[/caption]Have you been working out only to find that you can't get rid of some stubborn fat at places that are visible to everyone? What are you doing wrong?
According to fitness experts like Cedric Byrant, if you want to lose fat, you need to create a calorie deficit. This means that you have to use more calories than you consume. You also need to cut down your calorie intake as well. When you lose this fat, it is not because of the fat you burned during workout. Is this far fetched?
Well, I feel that it is correct to a certain extend but not entirely. I would agree with calorie deficit. However, when you burn calories, it doesn't mean that you burn fat. Apart from reducing your calorie consumption, you can still eliminate body fat through specific exercises.
When you work out, all you want is to lose fat. Losing fat is a complicated bodily process. So the first thing you should learn is your physiology.
How Does Your Body Get Its Fuel
Let's define what is calorie. Calorie is a unit to measure energy that our bodies need. Basically, you can obtain energy from fat, carbohydrates and proteins. Most of the time, your body will rely on fat and carbohydrates for fuel.
Your body needs to break down carbohydrates and fats through a series of metabolic processes into Adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP), the primary source of energy.
Glycolysis is a 10-step process that converts carbs into glucose, the simplest form. The production of glucose takes place in the liver, which releases glucose into the bloodstream. It will be stored in the muscles as glycogen.
The production of ATP for fat requires the disintegration of fat into free fatty acids. The fat has to be metabolized in the adipose tissues or fat cells before it can be delivered to the muscles through the bloodstream. In the muscles, it requires two more processes to become ATPs.
Although the process to convert fat into ATP is longer but it has more ATP than the breaking down of carbs. However, your body prefers carbohydrates as fuel because the ATP generation is faster.
Your body will use both fat and carb for fuel in any circumstances, even at rest. The ratio between fat and carb is usually even. However, it will change when you work out. This means that there will be a shift of balance between fat and carbohydrates, depending on the intensity of your workout.
Why Do We Have Body Fat
In the first place, where does the fat come from? When you eat, your body will use the calories from the food for energy. Regardless of its source, whatever calories that is not used will be converted into triglycerides, which will be stored in the fat cells. There is no limit for your body to store fat. That is why you see fat accumulated almost everywhere on your body.
Why Burning Calories Is Not Burning Fat
Burning calories does not always translate to burning fat. During the initial ATP generation, whatever calories that are used actually come from carbohydrates. So when do you actually burn fat?
When Do You Burn Stored Fat
There are two schools of thoughts when it comes to burning calories from triglycerides or stored fat.
Fat Burning Zone
[caption id="attachment_200" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Fat Burning Zone Chart"]
[/caption]The metabolism of triglycerides needs oxygen. When you perform aerobic exercises, your body will only burn glucose in the initial stage. Once you hit a certain heart rate (target heart rate), your body will receive enough oxygen to use stored fat for energy. As long as you maintain your target heart rate, you will continue to use calories from the fat. This is popularly known as fat burning zone. You can't miss seeing these charts of fat burning zone that are pasted on the walls in the gyms or on the display panels of some fitness equipment.
There are two situations where your body will not receive enough oxygen for fat burning. It is either your workout is not intensive enough or too strenuous. So, this leads to a belief that low intensity, long duration exercise is excellent for fat burning.
So how do you calculate your target heart rate? The easiest way is to use an online target heart rate calculator.
You can buy a heart rate monitor and check the reading when you exercise.
The least expensive method is take your own pulse rate. Do this the first thing you get up in the morning. Grab your pulse for 60 seconds. When you have your pulse rate, add a zero for your target heart rate.
If you want a mathematical formula, try Karvonen Formula.
206.9 - (0.67 x age) = Maximum Heart Rate (MHR)*
MHR - Resting Heart Rate (RHR) = X
X * 65% (low end of heart rate zone) OR 85% (high end of heart rate zone) = Y OR Z
Y + RHR = A
Z + RHR = B
Your target heart rate zone should be between A and B.
Tanaka H, Monahan KD, Seals DR. Age-predicted maximal heart rate revisited. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2001
*Maximum heart rate (MHR) is the highest number of heart beat per minute.
Jackson, Andrew S. Estimating Maximum Heart Rate From Age: Is It a Linear Relationship? Med Sci Sports Exerc. 39(5):821, May 2007.
