The other day, Nicole contacts me and says, "Bob, I've been working out for weeks and I can't get that body fat to fall off! Please help me! I need advise!" Well, here's the advise I gave her:

Nicole, you need to shift through the three fat burning gears. Now you're going to learn how to use a gear shift and clutch. Here we go:

First Gear: Body Energy Source is ATP90 % of our calorie burn is from muscle. When you start to exercise, your body uses the limited store of ATP. The ATP store only lasts a few seconds. Every living thing contains the chemical, adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is used to provide energy for heat, nerve electricity, light (as in fireflies), and muscle movement. An ATP molecule is held together by strong electrical forces which are set free when the molecule is broken apart in a chemical reaction. Somehow these forces are converted into the kind of mechanical energy that will move our muscles.

Second Gear: Body Energy Source is carbohydrates (canaerobic glycolsis)This energy source we call carbs is easy for the body to burn and is readily available to the cell. How long the second gear lasts depends on the individual and how he/she performs the exercise. If the exercise is performed too fast or with too much effort, the second gear continues and cells burn more calories from carbohydrates.

Third Gear: Body Energy Source is fat.If the exercise is performed in a steady, smooth motion, the cells will switch to burn calories from stored fat.Oxygen delivery to the cell determines the amount of fat burning. The fat burning process needs oxygen at the cellular level. Your fitness level is the determining factor! The body "switches" and stays in the fat burning mode sooner when we increase our fitness lever! Listen up! This is important! Increase your fitness level and your body will switch to the fat burning mode quicker! That's a straight forward message. Remember it. Focus on increasing your fitness level and the incidental result will be more fat burning. Conversely, if you focus on fat burning, your fitness level will not improve as much! The quick test of your fitness level is how quickly you recover from fatigue just after a workout or exercise. Fatigue is the key. If you didn't feel fatigued, what is there to recover from?

I received such an inspirational email from Cindy the other day, I would like to share her story with you. She gave me permission to publish her email. It touched me very much and her story was very inspiring.

I had to respond to this seemingly random email I received yesterday. I don't believe in coincidence so I have to assume that there is some reason why just this week I saw you on the beach doing your thing. Today after a ride, I saw you again leading a small group of people thru what must be your beach boot camp workout. I had a strange sense of pride watching you out there with those people. I was compelled to keep watching. You appeared to own that beach and I was struck by your ability to be firm yet compassionate, intense and serious, yet fun. I'm not sure exactly why I wrote this to you except to say thanks for your 30 years of service and your continued committment to the growth and development of others. It's just so strange. I saw you this week after a 3 hour bike ride and you said, "good start". I loved that. I hope you remain a part of our beach for a long time to come.