will any amount of exercise burn body fat?

mprich3

You've seen it: "Exercise in just 5 minutes a day!", "Burn fat in this 6 minute workout!"

The stairclimber at the gym is telling you you've already burned 16 calories and you just got started. That's proof that the fat is melting away, right? Wrong. If you had cans of food stored away for an emergency, you wouldn't eat it for no reason. Your body has the same idea. If there are more convenient ways of getting energy, your body is going to do that first. Food you ate today is energy. Your body has energy stored in carbs and protein, too. Your body only wants to rely on fat if it looks like you might deplete those other resources.

When you exercise for more than 20 min, your body starts to get concerned that it will run out of the regular energy source. So, it starts breaking down fat to supplement that energy. If you exercise for less that 20 minutes, your body most likely has not started breaking down fat, no matter how many calories the LCD screen displays. Getting your heart rate up for 30 min instead of 20 mean most likely you are burning a good amount of fat for 10 min of your work out.

Just a little fyi:)

louell33

thanks, it's quite simple when you put it like that.

believetoachieve

So glad someone posted this. A link would be fabulous too, if you have it! As far as I know, it's much harder for the body to break down fat into easily burnable fuel, so the order is something like: food being digested, carbs, body muscle, body fat. I'm not certain about those last two though (the order - I *think* that muscle is easier to burn than fat though, unfortunately).

Though it's important to note that ANY exercise is great. No amount is "too little".

menchi

Hmm this puts a new twist in my plans to shorten my workout time now that I'm close to my goal. I was thinking that would take care of toning and continuing to burn fat. Some questions:

Does it make a diff if you do less than 20 minutes of intense exercise so that your heart rate is way up?

What about exercising first thing in the morning before bfast? i.e. when your body has to burn reserve energy of some form.

believetoachieve

Bump

darrenham

This is wrong.

You don't have to be burning fat at the time of exercise. As long as you're eating less calories than you're burning over the course of a week, a month, or more, you'll lose fat.

It's that simple, and I wish people who think they know better (purely because they've mis-read some research) would stop trying to overcomplicate things.

jennmoore3

interesting!

Mairgheal

So if I understand you correctly, the first 20 minutes "don't count"?
I don't buy that. Sure, how come the "30 day shred" has such great results then (including me)? That workout is only 20 mins!

JunkFoodJane

So if I understand you correctly, the first 20 minutes "don't count"?
I don't buy that. Sure, how come the "30 day shred" has such great results then (including me)? That workout is only 20 mins!

You just rocked my world. I thought it was a 60 minute workout, and I can only usually manage 30 minutes for a work out (plus stretching time, setting up netflix on netbook, (workout here), cool down dressing 'out' time, showering and redressing time) because I don't get that much time 'away' from my son.

I really want to try it!

mabear74

I have always heard that the first 30 min of a workout burn through other energy sources, and after that your body starts breaking into the fat storage. Anybody have any good reliable sources where I research this?

BigBoneSista

Sorry this isn't good information. There are plenty of workouts that have lasting fat burns that only require 20 minutes of exercising and they burn fat. Circuit Training, Strength training, HIIT, and Tababta just to name a few.

You can't take everything you read as truth.

Mairgheal

So if I understand you correctly, the first 20 minutes "don't count"?
I don't buy that. Sure, how come the "30 day shred" has such great results then (including me)? That workout is only 20 mins!

You just rocked my world. I thought it was a 60 minute workout, and I can only usually manage 30 minutes for a work out (plus stretching time, setting up netflix on netbook, (workout here), cool down dressing 'out' time, showering and redressing time) because I don't get that much time 'away' from my son.

I really want to try it!

Go for it, seriously! It's actually 3 workouts, 20 minutes each (plus a few mins stretching). You do each workout 10 days in a row, then you move up a level. Extremely intense, but my mantra is "it's only 20 mins, it's only 20 mins" and that keeps me going :laugh:

simplyshannal

Your body burns energy all day long, even sitting and even if you only get your heart rate up for 10 minutes, it will still burn some fat. No, it won't be a huge amount but it will burn it. There is a target heart rate for everyone out there and once they reach it, their body is burning fat. You can exercise for 10 minutes or 2 hours, you will still lose some fat at 10 but you will lose more at 2. That is just plain common sense. Losing fat is not that difficult of a concept, you just have to want to do it. There is so much printed and visual information out there but talking to a professional trainer or Nutritionist is going to be your best bet.

ColoradoRobin

I am simplifying this, but here are the basics.

The primary way cells get energy is to break down glucose. Glucose is sugar. You only have so much blood glucose available at any given time. Any excess is stored for future use.

Some is stored as a type of starch called glycogen. Glycogen is kept in your liver and muscles, and as your blood sugar gets used up by your cells, the glycogen gets broken down into glucose to maintain a steady blood sugar level. Think of glycogen as short term storage.

Fat is long term storage. As blood sugar levels drop, a hormone called glucagon (among others) tells your body to start mobilizing fat stores and converting them to a usable form. It takes awhile to get to this step, but it doesn't really matter that much when it comes to losing weight. As you exercise, even if you never get to the direct fat- burning stage while exercising, you will be replenishing your stores afterwards. The fat may not be burned during the workout itself, but it will be burned as your other supplies are depleted, even if that's while you are showering, walking out to the car, making dinner, or just sitting. You burn calories all the time, and they have to come from somewhere.

Forget the "fat-burning zone" as well. Your total calories burned during your workout matters more, as the fat will get burned later.