Newbie

wixsie

Hi there, I am a 50-something lady and just RE-engaged with exercise in June. I have a trainer once a week and am successful at exercising when there is a class or an accountability partner. I enjoy running cross country and hiking. I love yoga and water aerobics too-but my trainer said they don’t get my heart rate into the fat burning zone. SO, I’m looking forward to participating in the Running Challenge and meeting everyone!

AnnPT77

Hi, and welcome to MFP!

I'm a 65 year old woman, quite active, hanging around here to maintain weight after losing from obese to healthy weight back in 2015-16. I row (on water), bike, and walk during the warm-weather seasons, shift to rowing machine, stationary bike, plus usually some strength training in Winter.

Good news: Even things that don't put you in the "fat burning zone" are helpful for health and weight loss. As a percentage of the calories being burned, we burn the most fat when we're *asleep* (it's just that it's a high percent of few calories). Low-energy activities burn a higher percentage of fat, then as the activity gets more vigorous, we gradually get a higher percentage of those calories from glycogen (carbs, basically) rather than fat . . . but because we're burning so many more calories per minute during vigorous exercise, we can actually be burning more fat calories then.

Implication: If your yoga and water aerobics leave your heart below the fat burning zone, they're still burning some calories (not a huge number per minute), and a higher percentage of those calories are from fat!

In general, it doesn't matter for weight loss whether our exercise is in the fat burning zone or not. What matters is that the total of our calories eaten is a sensible bit fewer than the overall calories we burn from exercise, daily life chores and stuff, plus the calories we burn just by being alive, i.e., calorie deficit. Eventually, that calorie deficit gets made up by burning stored body fat. That stored body fat burn might happen during exercise, it might happen during sleep, it doesn't really matter when it happens, just that it *does* happen, and it's the overall calorie deficit that makes it happen (not exercising in a certain zone).

Exercise lets us eat a bit more while losing at the same sensibly moderate rate, and is good for health and vitality.

Plus yoga and water aerobics have other benefits, like flexibility, and exercise with low stress on joints and such.

I hope your trainer isn't telling you you need to be in the "fat burning zone" to lose weight, because that's inaccurate. Some people lose weight without even exercising at all (though they lose out on the benefits exercise does have, of course). I actually didn't change my exercise routine to lose weight: I'd already been very active for about a dozen years while still obese. I'm still doing the same basic exercise stuff now, 5+ years after reaching a healthy weight, while staying at a healthy weight during that time.

Personally, I feel like finding kinds of exercise that are so enjoyable I'd do them even if they weren't good for me . . . is almost magical. Any exercise I enjoy, and therefore do as often as possible, is better for health and even weight loss than something that's unpleasant that I put off and short-change at the slightest excuse. Besides that, the best exercise is one I continue forever for health and enjoyment, not something that's a special project I give up at goal weight.

Wishing you much success here with MFP!