Fat Burning Zone

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savvy85
savvy85 Posts: 57 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi there,
I've recently come across this "fat burning zone" and am wondering if it actually works. Is anyone out there using this zone while exercising, and have you seen results?

I've been training for 6 weeks now keeping an average heart rate of: 160 bpm, I can definatley feel muscular changes. However nothing has changed on the scales, except perhaps an increase in weight.

I have noticed my endurance has increased... but I really want to be burning fat and losing weight... what do I do? Is this fat burning zone a myth?

Has anyone got any tips on how to train to achieve max weight loss.

Replies

  • Christine1110
    Christine1110 Posts: 1,786 Member
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    Have you masured yourself.....It will tell you if your losing : )
  • Losing2Live69
    Losing2Live69 Posts: 743 Member
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    How do you get your heart rate up to 160??? My resting heart rate is only 54 and the highest I can get mine is 120 or so. I would love to be able to get mine up that high so I could burn more calories.
  • talysshade
    talysshade Posts: 273 Member
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    I currently only have two minutes so i'll try to explain this very short.

    Yes there is a zone in which you burn relatively more fat. In that zone for example, 80% of all the calories you use are fat. Once your heart rate goes further up, you also start to burn carbs for example and you only burn 30% of fat. **These percentages are not completely accurate, but are just to show what i mean*

    Now, though, in the fat burning zone, you burn a lot less total calories than in the higher zones, because you're a lot less active. So let's say you work an hour at lower zone and burn total of 200 calories. 160 of those calories will be fat calories. However, if you had worked that same hour much harder and burnt say 600 calories, at 30%, 180 of those calories are fat calories. So you burn more calories total and you still burnt more fat calories while building endurance.

    So technically, always try to go for higher, and not for fat burning zone.
  • talysshade
    talysshade Posts: 273 Member
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    If you have questions about that, friend me, and send me a message, i'll answer them later.
  • CirrusSky
    CirrusSky Posts: 3
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    The fat-burning zone does exist, but it is often misinterpreted. The fat-burning zone is a concept that the body burns a greater amount of fat at lower-intensity aerobic exercise than it does at higher intensities. Actually, the body burns a greater percentage of fat at lower intensities than at higher intensities. 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.
  • EmmaShorter
    EmmaShorter Posts: 298
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    When i go to curves you occasionally check your heart rate for 10 seconds and the one they tell you to aim for has 70% above it. What does that mean? I couldn't find my pulse properly. Never been able To do it properly. Hoping I can use my hrm tonight when i go for the second time.
  • significance
    significance Posts: 436 Member
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    Losing2Live69, it doesn't seem to be related to your resting rate. My resting rate is about 57, but my HR gets to 120 just walking, 140-160 cycling, and I can't keep it below 170 or 180 jogging. Max heart rate varies from person to person, but a good rule of thumb is that any aerobic exercise that gets you sufficiently out of breath that you wouldn't be able to sing but could hold a conversation is moderate exercise and if you couldn't hold a conversation, it's vigorous exercise. For me, a HR of 160 is at the high end of moderate by that measure.
  • significance
    significance Posts: 436 Member
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    e_briggs, the 70% target is 70% of your estimated maximum heart rate.

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