Question regarding cardio and weight loss

marsisamazing

I do between 30-45 minutes on an elliptical-like machine (it's not quite an elliptical, but I'm not sure what it is called) three times a week, gradually working myself up to doing it daily, as well as trying to integrate some strength/calisthenics in there.

When I do this workout, it keeps telling me my heart rate is in the "cardiovascular" range, above the "weight loss" range. Sometimes, it even says my heart rate is dangerously high. I don't feel comfortable in the weight loss range, I feel like I am going too slow and not challenging myself at all, and it barely breaks a sweat.

My question is, am I still getting the weight loss benefits when I have a higher heart rate, or is it just exercising my heart? This is probably a dumb question, but I really want to know. Thanks for any input. If you happen to have a source from which you got your information, citation is greatly appreciated (: Thanks much~

LacieLamp

Bump...same here and i've been wondering too.

virginiejaubin

No, you aren't getting the same weight loss benefit. Beleive it or not, but when we sit on a chair doing nothig, Our body burns 7g. of fat per hour to maintain our body temperature, etc. When we exercise (slow exercise, just like when you are in the fat burning zone also called weight loss zone) our body uses 10x more fat to keep our body temperature to normal. When we do cardio and our heart rate is going too high, our body misses oxygen and it's not gonna want to burn the fat anymore, but other kind of energy to help for the oxygen. I read that in a book written by an expert called "fat burners". I often go on the elliptical and try to maintain my heart rate in the fat burning zone. Hope I helped you!

mhig011975

Don't know if this is answering your question, but inorder to burn calories, you have to get your heartrate up. (If you think your heart rate is to hight, you might want to talk to your Doctor about this?)

virginiejaubin

Sorry I forgot: you will of course burn cals by going in the cardio zone, you'll burn energy like sugar etc, but you're just not gonna burn the fat.

Meggles63

That's actually a myth. See: http://www.prevention.com/health/fitness/cardio/aerobic-exercises-and-fat-burning/article/9f3868f271903110VgnVCM10000013281eac____/.

To quote from the article:

t's true that the body burns a higher percentage of calories from fat during more mellow exercise like walking and easy cycling. But, when you pick up the pace for a higher-intensity cardio workout, you burn a greater number of overall calories (which should be your focus for weight loss) and subsequently just as much total fat.

For example, say a 140-pound woman performs either a fairly easy walk or a high-intensity jog. After 1 hour, she would have burned the following in total and fat calories:

Busting the Fat-Burning Zone Myth

Moderate Intensity(60-70% max heart rate) High Intensity (70-80% max heart rate)


Total calories burned: 192 288


Percentage of fat calories burned: 75% 50%


Total fat calories burned: 144 144

So you burn more calories overall, and still the same amount of fat calories. Win/Win

Elizabeth_C34

The "fat burning zone" is the range of HR values that will cause you to burn mostly fat as your energy source. The problem is that you don't burn nearly as many calories as you do if you sustain the same exercise at a higher intensity level. For weight loss and pure calorie burn, higher HR activity is better for burning more calories.

You should also look into interval training. It's a much more efficient way to burn off calories and increase endurance than sustained low-intensity workouts.

Some good articles for you:

http://scienceblogs.com/obesitypanacea/2010/06/the_myth_of_the_fat_burning_zo.php

http://www.stephenholtfitness.com/1316/fast-fat-loss-with-interval-training/

tseecka

I asked this same question of my personal trainer, and she actually told me (in opposition to what virginiejaubin posted) that you do still get the fat-burning benefits. The tradeoff is that you're not getting the same "bang for your buck", if you will. Purely hypothetically, let's say your fat burning/weight loss range is 100bpm, and that you're going to burn 300cal per hour. If you up your heart rate to 150 bpm, in the cardio range, you are still going to burn calories--but not at the same ratio. You'd be more likely to burn, say, 400 cal in an hour. You're still burning calories, and you're still burning more than you would in the same period of time at the lower rate, but it's not proportional.

Another way of putting it is, the fat-burning range is the "optimum" range for weight loss, but going outside of that range doesn't negate weight loss benefits--just don't go into it expecting that if you go twice the pace, you're going to burn twice the calories.

Hope that makes sense!

**Whoops, looks like my post was ninja'd by a couple of people who are way better at explanations than I am!**

HonkyTonks

I usually focus on burning as many calories as I can for the session.

virginiejaubin

That's actually a myth. See: http://www.prevention.com/health/fitness/cardio/aerobic-exercises-and-fat-burning/article/9f3868f271903110VgnVCM10000013281eac____/.

To quote from the article:

t's true that the body burns a higher percentage of calories from fat during more mellow exercise like walking and easy cycling. But, when you pick up the pace for a higher-intensity cardio workout, you burn a greater number of overall calories (which should be your focus for weight loss) and subsequently just as much total fat.

For example, say a 140-pound woman performs either a fairly easy walk or a high-intensity jog. After 1 hour, she would have burned the following in total and fat calories:

Busting the Fat-Burning Zone Myth

Moderate Intensity(60-70% max heart rate) High Intensity (70-80% max heart rate)


Total calories burned: 192 288


Percentage of fat calories burned: 75% 50%


Total fat calories burned: 144 144

So you burn more calories overall, and still the same amount of fat calories. Win/Win

Yes for weight loss we have to watch the cals and the more high exercice we do the more cals we burn, it's just that when you stay in the weight loss zone on the elliptical, you only burn the fat, no other form of energy.

