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Old Thu, Sep-16-04, 20:08
fodus8 fodus8 is offline
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Plan: Atkins
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I found some good info on Exercise Intensity and Fuel use, but alas, this is not what my orginal question was about.

Exercise Intensity and Fuel Use
The relative contributions of fat and carbohydrate to energy vary with exercise intensity. Low-intensity activities such as walking strongly stimulate lipolysis from peripheral adipocytes, while intramuscular triglycerides contribute little or nothing to total energy expenditure (1). The rate of carbohydrate use is also low: carbohydrate needs are met predominantly by circulating blood glucose, with little or no muscle glycogen breakdown (figure 1: not shown). The rate of appearance of fatty acids into the plasma peaks during low-intensity exercise (25% to 30% of VO2 max) and then declines as exercise intensity increases.

In contrast, the rate of fat oxidation is highest during moderate activity such as easy jogging (65% of VO2 max). At such an intensity, plasma free fatty acids and intramuscular triglyceride contribute equally to the overall rate of fat oxidation. During high-intensity exercise (85% of VO2 max), the rate of total fat oxidation falls, mainly because the appearance of fatty acids into the plasma is suppressed. At the same time, lipolysis of intramuscular triglycerides does not rise substantially when exercise intensity increases from 65% to 85% of VO2 max. This would not affect recreational athletes because most cannot sustain high-intensity exercise for more than 10 to 15 minutes without accumulating high (greater than 10 mM) concentrations of lactic acid in the working muscles and blood, which would cause discomfort and stop activity.

When low-intensity exercise continues more than 90 minutes, the pattern of substrate metabolism changes little relative to the first 20 to 30 minutes of exercise. The same is true of moderate-intensity exercise (65% of VO2 max): the rate of total fat or carbohydrate oxidation changes little after 2 hours of jogging or cycling at this intensity compared with the first 30 minutes. However, this level of exercise induces a progressive increase in the mobilization of fatty acids from peripheral adipocytes into the plasma (1). Therefore, the contribution of intramuscular substrates (triglyceride and glycogen) to total energy expenditure probably decreases when the duration of moderate-intensity exercise increases beyond 90 minutes.
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