Life has been busy with a lot of different projects in the past year since I stopped working at the gym, launching a new business…..looking for new accomodation….. raising a couple of boys a year older than last. All this meant the calories weren’t getting burned off and were storing around the waist. I set myself the target of dropping 6cm off the middle without my usual extreme Pre Comp dieting/ Cardio/ Fat Burners/ Training 5-6days a week.
This simple real world formula was – Eating cleaner – Occasional cardio and 1st Gear fat burner: BSc L- Carnitine Tartrate.
After 8 weeks, goal achieved.
Fat Burners are one of the highest selling supplements available, with thermogenics at the top of the tree. Basically what they do is stimulate calorie burning through increasing temperature, a bit like getting rid of the rubbish around the house by the old burn it in the bin like my dad used to 30+ years ago. What it doesn’t do is teach your body how to use fat as a fuel source when your not poppin them, and as a stimulant you need to keep increasing dose (and $ spent) to get the same effect if any.
My basic formula was this -
1: Cardio 2x per week first thing in the morning (+ 1-2 times per week after weights), on an empty stomach take 2g BSc Carnitine about 5 mins before. Start off at 6kph and 6% incline. The goal being to knock out the last of the Glycogen fuel in the muscle, leaving the body to go looking for another fuel source – hence the Carnitine. Then each 5 mins, I drop the speed or the incline by either 0.5kph or 1% as long as my heart rate stayed on or slightly over 65% (120 for me).
Most L -Carnitines on the market are an Acetate form, which is predominantly a mental stimulant with some fat mobilsing properties, whereas Carnitine Tartrate is primarily a fat mobilisor with some mental stimulating effect.
When you’ve finished cardio, have a shower, get dressed for work, take your time before breakfast. WHY? The human body is not an electrical fat burning appliance that the moment you step off the treadmill is unplugged at the wall and stops its processes (fat burning), so by taking some time to get cleaned up, you are extending the fat burning period – if you throw carbs in immediately, it is a lot easier for the body to take that easy form of fuel for replenishment than the complex process of converting fat so will stop very quickly burning fat, not many carbs in a glass of water 
so have a glass, then shower etc.
As a fat mobilisor one of L- Carnitine Tartrate’s roles is signalling your body to utilize it’s existing fat stores as a fuel source (a bit like recycling instead of the back yard burn off). This is a process of what I like to call Biological reprogramming, training your body to utilize fat as a primary fuel source ALL THE TIME!
The more you do it, and the longer you’ve been doing it (months not minutes) the more efficient a fat burner it becomes.
2: Carb timing, if you want a big bowl of ice cream ….. have it for breakfast! We fuel the car at the beginning of the journey not the end, by front loading the carbs (after cardio of course) you provide the fuel to see you through the day, decreasing intake as you go through, and preferably having very little to zero complex or simple carbs from late afternoon. This is where a great stirfry (very little oil) comes in handy. I know many of you will think that there are carbs in the sauces, and your right, but the purpose of this exercise was to lose fat in a LONG TERM SUSTAINABLE MANNER (not pre-contest). A healthy meal that suits my needs and is great for the family, so match the amount of veges to the chicken. Fiberous veges cause a calorie defecit, you burn more energy in their digestion than you are consuming.
Of course the ice cream is an analogy, I never actually had any for breakfast……but I could have!
The message here is that you can lose weight and fat while living a normal life, it may take a little longer than the before after adverts in the magazines, but this process is sustainable for the rest of your life, and so the 6cm I’ve knocked off is able to be permanently deleted.
And before jumping onto the most hardcore Thermoblasting Stimulant based pill, remember to
a) exercise
b) look at what else goes in your mouth and
C) Begin Biologically reprogramming your body into a fat burning machine with L Carnitine Tartrate.
This is the first gear of fat burning, when it plateaus you then have the thermos up your sleeve to kick on like a booster, and as you should cycle (6-8 weeks on/4-6 weeks off) your stimulant based fat burners so as to avoid CNS burnout (basically your body stops responding to them without forever increasing the dose and the $) use the Carnitine during the off period while your CNS resets so you don’t stall the engine, but are just chopping down from 3rd to 2nd.
L Carnitine also aids in protein synthesis – increasing muscle – making your “fat burning” machine bigger, ie a V8 burns more petrol when at idle than a 1300cc. And don’t worry about increased muscle size, if you add a kg of muscle and drop a kg of fat, you’ll actually be 4/5ths tighter and toned as muscle fibre is far denser than fat, so the same weight takes up 1/5 of the measuring tape or dress size!
Mike Kingsnorth
Mr NZ
IFBB Pro Bodybuilder
BSc Sponsored Athlete
Posted by:
Michael Kingsnorth
