Workout intensity for fat loss?

[Leslie_C]

Lets have a discussion about this!

Do you all believe in the fat burning zone? What is your take on how to workout for fat loss?

I used to be a nonbeliever, but I also used to work out at a high intensity all the time and never really got the results I wanted. So a trainer at my gym told me to start working out in the "fat burning zone" because Im shooting myself in the foot by working out for long periods with my heartrate practically off the chart. I didnt agree with it, because Im a believer in burning as many calories as possible, which means u have to work harder. But she said Im burning muscle instead of fat by doing this.

My heartrate would be up in the 170s and 180s, sometimes even 190s (especially if I ran), and not for a short spurt, this would be for an extended period of time. That is wayyyyyy above my target heartrate according to the charts. They says 60% to 70%, and I was at 90% plus most of the time. Its not that Im out of shape because Ive always been like this no matter how active I was, even when I used to teach aerobics. Im just the kind of person who feels like I have to be drenched in sweat and gasping for air to get a good workout lol.

So.....reluctantly I said what do I have to lose and started to monitor my heartrate and workout at a lower intensity. It is really quite boring because in order for me to get my heartrate in the range they say to, I barely have to push myself at all. But it dawned on me that when looking around the cardio section at my gym, most people were working out at a low intensity. I never noticed while I was going to town on the elliptical, everyone around me was going at a much slower pace lol. Anyway, low and behold Im getting results from cutting my intensity down. I cant explain it because Im burning less calories than before, but it is working....Ive gotten good results in two weeks (in combination with diet). Im losing steadily AND Im lifting weights, and normally it is very hard for me to lose anything if Im lifting. Apparantly there is more to this weight loss forumla than calories in versus calories out because Im noticing slight changes can affect whether or not I lose. Ill updtate with my progress over the next few weeks.

Id love to hear your views on this!

[Tamrin]

Its also great to diversify your exercise plan. I do 1/2 hour eliptical, 1/2 hour walking and running.. I do my abs and arms. I about to change something now. That is giving myself a 1 day rest period.

[MonaRae]

I'm a believer of low intensity workout and for some time now I want to buy a really good heart monitor but just never purchased one. I find it hard to monitor my personal heart rate b/c the ones on the machines are for the general public so I tend not to trust them. This thread is making want one now! To ebay I go...

I'll be keeping a very close eye on this thread.

[Leslie_C]

I'm a believer of low intensity workout and for some time now I want to buy a really good heart monitor but just never purchased one. I find it hard to monitor my personal heart rate b/c the ones on the machines are for the general public so I tend not to trust them. This thread is making want one now! To ebay I go...

I'll be keeping a very close eye on this thread.

I have a polar f6 and love it. If you get one, dont get baby pink though...its gets dingy and sweaty and wont come clean:ohwell:...I wish I would have gotten a black one now. Make sure if u get a monitor that it has a chest strap because they are most reliable. The polar f4 is the cheapest and best bargain for the features u can get (target,walmart). Make sure whatever one u get allows u to put in your age, gender, and weight. I got mine for $87 (regular 110) at
http://www.heartratemonitorsusa.com/

u can use the coupon code GALAXY for 20% off and shipping is free. I was happy with them.

I considered it an investment and I use it almost everyday so Im getting my money's worth. I wouldnt suggest getting one for someone who works just out to lose a few pounds, but definitely would for someone who considers exercise a part of their lifestyle and will use it for years to come. Its right up there with my ipod nano as far as essentials for working out!

[Supergirl]

Lets have a discussion about this!

Do you all believe in the fat burning zone? What is your take on how to workout for fat loss?

I used to be a nonbeliever, but I also used to work out at a high intensity all the time and never really got the results I wanted. So a trainer at my gym told me to start working out in the "fat burning zone" because Im shooting myself in the foot by working out for long periods with my heartrate practically off the chart. I didnt agree with it, because Im a believer in burning as many calories as possible, which means u have to work harder. But she said Im burning muscle instead of fat by doing this.

My heartrate would be up in the 170s and 180s, sometimes even 190s (especially if I ran), and not for a short spurt, this would be for an extended period of time. That is wayyyyyy above my target heartrate according to the charts. They says 60% to 70%, and I was at 90% plus most of the time. Its not that Im out of shape because Ive always been like this no matter how active I was, even when I used to teach aerobics. Im just the kind of person who feels like I have to be drenched in sweat and gasping for air to get a good workout lol.

