Heart rate fitness or fat burn

mom23nuts

Lately I notice my heart rate monitor breaks down my workout into fitness calories burned and time in a higher heart rate fitness zone versus calories and time in a fat burning zone.

Does this more specific break down have a significant impact on my weight loss? Or do I just need to keep burning calories of all kinds to see overall results?

How much does this impact fat loss or the lack of fat loss if I am in a higher heart rate zone?

rainbowbow

mom23nuts wrote: »

Lately I notice my heart rate monitor breaks down my workout into fitness calories burned and time in a higher heart rate fitness zone versus calories and time in a fat burning zone.

Does this more specific break down have a significant impact on my weight loss? Or do I just need to keep burning calories of all kinds to see overall results?

How much does this impact fat loss or the lack of fat loss if I am in a higher heart rate zone?

You don't need to worry about the "fat burning zone" or the "fitness zone" when it comes to losing weight. The fat burning zone just means you're doing less intense exercise for an extended period of time and your body is using mostly fat to fuel that workout. Fitness just means you are working out in a higher intensity (shorter amount of time) and burning mostly glycogen. Don't worry, it doesn't matter which zone you are in because both are burning calories.



At the end of the day, even though you think "oh im in the fat burning zone" you are burning less overall calories from fat. See above. You'll notice how the low intensity DID burn more calories from fat % wise, but the higher intensity burned more from fat OVERALL and more calories.


So, yeah. Unless you are zone training for performance reasons i encourage you to ignore those zones completely.

mom23nuts

Thanks! As long as I burn calories then counts most. Thanks for clearing things up.

NorthCascades

Unless you've set up your zones properly, "fat burning zone" is only a rough guideline. For example, what's your max heart rate? The 220 - age formula isn't very precise, it's an average across a population not a reliable individual prediction. But if you don't know it, all of your zones will be off. The point? Don't sweat it too much.

But know this: lower intensity exercise burns mostly fat, higher intensity burns mostly glycogen. They both burn calories. Burning glycogen makes you hungry. It's not your body's favorite source of energy but it's an important one and the only energy your brain can use. So you're going to replenish what you used up. Even though you burn calories more quickly at a higher intensity, you can't do it as long, and it makes you hungrier. So it's better to mostly do moderate intensity exercise.

rainbowbow

NorthCascades wrote: »

Unless you've set up your zones properly, "fat burning zone" is only a rough guideline. For example, what's your max heart rate? The 220 - age formula isn't very precise, it's an average across a population not a reliable individual prediction. But if you don't know it, all of your zones will be off. The point? Don't sweat it too much.

But know this: lower intensity exercise burns mostly fat, higher intensity burns mostly glycogen. They both burn calories. Burning glycogen makes you hungry. It's not your body's favorite source of energy but it's an important one and the only energy your brain can use. So you're going to replenish what you used up. Even though you burn calories more quickly at a higher intensity, you can't do it as long, and it makes you hungrier. So it's better to mostly do moderate intensity exercise.

sorry, this is purely anecdotal. As a matter of fact most research shows a mild appetite suppression from high-intensity cardiorespiratory exercise.