Abdominal fat reducing outcome of exercise training: fat burning or hydrocarbon source redistribution?
Open accessAbstract
Fat burning, defined by fatty acid oxidation into carbon dioxide, is the most described hypothesis to explain the actual abdominal fat reducing outcome of exercise training. This hypothesis is strengthened by evidence of increased whole-body lipolysis during exercise. As a result, aerobic training is widely recommended for obesity management. This intuition raises several paradoxes: first, both aerobic and resistance exercise training do not actually elevate 24 h fat oxidation, according to data from chamber-based indirect calorimetry. Second, anaerobic high-intensity intermittent training produces greater abdominal fat reduction than continuous aerobic training at similar amounts of energy expenditure. Third, significant body fat reduction in athletes occurs when oxygen supply decreases to inhibit fat burning during altitude-induced hypoxia exposure at the same training volume. Lack of oxygen increases post-meal blood distribution to human skeletal muscle, suggesting that shifting the postprandial hydrocarbons towards skeletal muscle away from adipose tissue might be more important than fat burning in decreasing abdominal fat. Creating a negative energy balance in fat cells due to competition of skeletal muscle for circulating hydrocarbon sources may be a better model to explain the abdominal fat reducing outcome of exercise than the fat-burning model.
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The amount of fat lost after a relatively long period of HIIT and SIT is disproportionately larger than the estimated utilization within the HIIT or SIT sessions.
“As the amount of fat lost after a relatively long period of HIIT and SIT is disproportionately larger than the estimated utilization within the HIIT or SIT sessions, the mechanisms explaining this fat-reducing effect are of interest (Kuo and Harris, 2016).”
From Effect of Exercise Training on Fat Loss—Energetic Perspectives and the Role of Improved Adipose Tissue Function and Body Fat Distribution (2021) · cites this paper as Kuo and Harris, 2016
In the section ‘Apparently, aforementioned scientific experiments reject the fat burning hypothesis’ (page unavailable), the paper reports substantial fat reduction after HIIT despite describing it as anaerobic; it also says fat contributes less fuel as exercise intensity rises. That supports the proposed mismatch between fat loss and fat use during exercise, but the copy does not give an estimated session-by-session comparison or address SIT specifically. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredHIIT and SIT efficiently reduce total fat mass, despite carbohydrates being the predominant source of energy during exercise bouts.
“HIIT and SIT also efficiently reduce total fat mass, despite carbohydrates being the predominant source of energy during the exercise bouts (Trapp et al., 2008; Kuo and Harris, 2016).”
From Effect of Exercise Training on Fat Loss—Energetic Perspectives and the Role of Improved Adipose Tissue Function and Body Fat Distribution (2021) · cites this paper as Kuo and Harris, 2016
The section headed “Apparently, aforementioned scientific experiments reject the fat burning hypothesis” reports that HIIT reduced total body fat and describes it as anaerobic. Another passage says that exercise becomes more dependent on carbohydrate as intensity increases. Our copy does not separately address sprint interval training (SIT), so it does not support that part of the claim. Page numbers were not provided. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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Cites
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Resistance and aerobic exercise have similar effects on 24-h nutrient oxidation
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
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“As the amount of fat lost after a relatively long period of HIIT and SIT is disproportionately larger than the estimated utilization within the HIIT or SIT sessions, the mechanisms explaining this fat-reducing effect are of interest (Kuo and Harris, 2016).”
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Zhu, X., Jiao, J., Liu, Y., Li, H., & Zhang, H. (2024) · Journal of Sports Science and Medicine · doi:10.52082/jssm.2024.559 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
“…fat is fully oxidized in the recovery period and glycogen is synthesized to supplement the carbohydrate consumed during exercise (Kiens and Rich-ter, 1998); HIIT has a greater stimulating effect on muscle; and triglyceride (TG) is redistributed from adipose tissue to muscle (Kuo and Harris, 2016).”
BackgroundLiu, Y., Li, Y., Cheng, B., Feng, S., Zhu, X., Chen, W., & Zhang, H. (2022) · Diabetology & Metabolic Syndrome · doi:10.1186/s13098-022-00834-9 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
- Authors
- Kuo, C.-H., & Harris, M. B.
- Affiliations
- China Medical University (TW)
- William & Mary (US)
- Venue
- Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
- Publisher
- Canadian Science Publishing
- Published
- 2016-07
- Volume
- 94
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 695-698
- ISSN
- 0008-4212 (ISSN-L)
- 1205-7541
- OpenAlex
- W2290618484
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 5 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 2.05
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Locations
- Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- TSpace (University of Toronto) (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Cardiovascular and exercise physiology
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Muscle metabolism and nutrition
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Adipose Tissue and Metabolism
- Keywords
- abdominal fat reduction, exercise training, fat oxidation, lipolysis, high-intensity intermittent training, aerobic exercise, resistance training, hypoxia, skeletal muscle, adipose tissue, energy balance, obesity treatment
- MeSH terms
- Adipose Tissue, Animals, Energy Metabolism, Humans, Hydrocarbons, Oxygen Consumption, Exercise, Muscle, Skeletal, Abdominal Fat, Lipid Metabolism, Resistance Training
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