So.....reluctantly I said what do I have to lose and started to monitor my heartrate and workout at a lower intensity. It is really quite boring because in order for me to get my heartrate in the range they say to, I barely have to push myself at all. But it dawned on me that when looking around the cardio section at my gym, most people were working out at a low intensity. I never noticed while I was going to town on the elliptical, everyone around me was going at a much slower pace lol. Anyway, low and behold Im getting results from cutting my intensity down. I cant explain it because Im burning less calories than before, but it is working....Ive gotten good results in two weeks (in combination with diet). Im losing steadily AND Im lifting weights, and normally it is very hard for me to lose anything if Im lifting. Apparantly there is more to this weight loss forumla than calories in versus calories out because Im noticing slight changes can affect whether or not I lose. Ill updtate with my progress over the next few weeks.

Id love to hear your views on this!

Nope, I don't believe! I say if you were working at a high intensity, but not getting results that your caloric intake may not have been sufficient enough to meet your activity level and so your body adapts by conserving energy. (calories/food)

It IS true that in the fat burning zone, a larger percent of the calories you burn are fat calories. But at higher intensities, the quantity of calories burned is higher though the fat percentage may not be. But you WILL burn a larger amount of calories. I know that's confusing. Here's an example:

Let's say (and these numbers are made up for the sake of this example)

Fat Burning Zone for 20 minutes burns 150 calories. 50% of the calories burned are fat, so that's 75 fat calories burned.

High Intensity Zone for 20 minutes burns 200 calories. Only 40% of the calories burned are fat, but that's 80 fat calories.

80 is more than 75. See!

[cheetarah1980]

Nope, I don't believe! I say if you were working at a high intensity, but not getting results that your caloric intake may not have been sufficient enough to meet your activity level and so your body adapts by conserving energy. (calories/food)

It IS true that in the fat burning zone, a larger percent of the calories you burn are fat calories. But at higher intensities, the quantity of calories burned is higher though the fat percentage may not be. But you WILL burn a larger amount of calories. I know that's confusing. Here's an example:

Let's say (and these numbers are made up for the sake of this example)

Fat Burning Zone for 20 minutes burns 150 calories. 50% of the calories burned are fat, so that's 75 fat calories burned.

High Intensity Zone for 20 minutes burns 200 calories. Only 40% of the calories burned are fat, but that's 80 fat calories.

80 is more than 75. See!

Gotta agree with Supergirl.

[Leslie_C]

Nope, I don't believe! I say if you were working at a high intensity, but not getting results that your caloric intake may not have been sufficient enough to meet your activity level and so your body adapts by conserving energy. (calories/food)

It IS true that in the fat burning zone, a larger percent of the calories you burn are fat calories. But at higher intensities, the quantity of calories burned is higher though the fat percentage may not be. But you WILL burn a larger amount of calories. I know that's confusing. Here's an example:

Let's say (and these numbers are made up for the sake of this example)

Fat Burning Zone for 20 minutes burns 150 calories. 50% of the calories burned are fat, so that's 75 fat calories burned.

High Intensity Zone for 20 minutes burns 200 calories. Only 40% of the calories burned are fat, but that's 80 fat calories.

80 is more than 75. See!

That was my theory as well....and I was stubborn as a bull about it...but low and behold Ive been working out at a lower intensity and Im watching the scale go down steadily, when it was stuck when I was working my butt off. I dont know....theoretically what you are saying should be true, but the physiology of the body is more complex than just numbers. Im starting to think its more to losing weight than just calories in versus calories out. If you just look at numbers, as long as you burn more calories than you consume then u should lose weight but that almost never happens on a consistent basis. I was burning 600 or 700 calories in a workout every day which is enough to lose a pound a week alone...but I was not losing, as a matter of fact I gained at times. Now Ive slacked off and worked out in my range for a couple of weeks(burning half the calories) and I can visibly see a difference in my body as if Im truly losing pure fat. I cant explain it but its working. Ill see how long this lasts but if this keeps up, Ill be a converted believer LOL.

[Leslie_C]

I just wanted to add something I forgot...the trainer said i dont need high intensity cardio for fat loss because I should be getting my heart rate high during my weight training, which I do. So I burn lots of calories there as well, which can make up for the defecit for the extra calories Im not burning since Im lowering my intensity during cardio. She had me doing walking lunges, plyometrics, running up and down steps during my lower body workout between sets, and I burned a ton of calories during that. So maybe its the balance of the two (moderate cardio, and high intensity weights)?

