Fat Burn Vs Carbohydrate Burn

So I got another Polar FT40 heart rate monitor about a month ago and started to use it regularly with my runs.

One of the additional feature of this watch is that it tracks a person's fat burn.

As you can see, right from the start, it says Fat Burn. This appears during the initial stages when my heart rate hasn't picked up yet. What I noticed was that once I entered the zone starting from 122 bpm (see above), the phrase "FAT BURN" will change into "FITNESS" and my understanding is that this is when I start burning carbohydrates for fuel.

This completely overthrow what I used to understand.

My impression has always been that a body burns the following items, for fuel, in the following order:

1. Alcohol
2. Carbohydrates
3. Protein
4. Fats

So from there I learned that:

1. Drinkers get fat cause the alcohol gets in front of carbohydrates when burning fuel, that results in unused carbohydrates being converted and store as fats.
   
   
2. Easy to get fat but hard to lose them is explained here. Fats, as you can see in the list, is the last to burn. Since most of us are eating adequately, we hardly get the chance to dip into our reserves to burn that stored fat. Over time, what happens is that your fats accumulate as more and more unused carbohydrates are being converted and stored.
   
   
3. The Atkins Diet works on this principle where it restricts you from taking alcohol, oily fried (fats) and carbohydrates but you are free to go crazy with meat (protein). As for fruits and vegetables, fruits is not permissible due to its sugar content while vegetables are allowed due to their relative lack of sugar (carbohydrates).
   
   So the theory is that now that alcohol, fats and carbohydrates are eliminated from your diet, all you have left to burn for fuel is your protein intake. However, protein yields very little fuel which means that you would finish burning your protein intake pretty quickly. Once that is out of the way too, you have only fats to burn and therefore, you will start to lose the fats i.e. this is when the diet starts to take effect.

So here's my problem which I am now totally confused.

My interpretation, according to what I read from the watch, is that you are burning fats for energy as long as you keep your heart rate under the zone? And that once you hit the zone and higher, your body switches over the carbohydrates?

Here's the screen shot after an 8k run. So I burned 1169 calories in that 1 hour run of which, 10% of that 1169 calories (116.9 calories) is fat burn.

It is very confusing in the sense that here I am running like mad only to find out that a leisurely stroll i.e. keeping the heart rate low, who have been the easier way to lose fat?

No logic right?


I am totally confused.

Would appreciate any running experts to provide some enlightenment.

- Voxeros

Joe Wong - Ch1na's Answer To Russell Peters

I am sure most of us are familiar with Canadian-Indian comedian Russell Peters who is a hit all over the world.

Now we have a US-Chinese answer to the funny man. Joe Wong.

We often think comedian as clueless clowns and brainless jesters but these folks are actually very smart people. Like Rowan "Mr Bean" Atkinson, who has a Masters In Engineering Science, Joe has a Ph.D in Mollecular-Biology.

Impressed yet?

Between Russell and Joe, I like Joe better as his range of topics, which includes current affairs and politics, is much wider.

I like his impeccable timing with strategic pauses for the maximum punch as well as his Captain Obvious one-liners peppered all over the place. Can you say "duh.........."?

"...I spend 10 years during the last decade....."

The only thing I feel is a bit short is that his script is quite repetitive. I scour for clips all over Youtube and it seems that his materials are very environmental friendly. A lot of recycling.

On a side note, I like the Americans ability to take a joke at their own expense. The pinnacle of humility.

Try that in Singapore and you would be assured that you will never be invited again ever or worse, a million-dollar defamation suit when you take a jab at the Guest-Of-Honour.


I hope to see more new materials soon.

- Voxeros

Taiwanese Self-Filtration Coffee Innovation

Got a batch of coffee from Ta1wan.

While Ta1wanese coffee may be relatively unheard of back home in Singapore, the coffee produce by the indigenous folks (原住民) is something worth checking out.

Despite myself being a loyal Vietnamese coffee fanboy, I have to say that Ta1wan coffee is actually quite good too.

Anyway, it is this batch of coffee that caught my attention. Not such much about the coffee itself but the innovative filter bag that comes with it.

I do have to add that the coffee inside are not indigenous Ta1wanese coffee unfortunately. According to the outer bag, it is a mix roast of Indonesian (I am guessing Java) and Brazilian (I am guessing Arabica Robusta).

The beauty of the self-filtration system is the elimination the need for a coffee maker as well as the relief of the indignation of drinking *gasp!* instant coffee.

So here's how it works:

In the bag are the individual sachets of coffee filter bags where you tear open one per serving and fish out the filter bag inside.

