What would be an acceptable "fat calorie used" ratio?

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slieber
slieber Posts: 765 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Question I have is that when I check my daily exercise log, the Polar F6 gives me approximate calories and how much of that is fat calories burned.

Most of the time, of the cals I burn, about 55% are fat cals, according to my Polar. Is that good, bad, or average?

I will admit to not being a queen of cardio - I will get away with as little as possible but never less than 20 mins either on interval (as described in another post on HR) or with my HR above 130. I try to do 30 minutes interval about 3 times a week with 30 minutes of steady above 130 at least 2 times a week.

Then I do from 1-4 hours of ballet each day for 5 days a week (it varies - 1 hour 2 days a week, 4 hours on one day - ouch! - 2 hours on another day and 1.5 hours on the last day). I TRY to get in a couple of upper body weights sessions per week, although often it's now only 1 day a week. Hard to fit it all in and work at the same time.

In any case, the majority of the time, the fat burn is about 55%. The original question stands: is that average, good, bad? Even doing spinning for an hour in a class doesn't really alter that number.

Just wondering. I doubt I'll do anything to put the fat burn up because I just can't spare the time to do an hour at a lower rate on the elliptical, bike or whatever. I just want to know, though.

Replies

  • sakesan
    sakesan Posts: 8
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    To simplify things, just think of it in terms of calories in and calories out. If you burn more then you take in you will lose weight. The greater the difference between what you take in and what you burn the faster the weight loss will occur. Obviously, you want to try to do it gradually for health reasons. That is why a pound a week is a healthy goal. It will also set you up for success since it will gradually help you get accustomed to a new way of eating and exercise. Crash diets will get you there quicker but you will more than likely bounce right back.

    Just use MFP to track your daily calories and try to stay under the goal (adjusted for your workouts). Also watch your sodium intake, limiting you rsodium to the RDA will give you faster results. I'm experiencing that right now. I never knew how hard it would be to stay within the 2500mg RDA for sodium. But the payoff is worth it.

    Good Luck
  • MacMadame
    MacMadame Posts: 1,893 Member
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    I wouldn't worry about it. It's more important to workout so you burn a lot of calories. If you do that, you may not burn as much fat during the workout, but later on (i.e., when you sleep) and your body rebalances your fat stores, it will burn the fat then in order to refuel your muscles.
  • slieber
    slieber Posts: 765 Member
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    Thanks for that info. I was kinda hoping that it was only really cals in, cals out rather than "fat cals" vs. other....

    Whew! I do a lot of training, ballet and cross-training/aerobic/weights, so I wanted to make sure that it's essentially a good balance.

    Interestingly, after being away at a dance camp all last week (about 6-8 hours of dance each day, give or take, plus a minor bit of aerobic warm-up for myself), all I did THIS week was eat and sleep, and no exercise. Healthy food, mostly, but still no exercise, which is highly unusual for me.

    I showed a loss of 2.2 pounds at the WW weigh in this morning.

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