Low intensity or high intensity?

Ok... do 3500 calories = 1lb of fat or just 1lb of a mixture of things?

I ask that to ask this... which is better? Low intensity cardio that stays in your fat burning zone and thus you burn FAT, or high intensity cardio that elevates your heart rate out of the fat burning zone and ends up burning carbs/sugars?? I understand that it's all about the calorie deficit, but if you end up burning 3500 calories, perhaps it's not all fat, whereas it would be if one did low intensity cardio to stay in the fat burning zone? Confused-- please help. Thanks!

I just read about a study that was done mixing high & low intensity cardio within a workout.  The subjects that mixed it up vs. just high OR low lost a lot more weight.  I think it was 90 seconds of high intensity, then 90 seconds of low intensity throughout the workout.

I'll see if I can find the article and post it here.

There are post exercise calorie burn increase (EPOC), which is higher in high intensity vs lower intensity. This is supposed to give a fat burn advantage to higher intensity training on a per calorie burned basis. The ultimate "fat zone" workout is simple walking but you won't burn many calories and running will give you better fat loss results.

As for the best, well if you love high intensity work and can do it that's the best for you, but if you prefer running or walking than that's the best for you. That's where I'm going with this -- it's what you prefer and can stick too in the end. I mix running, walking, cycling and tabata HIIT training (along with heavy resistance training) together so I train all energy systems. My goal isn't just simple weight loss so I don't want to train one system and under-train the rest, but if you just want to lose weight then walking will work and so will 4-min tabatas a few times a week.

As for other weight you might lose, resistance training is crucial if you want to avoid losing muscle over fat. A lot of people on diet only weight loss plans lose a lot of muscle and water and find they regain the weight quickly when the diet plan ends because they didn't really lose much fat in the end. Add to this that lost muscle means lower metabolism weight and it's a recipe for yo-you dieting where you just keep getting heavier with each diet cycle.

As long as you find exercise that works for you and meets your goals you are on the right path; however, diet is the undisputed king of weight loss and you need to tailor that for you workout and weight loss goals.

First of all, there is no "fat burning zone". The concept is a marketing fantasy. You are confused because a lot of people still have a financial interest in perpetuating that myth and they keep pounding the misinformation.

The body constantly uses a combination of fuel substrates, depending on the immediate demands placed on it. Whatever short-term demands are placed on the body during exercise are evened out over the course of time. Even if you COULD "burn all fat" during exercise, it still wouldn't make any difference, since the average person only burns up a couple of ounces anyhow in a 45 min workout.

The best workout programs contain variety--a mixture of higher-intensity and lower intensity cardio combined with strength training.  Research indicates that high-intensity cardio interval exercise and high intensity strength training produces the longest post-exercise calorie burn. However, doing the same thing continuously increases the risk of overtraining, injury, and decreased motivation. IMO, it is better to follow a varied program that either alternates different workouts or cycles through different periods of training.

Here it is:

recent research found that women who cycled for just 20 mins 3x / week but included intervals lost 6 lbs of fat after 15 weeks, while those who did a consistent pace for 40 mins lost NONE.  Here's what the study suggested:

Intervals are best kept at 30-40 minutes

You can use whichever type of cardio you prefer

2-3 times a week.

For the 1st 10 mins, alternate between 30 seconds of intense and 60 seconds of moderate effort.  The intense spurts should be a 7 or 8 on a difficulty scale of 1-10 (1 being practically effortless & 10 being run-for-your-life tough).  For the moderate level, aim for an effor of 4 or 5.

For the following 10 mins, alternate between 60 seconds of intense & 60 seconds of moderate.

For the final 10 mins, alternate between 90 seconds of intense & 60 seconds of moderate.

Be sure to warm up & cool down before & after your workout!

http://caloriecount.about.com/heart-rate-fat- burn-zone-ft28756

Hello! Well, nobody seemed to address the original question.

A lb of body fat is 3500 calories. Calories equate to energy, so it's just a measure of that specific unit. If you wanted to be more specific you could find out what a gram of that body fat would be worth by dividing 3500 by 453.5924. Then you would know how many calories are in one unit of bodyfat. Which is about 7.72 calories. Again, not really relevant to anything but a statistic...

You can count exactly how many grams of fat, carbs, protein you eat if you kept an exact EXACT diary, however you can not count how many grams of fat or protein or carbohydrates you burn off during exercise because the body is complex and uses different energy depending on the type of exercise you are doing, and how and what you are eating, and what kind of supplements you are taking etc.

If you do enough exercise to burn 3500 calories, you are not just buring fat. The body always burns a combination of fats, carbohydrates and protein.

So to lose weight, basically you have to lose some fat, and some muscle etc. It will never be "all fat". It just doesn't work that way. Ultimately, try and take in 200-500 calories less per day than you require by the estimated guidelines of your metabolic rate (the calculators in this site give you). This is best achieved by being very very accurate on tracking what you eat in exact portions and by tracking your activities as accurately as possible.

Good luck!

Original Post by robynshale:

Hello! Well, nobody seemed to address the original question.

 

excuse me but did you read any of the thread posted above??  I think if you read again she asked where her heart rate needs to be staying in the fat burn zone or what -- the aforementioned thread has several links to several other links where this is all discussed.  I don't go into repeating what is already readily available in the "welcome to the fitness forum" message starred at the very beginning of this forum

Original Post by dbackerfan:

Original Post by robynshale:

Hello! Well, nobody seemed to address the original question.

 

excuse me but did you read any of the thread posted above??  I think if you read again she asked where her heart rate needs to be staying in the fat burn zone or what -- the aforementioned thread has several links to several other links where this is all discussed.  I don't go into repeating what is already readily available in the "welcome to the fitness forum" message starred at the very beginning of this forum

have you ever tried decaf?