Then you rip off the top of the filter bag to create the opening for the hot water to be pour in the coffee ground. Grab the wing on each side of the filter bag and straddle the entire apparatus across the cup. (Pardon the use of beer glasses to drink coffee, it was a MacGyver moment then)

Pour in the hot water and let the water work its way through the coffee filter down into the cup.

After that, you just let the whole bag soak in the cup. Strength of the coffee will depend on the duration you leave the bag in the cup.

It is a balancing act of getting a coffee strong enough versus getting a coffee hot enough. It is very much up to the individual preference.

Thereafter, just pick up the filter bag and throw away. No mess!

Click here to see the instruction printed on the back of the bag.

In all, I think the whole straddle bag this is a very smart innovation. Kudos!

- Voxeros

Bath Foam Vs Shower Gel

This pair of bottles is from the same hotel where I stay in Xiamen as per my previous entry.

I like the Braille dots at the tip end of the bottles. Nice touch. Blind folks shower and shampoo too!

However, it is actually the bottle of foam bath that got me thinking and writing this blog.

If I recall correctly back in the day before shower gel was invented, we had soap bars in the hotel.

Yet, the bottle of foam bath exist then too! The only difference is that back then, the foam bath is actually use for the bath tub for that soothing bubble bath that all char bors are so fond of (check out Minnieve's profile photo).


Today, at many hotels, foam bath and shower gels are used interchangeably which I find it weird. If it was not meant to be used as a showering agent (agent?) back then, then how is it now that it is accepted as one?

Things that make you go hmm..........

- Voxeros

Lost In Translation X

Saw this stuck to the outside of the glass shower cubicle when I was in Xiamen last week.

Ok, I got the first one. Use the non-slip mat so that you don't end up having a very very unglam accident where the entire ambulance crew will be snickering all the way to the hospital. No sir. Don't want that to happen definitely!

It's the second one that has me all baffled.

This one means you need to carry a tuning fork into the shower with you and once the shower hits the right note (Concert B-flat?), GET DA HELL OUT OF THE SHOWER!!!

Welcome to QQland. This is most weird.

- Voxeros

Tokyo Mini House

If you think Hong Kong's "Transformer Apartment" is ingenius, this Tokyo's Mini House is even more tok kong.

Got parking garage downstairs some more ok!!

Don't play play!!

But personally, I think as a bachelor's pad, it's fine. But to have to share a bedroom with your mom is just too much for me.

- Voxeros

Hotel Built In 6 Days

• Gizmodo (11 Nov 2010) - Chinese Build 15-Story Hotel In Just Six Days, Rest On Seventh

Even if the time taken for foundation piling and clearing of the land was excluded, putting together a building, albeit pre-fabricated, in 6 days was just darn impressive.

The article claims that this building can withstand a Level-9 earthquake but after the scandal of "tofu construction" so tragically exposed during the SzeChuan earthquake (12 May 2008), I am not so confident if this building could actually live up to its claim.

Let's hope we do not ever have to find out.

- Voxeros

Dumbass Of The Week XVI

This news has been making the rounds all over QQLand forums about a rich kid who went onto the streets pretending to be a beggar, all in the name of looking for novel fun.

What an arsehole!!!

Read and/or see more pictures here: 移动Labs (05 Nov 2010) - 富二代为寻刺激 街头扮乞丐乞讨

Image Credit:  http://news.xinhuanet.com/

- Voxeros

Kancheong Spider Girl - Sibeh Cute

This four-and-a-half year old girl is all over the internet here in QQLand, otherwise known as "失控姐" for her frequent kancheong panic attacks.

She kancheong until damn cute can? Damn funny.

Here's another one where she role play as a Flight Attendant. Check out her explanation why the flight does not provide water for the passengers. Hilarious!!!

Enjoy.

- Voxeros

Tithe

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Project 230

I have embarked on a new project now that I have finally signed up for gym.

I am going to clock 230 km on the treadmill before I head home for Christmas.

That way, I would by then, made enough capacity to stuff my face silly with all the home food when I get back. :P

These past 8 months have been brutal to my body as I was all work, drink, eat, sleep.

I ballooned to a horrify weight breaching 70kg!

I feel more lethargic as a result which is an evil cycle causing me to want to move even less.

Now that plans for me here have more or less been settled (I am not going to be based in Shanghai after all and will be staying put in ShenZhen in the long run), I finally plonked down the moolah for gym access.

Yesterday marked the completion of 30km of Project 230. 200 more to go before Christmas Eve.

Oh that reminds me, it's time to put back the countdown clock on the right column. :)

p.s. I am down to 68.something. 5 more kg to lose! Gambatte me!

- Voxeros