Calorie Deficit
”The amount of fat you’re going to lose is totally dependent on expending more calories than you take in” Dr. Karen Reznik Dolins, a professor of nutrition and physical education at Columbia University said.
The easiest way to create a calorie deficit is to consume less calories.
When there is a deficit, your body will be forced to use stored fat as fuel. Fuel is essential to keeping your bodily functions going. It does not matter where your body gets its calories (from food or stored fat). It will burn fat when you create a calorie deficit.
However, if you feed your body with extra calories (a calorie surplus), you are not going to get rid of your body fat. You may think that your body will be running short of carb calories during workout and will access your fat storage. But even if it does, the fat burning is not enough for you to lose body fat.
With the surplus of calories, clearly any unused calories will be turned into triglycerides, making their way to the fat cells. In other words, you are burning calories but you are also storing fat.
Another way to encourage a calorie deficit is to burn more calories than your caloric intake. Obviously, burning more calories requires more activities in your body. So doesn't this include working out?
Then why do fitness experts think that the fat that you burn is not because of your workout. I believe they are referring to those exercises that fall within the mythical fat burning zone particularly the low intensity ones.
Why Low Intensity Workout Doesn't Burn Fat Effectively
[caption id="attachment_203" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Jogging"]
[/caption]The concept of burning fat by working out within the target heart rate has led to a false doctrine: Low intensity workouts that use 60 and 70 percent of your maximum heart rate burn the most fat. This is a myth that has been going around for quite some time.
Here is a detailed explanation on why people might draw such a conclusion.
According to Dr Jason Kapp, low-intensity exercises use a higher portion of calories from fat. But don't take it wrongly. It doesn't mean you are burning more fat. Fat and carbs are energy calories. In the caloric combination of carb and fat, your body uses more fat than carb in this context.
Lactate threshold is the build up of lactic acid in your blood when you reach a specific intensity of the workout. It is where the changes from aerobic to anaerobic occurs. When you make your workout challenging enough to reach lactate threshold, the ratio of fat and carb in caloric burning takes a new shift. The usage of carbs from the ratio will be higher while the fat expenditure from the ratio will be lower. Why? When your body needs more energy at high intensity, it will switch to glycogenolysis and glycolysis for ATP or energy generation. Simply because glucose is quicker to be converted into fuel than fat. This also means that your muscles will receive less free fatty acids.
Carb calories or glycogen are used often when you work out just below the lactate threshold. However, carbohydrates will be the only source of energy when you go beyond the lactate threshold. For this reason, high intensity workouts use mostly carb calories.
When you perform endurance training which requires longer duration, the level of glycogen (carb calories in the muscles) and blood sugar drops. Although muscles prefer carb calories for energy, but the metabolism will have no choice but to turn stored fat or triglycerides for ATP as the shortage of carbs is imminent.
Based on these facts, it is natural for people to think that they can burn a lot of fat with low intensity training. But the truth is you burn more fat with high intensity workout.
Just below lactate threshold, carbs are mostly used. That is to say the percentage of fat used is low. However, the total calories burned and the caloric expenditure rate (the number of calories burned per minute) at that level surpass those that are found in lower intensity exercises. This also shows that the total amount of fat burned is significant. There is a major difference between the percentage of fat burned and total amount of fat burned. What you want to see is the final result: the overall amount of fat that you have lost. The takeaway is that your caloric expenditure rate will increase further if you work out above the lactate threshold.
Another reason why high intensity training burn more fat overall is that there is a limit to how much your body can store glycogen. When the storage of glycogen depletes and your body needs more calories to fuel your intensified workouts, your body will be forced to tap into the stored fats or triglycerides for immediate fuel.
Studies show low intensity exercises burn a higher percentage of fat from the calories than high intensity ones. Remember I mentioned earlier that calories burned is made up of a ratio of fat and carbohydrates? Yeah! Look great right? But, when it comes to the total fat burned, high intensity workouts fare better. Here is a comparison chart between low and high intensity workouts in terms of fat loss. Pay attention to total calories and fat calories expended.