Elizabeth_C34

Yes for weight loss we have to watch the cals and the more high exercice we do the more cals we burn, it's just that when you stay in the weight loss zone on the elliptical, you only burn the fat, no other form of energy.

Not true. Only about 60% of the calories you burn in the fat burning zone are from fat. The rest are mostly from carbohydrates. When you increase intensity, that number drops to somewhere around 35% fat burn. This is why carbs are really important to athletes, especially runners, cyclists, and other endurance athletes.

virginiejaubin

marsisamazing, don't pay attention to any of my comments, pple keep quoting me and writing that what I say is not true, so I guess I didn't have the right info myself or maybe i'm the only one who does, anyway, some of them don't even write their sources...

marsisamazing

Okay, soooo I've read your responses, and I'm still a little confused XD Haha.

Long story short: If I exercise in the cardio zone, I will still lose weight and burn fat, just not at a faster rate? Because if this is the case, I would rather do a little more work and get the benefits for my heart/endurance, even if I don't burn more fat.

Azdak

The main issue for you is not "fat burning", it's your heart rate.

Machines that provide "target heart rate" guidelines use the most basic and least-accurate method of determining heart rate training "zones".

They take a percentage of your age-predicted maximum heart rate. Even if the max heart rate estimate was accurate, taking a flat percentage of maximum (disregarding resting heart rate) has the highest error factor.

Add that to the fact that there is a significant error factor in the "220-age" method of estimating max heart rate, and you get numbers that are way, way, way, way, way, way off for many people.

If your perceived exertion is within acceptable limits -- Fairly Light, Somewhat Hard, or Hard-- and you can maintain a certain intensity level for 20+ minutes, then your exertion level is NOT "Dangerously High"--regardless of what the machine or an HRM tells you.

ingies2011

If you work out harder you also get a greater afterburn, which will count for greater fat calories lost then what you would probably loose during the low intensity workout, and there is greater endorphins/natural highs that you get from working out hard, all the more reason to get your heart rate up and exercise more then just in the fat losing zone.

istalkzombies

i've looked up the same question before on the net and found these 2 good explanations.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/89822-fat-burning-zone-vs.-cardio/#ixzz1STYnv5TZ
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/332288/workout_tips_fat_burning_zone_vs_cardio.html?cat=51

"The fat burning zone, indeed, burns a greater PERCENTAGE of fat, relative to total calories burned. But the higher intensity cardio or athletic training zone burns more TOTAL calories for the same length of time." - thats a quote from the 2nd link.

Awkward30

That's actually a myth. See: http://www.prevention.com/health/fitness/cardio/aerobic-exercises-and-fat-burning/article/9f3868f271903110VgnVCM10000013281eac____/.

To quote from the article:

t's true that the body burns a higher percentage of calories from fat during more mellow exercise like walking and easy cycling. But, when you pick up the pace for a higher-intensity cardio workout, you burn a greater number of overall calories (which should be your focus for weight loss) and subsequently just as much total fat.

For example, say a 140-pound woman performs either a fairly easy walk or a high-intensity jog. After 1 hour, she would have burned the following in total and fat calories:

Busting the Fat-Burning Zone Myth

Moderate Intensity(60-70% max heart rate) High Intensity (70-80% max heart rate)


Total calories burned: 192 288


Percentage of fat calories burned: 75% 50%


Total fat calories burned: 144 144

So you burn more calories overall, and still the same amount of fat calories. Win/Win

This one is correct. There is absolutely no reason to use a 'fat burning zone' because you really just want to increase your energy expenditure as much as you can. And as this example points out, even with a lower percent of fat burned, the higher intensity can work out to the same amount of fat cals

JamesBurkes

Regardless of the merits of fat burning zones or otherwise, as has already been mentioned, the Max heart rate formula of 220 - age is very often wrong. According to that formula, my max heart rate is 180. I've been up to 200 before now (not pleasant, or intentional - the last time I got there was when I was running and got chased by a particularly nasty-looking dog, hence my jog turning into a 500 yard sprint!). But the fact remains, if my max heart rate is actually nearer 200 than 180, if I had been trying to stay at 65% of my supposed max heart rate I would actually have been training at a lower percentage, as my REAL max heart rate is in reality a fair bit higher.

Because of that I just train as hard as I can, and just rely on my body to tell me when to slow down or stop. The fact that I'm often going for 60 minutes or more shows I'm still working aerobically, and that's good enough for me.

JamesBurkes

That said, there ARE merits to working out in the lower heart rate zones, not the least of which is that working out at that lower intensity is so easy. Sometimes your body just doesn't want (or need) to be pushed. At times like those, an easy workout that isn't too draining can allow you to still burn fat whilst not fatiguing yourself too much. Apart from that though, if it's a straight choice, I'd go for the higher intensity workouts every time.

gp79

There is a point at a given heart rate called your anaerobic threshold where your body is consuming all of it's energy from sugar (glycogen) sources vs. fat sources. At the higher heart rates, above this threshold, lactic acid begins to build in the muscle.

When you are sleeping you're burning alot of fat! The more you move (walking, hammering nails, jogging, being active in general) the more of a percentage of sugar is being used for fuel. When we run out of sugar (finite source) our bodies will begin to slow down, become exhausted and discomfort will set in.

To determine your anaerobic threshold, look to have Vo2 Max test performed somewhere.