ONLY WAY TO DO SO!!!!!!!

My main comment is please, lay off the all caps.

My second is that personally I'm not on this site nor have I struggled with my weight my whole life because I exercised too long each day and stopped burning fat. Most of the target population of this site needs to just get moving and burn calories and not worry about this fat/non-fat issue. I'm sure the OP was excited and trying to be helpful but it's almost like the "what size apple is a correct portion" debate. No one here is overweight from eating too many overly large apples.

And no more SHOUTING please.

First post ever at MFP. Feel I have to back up the OP here a little. There is increasing evidence out there that too much "intensive" exercise, generally over an hour, may do more harm than good due to triggering of cortisol. You can google many articles on the catabolic effects of cortisol. So after say an intense hour of exercise, you would still burn some "fat" calories but you could also very well be burning muscles. You don't want to diminish your muscles (lean body mass), because that's what helps boost your BMR. But hey, if you want the body of marathon runner, super lean with very little muscle mass, go ahead and exercise intensively for hours at a time.

There's also a lot of evidence out there that you may only need around 15 minutes of intense (HIIT) cardio exercise to get major caloric burn. The actual exercise may only expend 150-200 calories but the residual effect of such a major boost to your BMR can yield hundreds more calories burned for several hours after. But it's also something you don't want to do every day due to the immense pressure on your joints.

And hey, if you have the time and would like to exercise over an hour, there are lot of expert advice out there to do low-impact, low-intensity activities like walking that keeps your HR at around 60-65% of your MHR if you want to burn fat. This shouldn't lead to any significant catabolic effect on your muscles. You don't see too many overweight bicyclists and day hikers who do such activities for hours on a consistent basis. And it's something the whole family can do together.

Personally, like probably many of you, I just want to burn fat in the most effective manner. Particularly in my trouble spots...love handles and inner thigh. The most fascinating and compelling article on effective fat loss I've come across was on a bodybuilding site. It's key components were to (1) time my low-intensity aerobic and body exercise when I'm in a fasted state, such as early morning, so as to attack fat deposits, and (2) keep the problem areas warm. But again, it came from a bodybuilding site, so take it for what it's worth:
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/spot_reduction_is_real_heres_how_to_do_it

So after say an intense hour of exercise, you would still burn some "fat" calories but you could also very well be burning muscles.

As I mentioned earlier... muscle is burned off even during the first hour of exercise. It's not simply a case of your body "switching over" to a different source at precisely 60 minutes.

Honestly this whole conversation is just a bunch of people trying to say that they know more then the other person

I think you misunderstood a lot of the responses here. No one is saying that their knowledge is the utmost, end-all, holy grail of information. People are just warning the OP not to present (sometimes controversial) thoughts as fact, especially when there's no source to back it up. Much of what was originally posted is incorrect, and in an effort to prevent others from using this wrong knowledge, some corrections were made. That's all.

Very interesting thank you

SQUIRREL!

I found this article, it may clarify some of the Fat Burning Process. It's quite long but worth reading.






Aerobic training such as walking, riding a stationary bike, or running is a good way to accelerate the fat burning process, as long as it is not overdone and as long as it is used only in addition to a good weight training program. It should never be used as a substitute for weight training since it does not permanently increases your metabolism and since it does not has the ability to re-shape your body.

Fat Burning Zone

In order for aerobic exercise to be effective, it needs to be performed within the fat burning zone. The fat burning zone is the zone at which you are doing enough work to burn fat. Your pulse (how fast your heart is beating per minute) determines this zone.

The fat burning zone formula is the following:

Fat burning zone=220-(Your Age) x (.75)

The result of your formula will give you an approximate value of how fast your heart should be beating per minute. For example, a 20-year-old would need to reach a pulse in the neighborhood of 150 beats per minute in order to be in the fat burning zone. It is important to remember that this is not an absolute figure, this is an approximation. So as long as you are plus or minus 10 beats from the number that the formula provides you with, then you can rest assured that you will be burning fat.

Best Times To Perform Aerobic Activity

Another important point that needs to be raised is that in order for aerobic exercise to be an effective fat burner it needs to be performed at the appropriate times. There are only two times that aerobic exercise is effective in burning fat.

