Myth about the Fat Burning Zone

Which one do you prefer? 50% of $1000 or 40% of $1500? Of course, if we are going to computes it then 50% of $1000 is $500 while 40% of $1500 is $600. For sure, your answer will be $600. However, that is the opposite when it comes to burning fat through exercise; people do just the opposite.

Now, do you think that they are just plain dumb? No! This is because they believe in the Myth Of The Fat Burning Zone.

Most people believe that there is an ideal heart rate zone where you burn the most fat. The myth all begun when some someone claiming to be an expert in fitness misinterpreted the results of a study measuring how much fat, carbohydrates and protein we use to exercise at different intensities.

Researchers have an idea of what kinds of calories are being used by hooking someone up to a machine which measures the amount of carbon dioxide exhaled. As the amount of carbon dioxide being exhaled rise, the amount of fat being burned goes down.

As the intensity, of your exercise goes up so does the amount of carbon dioxide you exhale. What does this mean? So, you are saying that as the exercise intensity goes up the amount of fat you burn goes down, as well?

It sure does. So this supports the myth about Fat Burning Zone?

It gets a little confusing, so here is an explanation to help you clear it up.

The researchers are measuring the percentage of calories being burned from fat, carbohydrate and protein at any given intensity. What they find is that as exercise intensity escalates the percentage of calories that come from fat goes down.

Now, let’s apply the mathematical question to this article. Would you prefer 50% of $1000 or would you rather have 40% of $1500? For example, you exercise for 30 minutes at around 65% of your maximum heart rate and burn about 150 calories. At that intensity 50% of calories, you just burned only come from fat. So the fats burned are just 75 calories.

The next time you exercise you settle for a higher intensity; wherein you workout for 30 minutes at about 85% percent of your maximum heart rate and you burn 213 calories. The terrible news is at this intensity only 40% of calories you burned came from fat. The good news is 40% of 213 calories is 85. That means you burned 10 more calories from fat because you exercise at a higher intensity.

If you dream of becoming thin, then you need to burn more calories than you consume to lose weight. If you workout at a higher intensity you burn more calories (and fat), allowing you to lose weight at a faster pace.