Are you supppsed to stay in the fat burning zone?

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I watched Jerry Wards bios3 video and he says that anaerobic cardio burns sugar and not fat. But in Jillian Michaels book she said it doesn’t matter.

Jerry ward says you can burn 900 calories in 20 minutes and it won’t matter because you’re just burning mostly sugar and some muscle. He says he burns like 47 calories in 30 minutes but it’s all fat and this is the way to go.
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  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    I watched Jerry Wards bios3 video and he says that anaerobic cardio burns sugar and not fat. But in Jillian Michaels book she said it doesn’t matter.
    Jillian is right - fuel substrate used during exercise is irrelevant for fat loss/weight loss.

    Jerry ward says you can burn 900 calories in 20 minutes
    He's mistaken at best, a fool or a liar at worst.

    and it won’t matter because you’re just burning mostly sugar and some muscle.
    Muscle isn't a fuel of choice. He really sounds clueless!

    He says he burns like 47 calories in 30 minutes but it’s all fat and this is the way to go.
    Wut? Well that would be really significant when you need 3500 cals per pound of fat loss!! #endsarcasm

    You might burn virtually all fat when you are sleeping, for the vast amount of time you are exercising you are burning a blend of carbs (glycogen) and fat (not subcutaneous fat though). Lower the intensity of exercise the higher proportion of fat, higher the intensity the higher the proportion from carbs.
    At my typical long distance cycle pace I'm burning approx 500cals/hour. Roughly half from carbs (carbs eaten and stored as glycogen) and half from fat.

    Now that might matter for endurance sports but it doesn't for weight loss - that's from your calorie deficit over an extended period of time.
    My c. 150,000 cals burned from my 300 hours of cycling this year haven't left me "shredded" because I'm maintaining my weight - it's calorie balance that matters, not exercise intensity, duration or type of exercise.

    All of this.

    The heart rate zones were not formulated for weight loss. These were designed to optimize energy conservation for long steady state endurance competitions - running, swimming, biking.
  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
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    Jerry ward says you can burn 900 calories in 20 minutes and it won’t matter because you’re just burning mostly sugar and some muscle. He says he burns like 47 calories in 30 minutes but it’s all fat and this is the way to go.

    Sorry, but this made me laugh. OP, your question is a good one, but this statement is utter garbage. Think about it...does it even make sense?
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,996 Member
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    Lol, I remember "fat burning zone" from Kathy Smith/Dennis Austin VHSs in the 90s.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    lporter229 wrote: »

    Jerry ward says you can burn 900 calories in 20 minutes and it won’t matter because you’re just burning mostly sugar and some muscle. He says he burns like 47 calories in 30 minutes but it’s all fat and this is the way to go.

    Sorry, but this made me laugh. OP, your question is a good one, but this statement is utter garbage. Think about it...does it even make sense?

    Unfortunately, it does “make sense” which is one reason this zombie idea continues to walk the earth.
  • carterbrent
    carterbrent Posts: 91 Member
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    It was just a gimmick by Kathy Smith to sell her fat burning workout video which I bought.
  • Nisnevyar2018
    Nisnevyar2018 Posts: 3 Member
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    It was just a gimmick by Kathy Smith to sell her fat burning workout video which I bought.

    So do you mean there is no more Fat burning zone? (60-70% of mhr)
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    lporter229 wrote: »
    Azdak wrote: »
    lporter229 wrote: »

    Jerry ward says you can burn 900 calories in 20 minutes and it won’t matter because you’re just burning mostly sugar and some muscle. He says he burns like 47 calories in 30 minutes but it’s all fat and this is the way to go.

    Sorry, but this made me laugh. OP, your question is a good one, but this statement is utter garbage. Think about it...does it even make sense?

    Unfortunately, it does “make sense” which is one reason this zombie idea continues to walk the earth.