In The Morning On An Empty Stomach: The best time to perform cardiovascular exercise is first thing in the morning on an empty stomach after drinking 16 to 24 ounces of water in order to prevent dehydration. When performed at this time you burn 300% more body fat that at any other time in the day because your body does not has any glycogen (stored carbohydrates-sugar) in the system to burn. Therefore, it has to go directly into the fat stores in order to get the energy necessary to complete the activity.

Right After Weight Training: The other time when aerobic exercise is effective is immediately after the weight training session. The reason for this is that when exercise is not performed first thing in the morning it takes your body approximately anywhere between 20 to 30 minutes to start burning fat. This is because that it how long it takes the body to deplete its glycogen stores and switch to a fat burning environment. Therefore, it would not be efficient to perform aerobic exercise by itself at any other time during the day because you would need to perform it for 20-30 minutes just to get to the fat burning stage and for an additional 20 minutes just so that you burn fat. This would give a grand total of 50 minutes a day and in my opinion, I think that unless you are a competitive bodybuilder with a perfect diet and a superb supplementation program designed to protect muscle mass, aerobic exercise should not be performed for more than 6 sessions a week of 20-45 minutes a day for males and 30-45 minutes for females since this would put you at a risk of losing muscle mass. Only competitive bodybuilders sometimes need to go as high as 45 minutes, twice a day, for seven days a week. Keep in mind however that this is performed for a short period of time and only in conjunction with a pre-contest diet which consists of a high frequency of meals and with supplementation like glutamine, which helps to protect muscle tissue. Remember that more is not always better and this is especially true when it comes to aerobic exercise.


Forms of Aerobic Exercise

Good forms of aerobic exercise are: stationary bike, jogging (this can also be done on a treadmill), fast walking (also can be done on a treadmill), stair stepper, elliptical machine, rowing machine, sets of sprinting, running, or any other form of cardiovascular activity that would raise your heartbeat to the fat burning zone.

Frequency and Duration of Aerobic Exercise

As far as frequency is concerned, I feel comfortable recommending 2 to 4 sessions of 20-40 minutes each for male bodybuilders in the off-season. If a contest is approaching, then I would gradually increase the activity to no more than two sessions per day, 7 days a week of 45 minutes each on the worst case for a short period of time. Remember, it is those long hours of cardio that cause bodybuilders to look like POWs (Prisoners of War) in the bodybuilding stage the day of the show. If you are doing 2 sessions of 45 minutes of cardio every day make sure that you take plenty of glutamine (15-30 grams per day) in addition to having at least 7 meals per day.

For women, due to their higher concentrations of estrogen in the blood and due to the fact that they have less muscle mass than a male, more frequent aerobic activity is beneficial. Therefore, I recommend an off season plan of 4 to 5 sessions of 30-45 minutes and if a contest approaches, I would gradually increase the activity to no more than two sessions per day, 7 days a week of 45 minutes each on the worst case.

Cycling of Aerobic Activity

During the off season, you may choose to cycle you aerobic activity in the following manner in order to prevent your body from adjusting to a specific pattern:

Cycle The Kind Of Aerobic Activity Being Used: Changing up the aerobic exercises prevents the body from getting so good at a specific activity that it becomes hard for you then to raise your heart rate.

Cycle The Duration Of The Activity: For example, a male bodybuilder that performs 3 sessions a week may do 20 minutes of aerobics on weeks 1& 2, 25 minutes on weeks 3 & 4, and finally 30 minutes on weeks 5 & 6.

A female bodybuilder can use the same pattern as well (e.g. 4 sessions performed for 20 minutes on weeks 1&2, 30 minutes on weeks 3 & 4, and finally 40 minutes on weeks 5 & 6). This form of cycling will not only keep the workouts interesting but it will also prevent the body from permanently adjusting to a given length of the activity. Remember, that as soon as the body adapts, it will be tougher to reach the fat burning zone and therefore it will be harder to use aerobic exercise as weapon against fat.

I am not at all surprised some posters got irrate with the OP.

Let's face it... you're 18, you're not a trainer, you're not a nutritionist, you're not even an elite youth athlete with a lot of training experience, you've picked up a bit of half-baked information and then come in here starting a thread:

"THE ONLY WAY TO DO SO!!!!!!"

The small amounts of information that you conveyed that were actually factual, were by no means re-inventing the wheel, and the rest was waaaaayyyy open to challenge and confusing to newbies at best.

SQUIRREL!

bwaahaahaahaa!