The Truth About Fat Burning for Weight Loss

So this is what you have heard…

“Exercise done at a low intensity, such as walking, is better at fat burning than other high-intensity activities, like running or cardio activities where you push yourself very hard.”

The truth is: not so much.

Do not fall for that nor be lazy when it comes to your work out’s. If you are; you’re just wasting your time. If you want BIG results, you have to put in a BIG effort. Do not except to lose 100 pounds in 8 months just by a walk in the park a few a days a week. Being fit just does not happen that way. In a strict scientific sense, working at a lower intensity requires less quick energy and a higher percentage of fat is burned. However, you will also burn fewer calories than you would if; you exercised the same amount of time at a higher intensity. Whether increased fat burning will result in actual weight loss depends on the total calories and the total fat calories burned. If you exercise at a low intensity, you need to increase the time spent exercising to burn more calories.

What truly matters is the total number of calories burned. Even though you burn more fat going slowly, you still burn some fat at much faster speeds or intensity. It all comes down to how much energy you expend in total.  If you burned 300 calories every day from a jogging  you'd see a bigger difference in weight and fat loss than if you walked every day for the same amount of time. When you exercise, your body burns calories from fat. It also burns calories from carbohydrates and protein. You cannot isolate the fat you are burning, but you can increase your fat burn when you intensify your workouts. The more intense your workout, the more calories you will burn from all sources, including fat. After a rigorous or long workout, your muscle and blood glucose will be much lower than before you started. Low glucose stores signal the body to burn fat favorably. After hard exercise that uses a lot of glucose, the body switches to burning fat. Example:

    Walking on a treadmill for 30 minutes -- 180 calories used -- 108 calories of fat burned

    Running on a treadmill for 30 minutes -- 400 calories used -- 120 calories of fat burned

Weight training is progressively recommended as a fat-busting tool because some professionals say having more muscle burns more energy than body fat at rest. The result: if you develop more muscle and have a higher muscle to fat ratio than before, you burn extra energy and more stored fat. One pound of muscle burns an estimated 50 calories a day, while a pound of fat burns about two calories a day.