Drop weight on the "fat burning zone"

Iriarte2014
Iriarte2014 Posts: 9
in Health and Weight Loss
So I got a new heart rate monitor to track the calories I am burning while doing insanity. The zone in my hrm is from 65% to 85%.
Doing insanity I am out of that range through most of my workout and Shawn T keeps saying "stay in the zone" (or something like that)
I was reading about this (maximum heart rate and zones) and it says that if I workout in a lower intensity level (60% to 70% of maximum heart rate) I burn more calories from fat (so better to loose weight) than workinout in a 90%.

You will burn less calories working in a lower level but will burn more calories from fat.
Sooooo would be better work out 1hour a day in a lower intensity level than 35min in a high intensity level??

I also have the hip hop abs dvds and I stay in that fat burning zone (60% - 70%) so which one should I do to drop weight??

Insanity (hight intensity - less time) or hip hop abs (lower intensity - longer time)??

Thanks :)

Replies

  • rosevalleygirl23
    rosevalleygirl23 Posts: 55 Member
    Straight from the interwebs:

    "At lower intensities the body may burn 50 percent of the calories from fat, while at higher intensities it may only burn 35 percent. But at higher intensities you burn way more total calories—and more fat calories overall—than you do at lower intensities."

    So the answer is both exercises will help you lose weight.

    Let's say you burn 5 calories a minute in low intensity and 7 calories a minute in high intensity. You're heart rate monitor will help you with real numbers for this.

    1 hour at low intensity is 300 calories burned or 150 fat calories expended
    35 min at high intensity is 245 calories burned or 86 fat calories expended

    But, you will adapt to any exercise and it will be become less effective over time. So do both exercises, have fun and don't worry which one will give you the fastest results.
  • moronicbliss
    moronicbliss Posts: 11 Member
    My opinion is..use them both. It's good to be able to switch things up and keep the body guessing!
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,329 Member
    Ignore the fat burning zone. Zone training has it place if you are a competitive athlete working toward a specific athletic goal. In terms of weight loss it means pretty much nothing. Even if you exercise outside of the zone and more carbs are burned, that means the carbs from the food you eat are used first of all to replenish the carbs your body stores, meaning fat will be burned if you are in a calorie deficit for the day. Total calories burned is what is important, not which zone they are burned in.

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