaching Session
When you get near the end of scheduling this click “redeem coupon, package, or gift certificate” button (located above pay now)
Type in your package code and click apply
Then click the reserve button
REFERENCES
Perlmutter, D. and Loberg, K. (2024) Drop acid: The surprising new science of uric acid--the key to losing weight, controlling blood sugar, and Achieving Extraordinary Health. S.l.: Simplified Chinese Press.