According to the American Council of Exercise, although 60 percent from the calories burned during low intensity exercise comes from fat as compared to 35 percent from high intensity training, the end result of burning the most fat calories is in favor of high intensity workouts. So, why do you want to work out longer hours at low intensity when you can't maximize your fat burning capabilities?I rest my case.
Let us look into fat burning zone again. Let me define what this is. Fat burning zone is how well your metabolism in using stored fats as energy. By now, you are familiar with the myth of low intensity exercises as fat burners. But there is more. If you are relying on target heart rate to shed excess fat, you must go above it. A better benchmark would be your maximum heart rate. Your target heart rate is not enough to intensify your workout. You should aim for 70-90% of your maximum heart rate and spend at least 30 minutes.
However, heart rate is not accurate in determining the intensity of the workout. When your heart rate escalates, it does not necessary equate to an increase in caloric expenditure. Sometimes, medicines, stress, anxiety, nicotine or caffeine can cause your heart to beat faster.
Another more effective fat burning zone is afterburn. The amount of calories used during workout is nothing compared to the total sum burned in 24-hours. Your metabolism must be high enough and sustained for 24 hours or more, achieving greater fat loss. This takes place when you are not working out.
Dr. Len Lopez, a nutrition and fitness expert and author of “To Burn or Not to Burn – Fat is the Question” and the creator of the “Work Horse Fitness Trainer” believes that what matters the most is that your metabolism must burn stored fat for the critical part of the day which is the 23 hours. Simply because most people just burn carbs and lean muscle throughout the day. Since everyone has a lot of fat in their bodies, “your metabolism burn fats more readily than carbohydrates and proteins (lean muscle)” he said. If you don't provide sufficient carbs to your body, then it will have to draw its energy from stored fats for the remaining of the day.
How To Maximize Fat Burning
I believe by now you can appreciate the fact that if you want to burn more fat, you need to focus on creating a calorie deficit and higher caloric expenditure.
Dr. Reznik Dolins remarked that you need to work out as hard as possible to create a calorie deficit. If you lower the intensity of your workout, your overall calorie burning will also decline.
For your caloric expenditure to be high enough to burn fat, you need to focus on the higher end of your MHR which is 70-90%. This means you need high intensity workouts.
As mentioned earlier, heart rate is not accurate in determining the intensity of your workout. A better assessment would be oxygen consumption (VO2). It is more accurate than heart rate as it measures the caloric expenditure during exercise. Calculating caloric expenditure using VO2 is based on an individual's metabolic demands of exercise. When the workout becomes harder and more challenging which is about 70% or more of VO2 max, you will use more oxygen. Remember I mention that the presence of oxygen is essential in fat loss. So in this case, you will burn more calories and fat.
If you want more bang for your workout by maximizing your fat burning, try High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and strength training. Both workouts focus on stressing your muscles to create metabolic effects. This is important because you want to burn more fat for hours after completing your routines.
During the recovery, your muscles need to be repaired and replace the energy that has been used when working out. Thus, your muscles require more metabolic processes to recover than cardiovascular exercises.
This explains why the total amount of fat expenditure for the next 23 hours is far greater than the total amount of fat burned during workout.
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
HIIT is a series of short burst, high intensity workout with intervals of rest for recovery. It can rev up your metabolism high enough to burn both calories and fat. This is one exercise that can help you to create a calorie deficit.
The key to maximum fat loss during interval training is to work as hard as you can for each interval. Because each interval is short and the whole session takes only 20-30 minutes, you have to put in as much effort as possible. You will burn a lot of calories in a short duration during the workout. Your metabolism will remain high after the workout. This sustained metabolism will promote more caloric expenditure for hours after your physical routine.
Because you only spend a short time in HIIT, it is ideal for anyone who don't have the luxury of time to exercise.
Strength Training
Strength training is an effective workout that can increase muscle mass and strength. You can either lift weights or use weight machines which is known as weight training or use your body weight to work against your muscles, commonly known as resistance training.
Strength training not only boosts your metabolism of fat for ATP but after exercise, your body will still burn calories. If you want maximum fat burning, the weights should be heavy enough to stress your muscles metabolically.
Whether high intensity workouts are right for you or not, you have to evaluate your fitness level first. If you are ready for high intensity workouts, check out this challenging training program that will turn your body into a fat-incinerating furnace.
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