Andrew Huberman Reveals Simple, Science-Backed Tricks for Fat Loss
On the latest episode of his podcast, Huberman Lab, Andrew Huberman, Ph.D, shared tips and tricks for fat loss backed by science.
One simple way to stimulate fat loss? Shivering. "Shivering is a strong stimulus for the release of adrenalin," he said.
Huberman explained that fidgeting is another subtle movement form that can stimulate fat metabolism. He referenced a study that examined people who ate a lot of food but didn’t gain weight and explained, "Those people engaged in lots of subtle movement throughout the day. In other words, they were fidgeters."
Diving into shivering and how long one can safely remain in a cold environment, Huberman said, "... get into the cold and get out of the cold, and typically not dry off, and get back into the cold, and out of the cold. Typically that will stimulate more shivering than just getting into the cold itself."
Towards the middle of the episode, the podcast host dove into exercise-- he said that high-intensity interval training (HIIT), sprint interval training (SIT), and moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) are the best protocols for fat loss.
Huberman also answered the common question of whether or not it is better to exercise while fasting. "For short period of training, it doesn't seem to matter... at a period of about 90 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise there's a switchover point, whereby if you ate before the exercise, you will burn far less fat from the 90-minute point onwards."
Another alternative is to do high-intensity training while fasting, which will cause you to reach that switchover point earlier. Thus, working out while fasted can, in fact, lead to burning a higher percentage of body fat.
One final tip? Caffeine. "If you wanted to burn more fat, drinking [Yerba] mate before exercise is good. Drinking it at rest, when you're not exercising, will also shift your metabolism toward enhanced burning of fat by increasing fat oxidation."
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