When Does Fat Burning Begin?

A common question I hear being asked, how long does it take for the body to enter fat-burning mode when doing cardio. The common answers floating about are 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, and I have seen 30 minutes be given as the answer. However, technically speaking, all those answers are wrong. Our bodies are always in a state of fat burning (actually, technically speaking we don’t even “burn” fat so to speak, what we refer to as fat burning is actually a process called gluconeogenesis, a process which converts one substance, in this case fat, into glucose, the primary and prefered energy source of the body and especially the muscles).
For decades, it was thought by doctors and scientists that our fat stores were generally immobile and static, except in adverse conditions such as aerobic exercise or famine. But in 1935 the biochemist Schoenheimer using radioactive Hydrogen-2 tracers demonstrated our fat stores are highly mobile and dynamic, undergoing constant turnover. This means we are always burning fat, this is good. However, it means much of our carbs and fats we eat are immediately converted to fat, which is bad. This actually made sense to me when I first read this report. Our 50+ trillion cells constantly need energy, and it seemed to me that what we eat could not constantly supply the energy our cells need to function. I’ve gone as long as 36+ hours without eating, and still survived. But reading the results of Schoenheimer’s research, now I see how. What we think of fat burning during cardio, then, is simply an existing ongoing process that becomes accelerated, triggered by biochemical signals produced during extended strenuous activity, such as cardio. Knowing this information, you can “tease” and trick your body to constantly burn off fat, but without feeling hungry, and without depriving yourself. Eat whole grains, lean meats, and raw leafy vegetables during the day; they have low density in calories and will maintain constant blood glucose levels. Right after a workout, you can eat more liberally thanks to elevated metabolism. In fact, that is a common practice of mine; on a day I plan to go out for fun for the evening, I will perform an extended intensive cardio workout so that I may enjoy the evening without worry that I have jeopardized my weight loss.
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