Exercise and Insulin

• Exercise speeds up the fat-burning process by burning calories, increasing the metabolic rate, and lowering insulin levels.
• When insulin is lowered, glucagon is elevated and exercise really starts to pay off by burning maximum levels of stored body fat for energy.
• When you load up on carbohydrates within 2 hours before or after exercise, you inhibit glucagon and HGH release by stimulating insulin and forcing your body to burn glucose instead of stored body fat. This completely negates the hormonal benefits of exercise.
• Research shows that exercising first thing in the morning allows you to tap into more body fat, as glucose levels in the blood and tissues are lower because of overnight usage for repairing and rebuilding.
• Exercising for 20 minutes first thing in the morning is like exercising for an hour later in the afternoon or evening from a fat-burning standpoint, due to the meals consumed that have filled up the depleted glycogen in muscle tissue and liver reserves.

Sometimes, people will have a slight gain in weight when they initiate an exercise program. This temporary reaction is due to heightened levels of muscle tissue, which weighs almost twice as much as fat. Nevertheless, muscle is more compact than fat (a pound of muscle takes up one-third the space of fat), so the temporary weight gain will be offset by a decrease in body size. Also, the extra muscle will burn more fat, which will also help to further decrease overall body weight. Remember, your progress cannot be monitored by what the scale says alone. Muscle takes up less space than fat, so check the mirror and examine how your cloths fit. If possible, get your body fat measured every month or two.