Isn't elevated cortisol bad for fat loss?

[banderbe]

Why then is it the goal of the Fat Loss routines to elevate the amount of cortisol in the body?

I have read Lou's explanation and I don't understand why elevated cortisol is good in the situation of a trainee following one of the Fat Loss workouts but bad for fat loss in every other situation.

Can someone (perferrably Lou) please explain this? Or maybe I'm dumb and totally missed something in the book. I'm typing this based on memory of what I scanned last night. I don't have the book handy.

Thanks!

[Lou Schuler]

I explained it in the book.

The first hormonal reaction in a workout is from the catecholamines -- adrenaline and noradrenaline. They open up blood vessels and allow for faster muscle contractions.

The other stress hormone, cortisol, comes into play when you're doing an inefficient workout -- lots of work with difficult exercises, little rest between sets. It breaks down muscle tissue. (This is also the type of workout that generates the most growth hormone, FWIW. Three-quarters of your daily GH production comes during the first 90 minutes of sleep each night.)

You can reverse the protein-degradation process immediately after a workout with protein and carbs, which bring insulin into play. You have a tremendous amount of blood flow in your muscles after strength training, and the insulin pushes your post-workout nutrients get into that tissue.

This entire process is metabolically expensive. It takes a lot of energy to do the workouts, a lot of energy to facilitate protein turnover during and immediately after training, and a lot of energy to recover from the workouts.

As long as we're talking about these hormones, it's hard to overstate the importance of breakfast. That's the time of day when cortisol is most likely to be elevated, and your body is most sensitive to insulin. Aside from your workouts, you can do more for your body by eating a good breakfast in the morning than you can with any other meal at any other time of day.

[banderbe]

Okay Lou, thanks. A few more questions if you don't mind on this topic.

If cortisol increases lipolysis, which according to the wikipedia entry on cortisol, it does, what happens with cortisol when you consume the post-workout carb/protein shake?

On the one hand you want to decrease cortisol, or prevent its effect of breaking down muscle, and on the other you do not want to stop cortisol from causing lipolysis.

I guess I am not clear on the exact physiological actions of the post workout drink. I understand that spiking insulin shuttles nutrients into muscles, replenishing glycogen and stopping the catabolic state you are in after lifting.

But if the idea of increased cortisol is lipolysis then it would appear to be a sort of catch 22 when you consume the post-workout carb/protein shake. You can't stop the catabolic state without also stopping lipolisys due to increased cortisol.

I'm probably missing something here so forgive my ignorance. I'm just trying to read what I can and understand all of this. Mainly because I just enjoy it. I still follow your and Alwyn's advice and it seems to work. I just don't think the cortisol explanation is very clear at this time.

Thanks in advance if you reply.

[delcyphr]

Layperson weighing in: I think that the effect of cortisol on lipolysis is secondary here, and focusing on it is confusing the issue. Regarding exercise, the important effect of cortisol is the breakdown of muscle tissue that it induces. You want that effect - temporarily, to be sure - so that muscle tissues can rebuild themselves a little bigger and stronger with rest. That's where timely post-workout nutrition comes in - it stops that cortisol effect (after a period of muscle breakdown) and supplies muscle cells with nutrients necessary for rebuilding.

While cortisol may increase lipolysis, it may be that other exercise- or stress-produced hormones are more central here - the catecholamines that Lou mentioned, like adrenaline and noradrenaline (also called adrenaline and noradrenaline), glucagon and adrenocorticotropic hormone.

With luck, some non-layperson will come along to expand or correct my statements as needed.