Best workouts

BethWilliams24

Hey everyone.

Just looking for a little advice - what is the best type of workout to burn fat? I know eating at a calorie deficit etc, which I do - I’m now wanting to add in something to burn fat, as I do toning exercises a lot.

TIA

Speakeasy76

I really don't know what the "best" workouts for burning fat are, as it really depends on if you're looking for short-term fat-burning or long-term. I believe HIIT type workouts are best for short-term, but don't quote on me that. With those type of workouts, though, you really only should do them about twice/week.

MY one piece of advice for people when they ask a question like this is the best exercise is finding one you actually somewhat enjoy, and may even look forward to. It doesn't matter if the exercise is a great fat-burner, if you hate it, you'll be way less likely to stick to it. So, that's what I would look into first, personally. For example, my cardio typically consists of cardio dance on YouTube, Tae Bo on You Tube (Yep, that guy is still around), and doing intervals a couple times per week on our elliptical. I also go on walks, more as a mental health/to be outdoors kind of thing. The elliptical is my least favorite, but I make it more enjoyable by putting on mindless TV.

TeaBea

Exercise is for fitness and health, it doesn't target fat.

Some types of exercise can burn more calories than others. But My Fitness Pal is based on NEAT - non-exercise activity thermogenesis. MFP gave you a calorie goal before exercise. When you log exercise, you earn calories which you are expected to eat back. The deficit is not increased because of exercise, the deficit stays the same.

An increased deficit will not target fat. It may help you lose weight faster, but fast weight loss isn't healthy weight loss. Fast weight loss can mean a higher % of muscle loss.

The most consistent way to lose weight is to reduce your calorie intake. No exercise required. If you have a fitness goal, then exercise toward that goal. Find exercise you enjoy. Do that exercise, and make it a lifestyle change.

sijomial

Nice bike ride by Chris Froome the other day - seven and a half hours and 6,215 calories burned.
But he would have had to eat a lot of food that day too.

In reality walking away from the kitchen is the most effective fat burner.

It's a really short term view to regard exercise as being for weight loss and I'd urge you to instead think of it as a great habit to develop for your entire life for health and fitness. Even enjoyment as that's what keeps people going long term.

If you don't reconsider then you are looking at long duration, moderate intensity cardio up to about two hours. Do be aware that's not how MyFitnessPal works and it makes a mockery of the calorie goal you selected for yourself.

AnnPT77

Well, percentage-wise (in terms of where the fuel comes from) we tend to burn the highest proportion of fat while we're sleeping. But sleeping all day is clearly not the answer!

For fat loss, exercise mainly is to burn extra calories, and make it easier to be in a calorie deficit; plus to retain as much of our current muscle mass as practical, which will help keep our calorie needs a little (truly a little) higher long term. For big-picture purposes, exercise is for health, fitness, energy level.

It really doesn't matter what fuel the exercise is burning at the time you do it (fat, carbs, etc.). If you're overall in a calorie deficit - burning more calories than you eat - your body will make up the difference primarily from stored body fat sooner or later, maybe even while you're asleep. If you adopt a too-aggressive weight loss rate, it may make up some of the deficit from lean tissue, besides, and no one wants that, right?

Your toning exercises burn extra calories. Any kind of moving-more burns extra calories. Cardiovascular exercises tend to burn more calories per minute than toning exercises. Cardiovascular exercises include anything from walking to dancing, cycling, gym cardio machines, playing with kids, playing active video/VR games, martial arts, group exercise classes, skating, rowing/canoeing/kayaking, skiing, swimming, games like tennis or basketball, and many things beyond.

So: Do some cardiovascular exercise to increase your daily calorie burn and improve your fitness/health. Pick something fun, or at least mildly enjoyable, so that you'll want to do it. It doesn't have to be super intense. (All that stuff about HIIT being extra special? No. It's not. I won't go into a long harangue about that, even though I could, and it's tempting.)

Don't do something that leaves you exhausted after exercise (other than maybe just a few minutes of "whew!" feeling right afterwards). Being exhausted from exercise is counter-productive for weight loss, because it tends to make us drag through the rest of the day (burning fewer calories in daily life than if not fatigued), maybe rest or sleep more besides. It may be subtle, but it happens. You want to find the level where the exercise is a tiny bit of a challenge (that's how fitness improves), but makes you feel energized for the rest of your day rather than tired. That's the sweet spot.

Doing exercise and not fueling it - i.e., thinking of exercise as a mechanism that leads you into too-fast loss - has similar effects to too-intense exercise. It's counter-productive.

In the context of a calorie deficit, I think at most the way to think of it is that we get to eat more calories, which can give us more nutrition (always a nice thing), and more enjoyment, and better sustainability, while losing fat at whatever a sensible loss rate is for our current body size.

Endurance athletes may need to worry about what fuel source (fat or glycogen in muscles) is being used in a particular time period, so they don't run out of energy and underperform. The rest of us, with simple weight management goals, only need to worry about creating a sensibly moderate calorie deficit. The body will handle the fuel source question fine, all on its own.

TL;DR: Calorie deficits burn body fat sooner or later, so it doesn't matter what the fuel source is during the exercise, if the goal is weight loss. Exercise is great for health.

watts6151

Whatever exercise or sport you enjoy doing and you will adhere to