Elevating your heart rate to the "fat burning zone" is not the best way to shed unwanted pounds. There's more to exercising for effective weight loss than trudging along on the treadmill in this zone. Whether you aim to exercise in this zone or another, such as the "cardio" zone, always consult a health care provider before starting a new workout program.
Features
To find your fat burning zone, determine your maximal heart rate for exercise. A simple formula to find your maximal pulse rate is 220 minus your age if you are a man, and 226 minus your age if you are a woman, according to "Fat Burning: Exercise and Diet," by Johannes Roschinsky. Exercise machines commonly use this formula.
Identification
To hit the fat burning zone, you need to train at 60 to 69 percent of your maximal heart rate; your cardio zone is between 70 and 85 percent of your maximal heart rate. While you burn a higher percentage of calories from fat when you work in the fat burning zone, you are still better off working in the cardio zone if you want to lose weight, say "Visualizing Nutrition" authors Mary B. Grosvenor and Lori A. Smolin.
For example if you do a 30-minute workout in the fat-burning zone, about half the calories you burn will be from fat and the other half from carbs. However, while the percentage of fat you burn goes down in the cardio zone, you burn more calories overall during a 30-minute workout. So despite the fact that only 40 percent of the calories you burn are from fat, you still burn the same number of fat calories while doing the higher-intensity workout. The increase in calories burned aids your weight loss efforts.
Considerations
Using a formula to calculate your maximal pulse rate and fat burning zone only gives you a rough guide of what these should be, says Roschinsky. Your training condition, resting pulse rate and actual maximal pulse rate are all factors. You'd actually need to undergo an exercise stress test to exactly pinpoint your maximal heart rate and thus your best "fat burning" and "cardio" zones, note the experts at the American Academy of Family Physicians.
Expert Insight
Interval training, in which you move from your fat-burning zone to your cardio zone, is actually the most effective way to burn fat, says Jonny Bowden, author of "Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth." Interval training adds short bursts of high-intensity exercise into your workout. This type of training engages both of the body's energy-burning systems, called aerobic and anaerobic systems. It also helps your body become more efficient at bringing oxygen to your muscles and burning off fat, according to "365 Ways to Boost Your Metabolism," by Fitz Koehler and Rachel Laferriere. Perhaps even more significant, it boosts your calorie "afterburn," which lasts for nine to 10 hours as your body repairs and replenishes itself, says David K. Spierer, human performance laboratory director for the sports sciences division, Long Island University, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Potential
Triathletes and marathoners must train their bodies to use fat instead of carbohydrates as fuel in long bouts of exercise, says Brendan Brazier, professional Ironman triathlete and author of "Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide." When you do low-intensity exercise that lasts more than three hours, your body burns 20 percent carbohydrate, 70 percent fat and 10 percent protein. This compares to 90 percent carbohydrate, 3 percent protein and 7 percent fat with high intensity exercise lasting one hour or less. If you do moderate intensity exercise that lasts one to three hours, your body will burn 60 percent carbs, 35 percent fat and 5 percent protein, according to Brazier.
References
- "Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide"; Brendan Brazier; 2007
- David K. Spierer; human performance laboratory director for the sports sciences division, Long Island University; Brooklyn, New York
- "Visualizing Nutrition"; Mary B. Grosvenor, Lori A. Smolin; 2009
- "Fat Burning: Exercise and Diet"; Johannes Roschinsky; 2004
- "Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth"; Jonny Bowden; 2008
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