fat burning zone myth

goron59
goron59 Posts: 890 Member
edited September 22 in Fitness and Exercise
For amusement, I was reading the 'list of common misconceptions' on wikipedia, and saw this:

"An exercise myth is that a low-intensity workout (in the "fat-burning" zone where your heart rate is 60–70% of your maximum heart rate) burns more calories from fat than a high-intensity workout. While you do burn a greater percentage of fat in a low-intensity workout, you should burn more calories from fat through a high-intensity workout than a low-intensity workout of the same length. For example, a 30 minute low-intensity workout might burn 200 calories at 60% fat (120 calories from fat) while a high-intensity workout of the same length could burn 400 calories at 35% fat (140 calories from fat)."

Obvious when you think about it, so I think I'll stick to the high intensity stuff.

[ ref http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/on-fitness/2009/03/03/the-fat-burning-zone-a-fitness-myth-debunked ]

Obviously, you can't believe everything you read on the internet :-)

Replies

  • GorillaNJ
    GorillaNJ Posts: 4,024 Member
    Better yet is HIIT where you peak and recover your heart rate....
  • pftjill
    pftjill Posts: 488
    We have been studying this in my different classes and yes though-you do burn more fat at a lower heart rate. When you get into the higher heart rates you are tapping into your carb supply. It is aerobic vs anaerobic. Aerobic uses more fat/sugars for energy and anaerobic uses more carbs. So in reality it is true. On that topic-my teachers don't like Wikipedia.
  • DJH510
    DJH510 Posts: 114 Member
    It is actually irrelevant where the calories you burn during exercise come from, be it from carbohydrates or fat. If you burned only carbohydrates during your workout, your body will have to replace these somehow, either by converting fat into carbohydrate, or by storing consumed carbohydrates that would have become fat had your not done the workout. So for weight loss purposes, you may as well see the calories used during a workout as being 100% fat. In other words, don;t worry too much about where the calories you burned have come from and just focus on getting the highest possible caloric burn.
  • iplayoutside19
    iplayoutside19 Posts: 2,304 Member
    Fat Burning Zone is one of my favorite Irrelevant Subjects on these message boards.

    Why people get hung up on percentages is beyond me. In the original example the High Intensity work out burns more actual calories. If you put credence in where the calories come from, more calories from fat. You body does not know, or care what a percantage is.

    People tend to make this more complicated than it has to be. Move more, eat less/better. If you're going to worry about Fat%, worry about it on the nutrition side, not the fitness side.
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