[honeybadgirl]

so high is better?
for example, if i'm spinning with less tension going at a fast pace is better than spinning with high tension going slow(pushing the pedals)??
i gotta know...please

[Soliel185]

When I had a personal trainer he forbad me to do Spinning more than once maaaaybe twice a week tops because he said working at that high an intensity it was inevitable that I would burn alot of lean muscle as well as fat. I did alot of gravity exercises ( using my own weight for resistance ) and about 15 mins of cardio. I lost 10 lbs in a month despite the fact that I felt like I was eating TONS of food, and judging by how defined my muscles were it was mostly if not all fat. I still feel the same way about having to be drenched in sweat and gasping to have worked out but I'm trying to change my way of thinking. So I think slow steady with more resistance and a med-high heartrate but get you more results than super fast all the time. You could also try intervals which elevate your heartrate temporarily. When you start going slower again your increased metabolic rate will continue, enabling you to burn more overall calories. I think this slow steady approach may be why your resting metabolic rate stays elevated longer after a weight lifting session than it does after a really intense cardio session.

[Dogmd]

I have trained for 5 marathons... for my body, the higher the intensity of workout, the FASTER I burn fat.
I also burned fat at moderately intense workouts...it just took way longer to lose the fat.

The trick for me was to break up the intense workouts with periods of moderate exercise. I.E. - If I had to do a 6 mile run, I would run all out for 1/4 mile then jog for 15 seconds, then repeat these intervals until my workout was complete. It was tough , but it worked.

Everyone is different..so do what works for you!

[Leslie_C]

I have trained for 5 marathons... for my body, the higher the intensity of workout, the FASTER I burn fat.
I also burned fat at moderately intense workouts...it just took way longer to lose the fat.

The trick for me was to break up the intense workouts with periods of moderate exercise. I.E. - If I had to do a 6 mile run, I would run all out for 1/4 mile then jog for 15 seconds, then repeat these intervals until my workout was complete. It was tough , but it worked.

Everyone is different..so do what works for you!

thx for ur perspective Superwoman lol.:grin: What do u think dropping down to moderate instensity for short spurts did for the body? That is interesting because most people who do interval training do moderate intensity and the short spurts are high intensity... what u did was the opposite. What does training for a marathon involve? Personally I would kill over after mile 2, mile 3 tops ...and according to my heartrate monitor I should be dead as high as my heartrate would be at that point lol.

[Leslie_C]

When I had a personal trainer he forbad me to do Spinning more than once maaaaybe twice a week tops because he said working at that high an intensity it was inevitable that I would burn alot of lean muscle as well as fat. I did alot of gravity exercises ( using my own weight for resistance ) and about 15 mins of cardio. I lost 10 lbs in a month despite the fact that I felt like I was eating TONS of food, and judging by how defined my muscles were it was mostly if not all fat. I still feel the same way about having to be drenched in sweat and gasping to have worked out but I'm trying to change my way of thinking. So I think slow steady with more resistance and a med-high heartrate but get you more results than super fast all the time. You could also try intervals which elevate your heartrate temporarily. When you start going slower again your increased metabolic rate will continue, enabling you to burn more overall calories. I think this slow steady approach may be why your resting metabolic rate stays elevated longer after a weight lifting session than it does after a really intense cardio session.

ditto and thanks for the suggestion.

[honeybadgirl]

When I had a personal trainer he forbad me to do Spinning more than once maaaaybe twice a week tops because he said working at that high an intensity it was inevitable that I would burn alot of lean muscle as well as fat. I did alot of gravity exercises ( using my own weight for resistance ) and about 15 mins of cardio. I lost 10 lbs in a month despite the fact that I felt like I was eating TONS of food, and judging by how defined my muscles were it was mostly if not all fat. I still feel the same way about having to be drenched in sweat and gasping to have worked out but I'm trying to change my way of thinking. So I think slow steady with more resistance and a med-high heartrate but get you more results than super fast all the time. You could also try intervals which elevate your heartrate temporarily. When you start going slower again your increased metabolic rate will continue, enabling you to burn more overall calories. I think this slow steady approach may be why your resting metabolic rate stays elevated longer after a weight lifting session than it does after a really intense cardio session.

thanks....we usually do sprints, high tension, low tension, push hard, push fast w/low tension type of workout. i really love spinning. i'm going home today and do the firm dvd. i hear so much about it so i picked it up and will try it

[bluefolli]

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/pe100a9ce134abca9a12e1693ac93f5f0/e7aa5073.jpg.thumb.jpg
I am a perfect example...however, I have upped my caloric intake over the last month or so...so, I see 'some" progress, not as fast as I'd like, but it's coming off. My trainer also limits my reg cardio to 24 minutes max if I am doing HIIT so I don't burn off some of my muscle.

