burning fat, not sugar??

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Okay so im getting confused about this...
what do i need to do to burn fat and not sugar??

Help me out guys.. I know walking is a good one to burn fat, what else?

Thanks for reading!

Replies

  • hroush
    hroush Posts: 2,073 Member
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    Your body will burn what you give it. If you don't burn the sugar, it's just going to be converted into fat anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

    There is an order in how your body burns calories:
    - glycogen (stored energy in liver)
    - fat
    - muscle

    Very important note, there is no discrete line when your body phases from one to the next. It takes time to mobilize fat stores, convert, and then transport to cells to use. If you are doing very intense activities for long periods of time (45+ minutes), your body will start to burn muscle because it's faster and easier to do (your glycogen stores are depleted and your body can't transform fat that fast).

    In conclusion, exercise is a great way to burn fat. Some are better than others, in general, the more intense, the more calories burned, the more fat you burn. Just be careful that you don't do too much too fast, otherwise you'll be burning muscle, which is a step backwards (I know this as it happened to me).
  • kjosey1
    kjosey1 Posts: 36
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    I think burning calories in general is the goal here. 1 pound equals 3500 calories so it's really just a mathematical equation. Things that you can do to burn calories are walking, jogging, elliptical, stair stepper, dancing of any kind, swimming, sports......basically anything that gets your heart rate up will put you in the calorie burning zone:) Try to find something that you like to make the experience more enjoyable. Zumba is popular right now and I've heard good things about it. You can purchase a workout video that interest you or find a friend to go on walks or work out with.....the possibilities are endless. Good luck!
  • ThaCookieMonster
    ThaCookieMonster Posts: 100 Member
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    thanks guys!
  • 60HzShuffle
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    The answer is what Kjosey1 said...just focus on total in v. total out. I think generally you can say that carbs get stored as glycogen in the muscles (once you exceed that it is converted to fat) and fat is stored as fat. When you exercise to the point that you burn through your glycogen store, your body starts using your fat stores. How long it takes to switch from your glycogen store to fat stores varies from person to person, but generally around 45 minutes may be a good average (for example, endurance athletes store more glycogen that others so that could be an hour into a long run).

    All that being said about exercise above, if you run a calorie deficit for the day, the body has to get its energy from somewhere!
  • Mrs_TrimWaistFatWallet
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    Try doing fasted-state runs, which basically means don't eat immediately before a workout. Then, add some HIIT sessions.
  • ThaCookieMonster
    ThaCookieMonster Posts: 100 Member
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    Try doing fasted-state runs, which basically means don't eat immediately before a workout. Then, add some HIIT sessions.

    Whats a hit session?
  • hroush
    hroush Posts: 2,073 Member
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    Try doing fasted-state runs, which basically means don't eat immediately before a workout. Then, add some HIIT sessions.

    Whats a hit session?

    HIIT = high intensity interval training. Essentially sprint for a specified distance or time and then walk/jog for a specified distance or time. Usually you sprint about 3x the distance you walk or keep the times about the same. As you improve, you can increase your sprint, decrease your walk, or what I like to do is take a little from walk and add to sprint to keep the overall time the same, but the percentages are different. If you google it you will find tons of programs.
  • ShrinkingNinja
    ShrinkingNinja Posts: 460 Member
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    Read the Rosedale Diet by Ron Rosedale. It will explain it better, but if you limit the amount of sugar you intake you body will have to start burning fat for energy because you are not giving it enough sugar to use for energy all day. Doing that is how I've lost my weight to date.
  • bella51708
    bella51708 Posts: 47
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    What kind of sugar did you avoid? SOOO many foods have sugar that I get confused on which ones are okay and which aren't. For example, I love a glass of 1% milk with dinner, but it has like 11g of sugar. Is this okay, or should it be avoided. I don't eat a lot of sweets and I don't drink sodas or sugary drinks. Most of my sugar intake comes from milk and yogurt.
  • ThaCookieMonster
    ThaCookieMonster Posts: 100 Member
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    Try doing fasted-state runs, which basically means don't eat immediately before a workout. Then, add some HIIT sessions.

    Whats a hit session?

    HIIT = high intensity interval training. Essentially sprint for a specified distance or time and then walk/jog for a specified distance or time. Usually you sprint about 3x the distance you walk or keep the times about the same. As you improve, you can increase your sprint, decrease your walk, or what I like to do is take a little from walk and add to sprint to keep the overall time the same, but the percentages are different. If you google it you will find tons of programs.




    Yea i was doing that but i dont know to log it in for me excersises so i just went back to walking fast... Do you know of a way to input the exercise?
  • ThaCookieMonster
    ThaCookieMonster Posts: 100 Member
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    Read the Rosedale Diet by Ron Rosedale. It will explain it better, but if you limit the amount of sugar you intake you body will have to start burning fat for energy because you are not giving it enough sugar to use for energy all day. Doing that is how I've lost my weight to date.
    [/quote

    Ok great point.. the more sugar intake the less fat im going to burn because it needs to burn the sugar more right?
    I see... But i love me some chocolate, is there sugar free chocolate out there?