Whoa whoa whoa!! You can't burn fat via exercise????

meshashesha2012

If you are trained properly running can burn lots of fat.

Some people here will tell you that running causes your body to store fat.

i know because those olympic runners and marathoners and ultramarathoners are all great big fatties

secretlobster

Yes and no. There is some truth to what they are saying. For most exercise, your body gets the majority of its fuel from glucose (food) rather than glycogen (within body tissue). If you do an exercise that burns 300 calories, chances are only around 50-70 of those calories will be burned off your body.

But in general you DO have to be in a calorie deficit (and exercise calories DO count toward a calorie deficit because you have to be burning something!) in order to lose fat from your body. You can lose weight without exercise, just eat less.

There is no good reason not to exercise. The biggest benefits are a) you can eat more! and b) your body becomes stronger, builds endurance, and performs better, which is WORLDS better than being thin.

myofibril

"Translation

To burn 1 gram of fat, you need to burn 9 calories from fat. Since moderate-intensity exercise, such as walking, hiking, dancing or moderate bicycling, burns roughly 140 to 185 calories in 30 minutes, you can estimate that 50 to 60 percent of those calories comes from fat.That translates to 70 to 111 calories burned from fat. At nine calories per gram, you burn approximately 7.8 to 12.3 g of fat in 30 minutes, or two times that amount in 60 minutes. (Ref 1,3)

At higher intensity, if you're working out at 75 to 80 percent of your maximum heart rate, for example, approximately 35 percent of burned calories come from fat. That means if you jog for 30 minutes and burn roughly 295 calories, you burn around 103 calories from fat, or the equivalent of 11.4 g of fat. (Ref 1,3)"


Link: http://www.livestrong.com/article/388421-how-many-grams-of-fat-are-burned-during-cardio/

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As I said before the actual amount of fat burned per given exercise session is small.

It's the overall calorie deficit created through exercise which is important.

Debbe2

Weight loss probably begins and mostly takes place in the kitchen. Being active gives you the opportunity to relieve stress and feel better. It certainly burns calories increasing a calorie deficit and engages muscles. I feel myself becoming healthier and more energetic largely because I exercise. Imo, it feels so good to move my muscles that I do it now because it feels good! Also, I do believe it burns fat or at least helps tremendously in the course of building a healthy, happy body.

dad106

who ever posted that is an idiot, you burn fat either way...in fact, you burn MORE fat when you exercise when compared to when you diet simply because your metabolic rate is much higher when you exercise

Thanks.. Glad to know I'm an idiot.

Your metabolic rate is higher due to lean muscle mass... not to exercise.

How about you post some studies supporting that statement before you go around calling others names.

AaronG91

Hello everyone. Ok, so, sometimes I stalk the MFP forum for entertainment, inspiration, or just general info. What stuck out to me this time was one person's answer which stated "You burn fat eating in a calorie deficit.. Exercise is just to make your body look better." Is this really true?? Does exercise really not burn fat? Please explain.

I chuckled when I read that one too. If we ignore all the other health benefits that come from a well rounded fitness program exercise may contribute to your weight loss by virtue of the fact you're burning more calories.

One of the things endurance athletes try to do is to train their bodies to rely more on fat as a fuel source as even the skinniest marathon runner has, for practical purposes, an almost unlimited fuel supply burning fat but a very finite supply of glycogen stored in muscle and liver.

This.

bpotts44

"Translation

To burn 1 gram of fat, you need to burn 9 calories from fat. Since moderate-intensity exercise, such as walking, hiking, dancing or moderate bicycling, burns roughly 140 to 185 calories in 30 minutes, you can estimate that 50 to 60 percent of those calories comes from fat.That translates to 70 to 111 calories burned from fat. At nine calories per gram, you burn approximately 7.8 to 12.3 g of fat in 30 minutes, or two times that amount in 60 minutes. (Ref 1,3)

At higher intensity, if you're working out at 75 to 80 percent of your maximum heart rate, for example, approximately 35 percent of burned calories come from fat. That means if you jog for 30 minutes and burn roughly 295 calories, you burn around 103 calories from fat, or the equivalent of 11.4 g of fat. (Ref 1,3)"


Link: http://www.livestrong.com/article/388421-how-many-grams-of-fat-are-burned-during-cardio/

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As I said before the actual amount of fat burned per given exercise session is small.

It's the overall calorie deficit created through exercise which is important.

Exactly it does burn fat, but caloric deficit is king to lose weight.

bcattoes

Exercise absolutely can burn fat. Most likely what got twisted is that we used to think that exercise would burn tons of extra calories even once we were done performing it and that doesn't seem to be true. Of course I'm sure someone will argue with me on that.

Excessive cardio can mess with women's hormones and cause them to store fat. It's individual though - I've never had that issue.

I will argue with the first sentence. There is at least one controlled study showing an "afterburn" of up to 14 hrs after 45 min of instense cardio. And the muscle you build from strength training will cause a slight increase in metabolism. So yes, it won't burn "tons" of calories, but then how many of us weigh tons? :flowerforyou:

I've never heard of or had the second issue. Dropping body fat too low can play havoc with hormones, but that will happen no matter how you lose it and has nothing to do with cardio.

StevLL

I read that thread and I think the person that wrote that was just saying you need a calorie deficit to lose weight. I don't think they specified whether it came from food or excercise. I took it for face value and assumed it meant whether from diet or excercise you need a deficit.

I feel like we ought to take the context of that whole thread into thought before we go head hunting. Just my two cents which is probably worth less than two cents, but,......and the kicker is,......

I'm just sayin' :-)

sportybrewerschick

There was an article on the Yahoo home page over the weekend. It said the only way to lose weight is to eat less. Exercise alone will not do it. Two years ago I walked 2-3 hrs a day and didn't change my diet.I didn't lose a pound. I now do both-diet and walking and/or weights and I have had success. I think everyone 's body is different and you have to do what is best for you!

100% AGREE!

LorinaLynn

So who wants to do an experiment? Exercise plenty, in particular cardio, but eat in a calorie surplus. See if you lose fat.

DontStopB_Leakin

If you are trained properly running can burn lots of fat.

Some people here will tell you that running causes your body to store fat.

i know because those olympic runners and marathoners and ultramarathoners are all great big fatties

Right. Alyson Fenix is a big effin' fatty. Gawd.

dixiewhiskey

Hahaha yeah really...

dad106

For all you people arguing that exercise burns fat.. Think about this.

If exercise burns fat, then why is MFP set up so that people can lose weight(and fat) on a calorie deficit without any exercise what-so-ever?

I suggest all of you chew on that for a while before you keep arguing.

WendyTerry420

who ever posted that is an idiot, you burn fat either way...in fact, you burn MORE fat when you exercise when compared to when you diet simply because your metabolic rate is much higher when you exercise

Thanks.. Glad to know I'm an idiot.

Your metabolic rate is higher due to lean muscle mass... not to exercise.

How about you post some studies supporting that statement before you go around calling others names.

Your lean muscle mass gets higher because of exercise.

WendyTerry420

For all you people arguing that exercise burns fat.. Think about this.

If exercise burns fat, then why is MFP set up so that people can lose weight(and fat) on a calorie deficit without any exercise what-so-ever?

I suggest all of you chew on that for a while before you keep arguing.

No one has argued that you can't lose weight without exercising.

ToughTulip

Sounds like to me what she meant was you can't out exercise a bad diet.

StevLL

Here we are bottom of the second, one runner on and the next batter is,..........

mermx

hmmmm

mermx

hang on while I fry some bacon in butter...meanwhile I will munch some popcorn