Nope, I don't believe! I say if you were working at a high intensity, but not getting results that your caloric intake may not have been sufficient enough to meet your activity level and so your body adapts by conserving energy. (calories/food)

It IS true that in the fat burning zone, a larger percent of the calories you burn are fat calories. But at higher intensities, the quantity of calories burned is higher though the fat percentage may not be. But you WILL burn a larger amount of calories. I know that's confusing. Here's an example:

Let's say (and these numbers are made up for the sake of this example)

Fat Burning Zone for 20 minutes burns 150 calories. 50% of the calories burned are fat, so that's 75 fat calories burned.

High Intensity Zone for 20 minutes burns 200 calories. Only 40% of the calories burned are fat, but that's 80 fat calories.

80 is more than 75. See!

[MonaRae]

I have a polar f6 and love it. If you get one, dont get baby pink though...its gets dingy and sweaty and wont come clean:ohwell:...I wish I would have gotten a black one now. Make sure if u get a monitor that it has a chest strap because they are most reliable. The polar f4 is the cheapest and best bargain for the features u can get (target,walmart). Make sure whatever one u get allows u to put in your age, gender, and weight. I got mine for $87 (regular 110) at
http://www.heartratemonitorsusa.com/

u can use the coupon code GALAXY for 20% off and shipping is free. I was happy with them.

I considered it an investment and I use it almost everyday so Im getting my money's worth. I wouldnt suggest getting one for someone who works just out to lose a few pounds, but definitely would for someone who considers exercise a part of their lifestyle and will use it for years to come. Its right up there with my ipod nano as far as essentials for working out!

Thanks Leslie_C! I have been fishing around ebay all day and found some really cheap ones but I want to get a good one so I'll try for one like yours.

[Soliel185]

I think it's true that if you go moderate intensity you may lose fat at a slower pace - but it's a more permanant change, and it's more noticable IMHO b/c your muscles become more visible and you lose inches as opposed to weight. When people can see your muscle definition, you are perceived as being in good shape - as opposed to someone who is "skinny fat" where they maybe physically small but lack tone and still appear flabby in areas like lower stomach, upper arms, and lower back. Muscle weighs more than fat, but takes up less space. That's why it's possible to have a low BMI and a high body fat percentage. I'd rather weigh more and be tight, then weigh very little and look flabby or weak -- but to each his own, and everyone's body is different.

[nicola.kirwan]

Bumping for more perspectives, since I'm running into this issue.

LO -60-65% MHR ~ HI - 80-85% MHR

Total Cals./per min. || 4.86 ~ 6.86

Fat Cals./per min. || 2.43 ~ 2.7

Total Cals. in 30 min. || 146 ~ 206

Total Fat cals. in 30 min. || 73 ~ 82

% of fat calories burned || 50% ~ 39.85%


Based on this chart, I see that working out more intensely burns more calories overall, but it only burns 11 more fat calories, while also burning 60 more calories from muscle. That should lead to greater weight loss on the scale, but there's really no reason at all to lose more muscle than absolutely necessary, since muscle keeps you looking good and tight.

Seems like the key is to do low intensity cardio in the fat burning zone for longer periods of time to compensate for the lower intensity of the workout.

[sunshinebeautiful]

Hmmmm.... this is interesting. I'll be watching to hear some responses.

I've been doing 30 mins weight training/30 mins cardio & 45 mins of cardio on my off days. I usually push my intensity up pretty high during cardio, but I definitely am not trying to lose any muscle. :perplexed

I've also been keeping my carbs low so that my body HAS to pull from its fat reserves during my workouts. Is this an effective strategy for fat loss?

[starfish]

For me, steady state (SS) cardio is a waste of time. HIIT-High Intensity Interval Training is a much more effective way to burn fat during and more importatnly, AFTER you workout.

Here are some links:
http://www.exrx.net/ExInfo/HIIT.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training

http://musclemedia.com/training/hiit.asp