DECODE YOUR METABOLIC DNA

For the busy man intent on maintaining his pre-holiday body, finding a fat-burning plan with lasting appeal is a hard task indeed. Windowless gyms are demotivating on bright summer mornings, and sweaty changing rooms a difficult space in which to acquire office-ready composure. But going at it hard and heavy isn’t your only option. In fact, the solution could be as reposeful as letting the No 63 pass you by and walking to work instead – you just need to do it fasted.

Researchers from the University of Bath asked a group of overweight men to walk for 60 minutes on an empty stomach and, on another occasion, two hours after eating a high-carb breakfast. After taking samples of subjects’ adipose (fat) tissue, researchers noted that fasted men had an increase in the expression of two genes, PDK4 and HSL, both of which indicate improved fat metabolism.

According to the study authors, your fat tissue faces “competing challenges” when you perform even light exercise after a meal, as it struggles to respond to both a boost in calorie intake and calorie burn. Which makes a pedestrian commute followed by breakfast at the office the least stressful way to stay lean this summer. Call it gene therapy, if you like.