    It makes sense that a 47 calorie burn is likely to lead to greater fat loss than a 900 calorie burn? Not to mention that neither of the scenarios provided is even realistic. I am not sure what kind of crazy exercise you would have to do to burn 2700 calories an hour and you can burn 94 calories in an hour just by going about your daily business. It certainly doesn't make sense to me.

    I was referring to the general concept of the “fat burning zone”. When simply explained, it has a common-sense logic to it which can be easily understood and can be attractive to an untrained person. It’s 100% wrong, but many people don’t have the knowledge to realize that.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    It was just a gimmick by Kathy Smith to sell her fat burning workout video which I bought.

    So do you mean there is no more Fat burning zone? (60-70% of mhr)

    As CSARdiver said above, it's relevant to endurance sports and related training, not weight loss (or how much net fat you burn). There are reasons it's possibly beneficial to stay in a lower intensity zone for much of your training (Matt Fitzgerald's 80/20 discusses that sort of thing), but that has nothing to do with maximizing fat loss.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    Why?
  • ForecasterJason
    ForecasterJason Posts: 2,577 Member
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    bpetrosky wrote: »
    In addition to specific training goals, this could also have relevance to diabetics. Knowing how many carbs vs fat will be burned in a given exercise session can help with those who require careful meal planning.

    Do you know of diabetics who are relying on this idea or are you just throwing stuff out there? The diabetics that I know keep their glucose meters handy and wouldn't rely on a guesstimate of how much of a given substrate is used when exercising.
    From this article that shows varying carb amounts people diabetics should eat in relation to exercise intensity, here is just one comment:
    I liked this article. It defined what the different intensity levels were by the exercises in each level. I also take my glucometer with me when I go to the YMCA and work out on the treadmill. If I get shaky, I take my bloodsugar reading then and treat myself before it gets to an emergency situation.

  • bpetrosky
    bpetrosky Posts: 3,911 Member
    edited December 2017
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    bpetrosky wrote: »
    In addition to specific training goals, this could also have relevance to diabetics. Knowing how many carbs vs fat will be burned in a given exercise session can help with those who require careful meal planning.

    Do you know of diabetics who are relying on this idea or are you just throwing stuff out there? The diabetics that I know keep their glucose meters handy and wouldn't rely on a guesstimate of how much of a given substrate is used when exercising.
    From this article that shows varying carb amounts people diabetics should eat in relation to exercise intensity, here is just one comment:
    I liked this article. It defined what the different intensity levels were by the exercises in each level. I also take my glucometer with me when I go to the YMCA and work out on the treadmill. If I get shaky, I take my bloodsugar reading then and treat myself before it gets to an emergency situation.

    Except that article says nothing about in a "fat burning" zone. It says, in the actual article, for diabetics to check blood glucose with a meter and then have some carbs to offset the exercise use of blood sugar. In the actual article:
    Because of the risk of hypoglycemia, you should always check your blood glucose level before you exercise. Having a carbohydrate containing snack prior to exercising is one way to prevent exercise related hypoglycemia. Use the chart below to make the recommended adjustments, based on your glucose reading, before you exercise. Click here for a detailed, printable chart that shows single (15-gram) servings of carbohydrate-containing foods.

    None of this is relevant to the OP, btw.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,704 Member
    edited December 2017
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    While lower intensity exercise burns a higher percentage of fat with that type of exercise, burning more calories because of a higher intensity for the same duration will usually burn MORE fat overall.

    So let's say someone burns 100 calories doing low intensity exercise for 30 minutes. Let's also say that the burn is 60% from fat. That's 60 calories.

    Now let's say that same person does a high intensity workout and burns 250 calories in the same 30 minutes. Let's also say that the burn is only 35% from fat. That's 87.5 calories.

    So the reality is, you STILL burn fat doing either, but realize that burning more calories overall STILL burn more fat. And we're not talking STORE BODY FAT here but dietary fat.

    To burn STORED BODY FAT you have to be in deficit and you actually burn the most body fat AT REST.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

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