- What about the "fat burning zone"? You know, low and slow intensity burns a higher % of fat.
- What about HIIT? High Intensity Interval Training - a lower % of calories burned come from fat, but an overall higher number of calories are burned.
- What about the old adage "eat less, move more"? There's a lot to be said for that.
http://www.fitsolutionsblog.com/how-burning-fat-really-work/#!155
How Burning Fat Really Works has been a long standing question. Have you ever wondered or do you just try to burn it? Having an understanding on how fat burns, where fat goes, and what is the best way to burn fat is important to having the ability to get on the path of burning it.
For the past 8-10 years science has continued to fall onto relatively the same answers when looking at the science behind How Burning Fat Really Work.
How Burning Fat Really Works
Being that 65% of the United States is Obese and 80% is overweight we have to start getting educated. The issue that many Americans are faced with is that there is far too much miss-information available. For people to be successful in becoming healthy they must have appropriate knowledge and understanding. We all know we cannot do something without having knowledge about the subject.
According to a new study published in the British Medical Journal, the majority of people believe that fat gets “burned” off by being converted into heat and energy, or they believe that it gets turned into muscle.
Though this this is the common belief and understanding, it is very incorrect. The sad story is many doctors, dietitians, nutritionists, and personal trainers believe this to be true as well. As an industry expert in personal fitness and nutrition for 20 years it is very sad that most industry professionals are still sharing that as fact.
You are probably thinking “Oh Man, I have been told that very thing and I believed it”. That’s okay! You are reading this because you are interested in getting educated on this whole process. Now that you know that fat doesn’t turn into muscle, and you know it doesn’t just magically disappear, it is time to learn story.
How Burning Fat Really Works
When we talk about burning fat we are talking about a specific type of fat. This is fat that accumulates in are adipose tissue areas and comes from the consumption of excess carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. When our bodies don’t need the excess or cannot use the excess amount it is add as fat. Excess macro-nutrients get converted into triglycerides, which are then stored in what is called Adipocytes (aka our fat cells). This means if you have weight to lose, you need to metabolize (burn off) the triglycerides.
To burn fat (triglycerides) they must go through a chemical reaction so they can leave the body in the form of carbon dioxide and water. Yep, you are breathing, sweating, and urinating your fat away.
Resent studies have found that we actually BREATH 84% of the fat out of our body, and the other 16% leaves the body in fluid form (i.e. sweat, urination, condensation in your breath, and so on). Research has traced the atoms with in the fat cells and their pathways as they are released from the body. These studies found that 80% of the fat was carried out of the body in the form of Carbon Dioxide, and 20% was carried out of the body via fluid.
Note: This research has shown that if the goal is to lose weight, simply breathing more or working out more isn’t necessarily going to help you achieve your weight loss goal. There still needs to be a proper consumption of the macro-nutrients that is in line with a person’s needs based on their Basal Metabolic Rate, and activity levels.
Now that we have established an understanding on how fat is burned and where it goes, what is the most efficient way to burn the fat. Most people have heard the term the “fat burning zone”. Many doctors, and trainers have used this term. Is there really a “fat burning zone”?
In years past the majority of science that stated that low and slow intensity burns more fat than moderate to high intensity activities. Based on what was previously covered we understand that the majority of fat loses happens through breathing, sweating and urination. Therefore the previous science of low and slow is no longer the best course of action.
This is why higher intensity training has become the norm and has shown the greatest results. When the exercise is high intensity it uses fat, calories and oxygen processes to create the energy for the activity. Thus burning more because of the heavy breathing, and more sweat created by the workout intensity.
Here is a great example; If you walk for an hour and burn 150 calories, approximately 90% of those calories will come from fat, which will equate to about 135 calories from fat burned. Now, if you jog on a treadmill for one hour and burn 600 calories with 50% of those calories coming from fat, this would equate to 300 calories from fat. This should be a no brainer on which would burn more. Unfortunately people believe that a larger percentage equals more burned. Clearly not true if you do the math. 300 is definitely bigger than 135. Therefore the best way to burn fat is put out a greater amount of exertion and energy use.
One other fat burning concept to keep in mind is what is called the “After Burn” or “Post-Exercise Burn”. The scientific name is EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption). This is the energy above your normal metabolic rate that continues to be used after an intense activity.
This means if the exercise is done at a high exertion rate, you will continue to use more energy during recovery due to the elevated state of your metabolic system. This continued use of energy is directly related to your muscles needing to replenish their carbohydrate stores, repair, and remove waste products (i.e. lactic acid). EPOC does not happen is not with low intensity exercise.
Let’s Put it all Together. The best way to burn stored body fat is with high intensity exercise that include many variations of exercise. High intensity exercise can be done on a bike, running, interval training, metabolic weight training and more. For great at-home programs that provide the best training systems for optimal fat burning you may want to look at P90X3, Insanity Max:30, 21 Day Fix, or 21 Day Fix Extreme. The more you change it up the better. It is recommend doing metabolic training at least three to four days per week.
How Burning Fat Really Works is not overly difficult to understand, but when you do have the right knowledge you will be creating a system that will bring you increased fat burning. The bottom line is the harder you work the more fat energy you burn, and the greater the after burn, which in turn brings greater fat burn overall.
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