Caption down below…

Can being inactive in our daily life impaired our ability to increase fat oxidation and clear triglycerides (fats) in the blood the following day/in a post prandial (post meal) state?

For those new here — my main research focus is fat metabolism. Specifically in the post high fat meal state or during exercise (this is my dissertation and masters work).

This recent review covers new studies over the last few years looking at this. I’ve previously talked about this in a steps for active people post!

This idea of exercise resistance has came up in data showing that low daily step count blunts the response to increase fat oxidation and take triglycerides from the blood following high fat meals.

As a whole the exercise you did yesterday *should* and does have a moderate impact on your ability to burn fat today (meta from our lab!). But these new data suggest that how active you are can hurt or enhance this impact.

Some newer data on Exercise snacks of small sprint or high intensity intervals may be a way to help improve this (5 rounds of all our 4 seconds every hour). If you promise to engage with this post — I’ll do another on the new exercise snack review 😉.

And as always my beloved disclaimer: caring about fat oxidation doesn’t = fat loss. Our ability to use fat and clear triglycerides is a vital part of metabolic health independent of weight changes. Early bed rest studies show that inactivity dramatically reduces this and our “metabolic flexibility”.

Having an increase post prandial response is a measure of met flex & being active more often is one of the best ways to improve this!

If you enjoy this science breakdown please save & share this post (sharing is caring!).

I also wrote this caption while on a walk so — practicing what I preach. If you’re reading this — go take a movement break!