Your Body's Chemistry: Pyruvate

I'm a big proponent of understanding how things work first before I take action to achieve a desired result from it, but if you were like me you were falling asleep in high school biology class...and you flat out just did awful (I got a C). However, maybe if some of that chemistry was applied to everyday life, I actually would've paid attention.

One of the most important things we learn about without realizing it is the Krebs Cycle. This is the cycle that our body's cells use to make energy. Its part of the reason we get hangovers after drinking and also the reason for weight loss in exercise. I want to share a diagram of the cycle to highlight a huge part of it when it comes to weight loss.

Basically, one of the most important things about energy systems is that if you want to increase your output, you need to increase your input. The Kreb Cycle essentially begins with a substance called pyruvate, that through a series of reactions converts into ATP, which is the molecule cells use for energy. So using this basic assumption about energy systems, if you increase your input (pyruvate) you increase your output (energy). This is big because in order to do these reactions in the cycle, your body has to use energy in the form of calories. So if we increase the amount of pyruvate our cells are getting, we thus increase the amount of ATP created and increase the number of calories burned to make it. Calories burned equals weight loss.

There was a study conducted at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine that confirmed this principle, however its important to note that subjects were not given a standard dosage of 500mg found in most supplements, the were given a much higher dosage around 6-8g. So with a little digging on the internet, I found this stuff:

http://www.maxbodysupplements.com/product/GF1.html

One of the side effects of upping your pyruvate intake is your sweatpoint happens a lot sooner. Your sweatpoint is the point at which during a workout your body starts to pour with sweat. My experience from taking this stuff so far is that sweatpoint happens a lot sooner. I also feel like I have more energy to get through double and even triple workout sessions if I want. No jitters or energy crash either like from caffeine, and no facial blood rush like you get with nitrogen-based pre-workout supplements. Great stuff, will definitely be buying more.