Urban Legends of Fitness- The Fat Burning Zone

Hey Everyone,
This post is for all you treadmill walkers that think you are burning copious amounts of fat while strolling leisurely on the treadmill in the "Fat Burning Zone".

Mike Boyle does a great job in this article explaining how you can be much more successful in your fat loss endeavors. Read Below.

Living Life with NO Excuses.......No Regrets!!
Scott

Is there a fat burning zone and Does it matter?


If you’ve been reading this blog on a consistent basis you
probably already know where I’m going with this one.

You guessed it. The Fat Burning Zone is another of the urban
legends of fitness.

Does anyone think that when they are in the so-called fat
burning zone that stored bodyfat melts off them like butter?

A little reality therapy is in order. The Fat Burning Zone is
a big fat lie. Here’s the truth.

1- The “fat burning zone” supposedly describes a level of
exercise that results in a larger number of the calories
burned during exercise being derived from fat. This does
not mean that stored bodyfat is the selective source. It only
describes the relative percentage of utilization of three
substrates, fat, carbohydrate and protein.

2- The fat burning zone actually describes what percentage of
calories burned are derived from fat as an energy source.

Do you know when you are burning the most calories from fat? Sorry.
The highest percentage of fat utilization is at rest. The more
intense the exercise becomes, the more carbohydrate is used as
a source.

Guess what. It doesn’t matter. The reality is that it’s about
the number of calories burned, not the number of those calories
that come from fat as a source. If the fat burning zone idea
actually worked we could get extremely lean by simply sitting still.

Guess again. That doesn’t work, does it.

Confused, let’s use a mathematical example.

Lets assume that we have two identical exercisers who are going to
exercise for twenty minutes. Exerciser one is doing a slow walk to
stay “in the fat burning zone”. Exerciser two is going to run hard
for twenty minutes. To keep the example simple we will assume that
exerciser one will derive forty percent of his or her calories from
fat. Exerciser two will move out of the fat burning zone and only
derive 20 percent of his or her calories from fat.

Exerciser one will walk at 3 miles per hour and will cover one
mile in twenty minutes. This will result in a caloric expenditure
of 100 calories with 40 calories coming from fat.

Exerciser two will run at 7.5 miles per hour and will cover 2.5
miles in twenty minutes. This will result in a caloric expenditure
of 250 calories with 50 calories coming from fat.

Hmm, seems interesting. The exerciser in the “fat burning zone”
burned less calories and less calories from fat in the same amount
of time? The exerciser working harder and leaving the fat burning
zone burned 2.5 times as many calories and, 10 more calories from fat.

I rest my case. Figures lie and liars figure. Stop worrying about
burning fat and start worrying about working harder


Yours in strength,

Mike Boyle
http://www.FunctionalStrengthCoach3.com