Fat Burning Zone
This blog starts looking at a common myths around fitness and health. These are called myths but some may turn out to have some truth behind them! So read on and find out…..
The Fat Burning Zone
This is one myth that really bugs me and unfortunately a chunk of the fitness industry has probably earnt a substantial amount of money on it. Let’s set the scene:
You have some excess bodyfat that you would like to slim down. A smart watch or the equipment in the gym says there is this Fat Burning Zone! Perfect!
One month in you’ve seen a little change but not as much. Six months again the same. What’s happening?
Firstly, I would hope you did see some change as with consistent exercise that increases heart rate of pretty much any nature you should see some improvement. Plus generally with exercise the majority focus in on eating, drinking and generally living better. So what’s my beef?
There is an intensity of exercise that majority uses Fats as it’s energy source, so it does exist and using a Heart Rate monitor as a guide you should be able to stick in it.
However.
What the equipment and smart watch is selling you is the belief that if you work in that zone you will purely utilise fats as the source of fuel for the muscles to perform the chosen exercise and those fat will come from specific parts of your body where you want to come from.
This is too simple, the body is way more complex than that. You cant just dictate to your body, I want to solely use fats from the excess from around my tummy/thighs/arms. If there is an easier source of available in your body it will probably take it from there. Plus not addressing the amount of food eaten will heavily dictate whether you will use the excess bodyfat or not.
Still overeating but doing exercise will cause a status quo. And this doesn’t mean overeating Fats. Fat is a nutrient. Excess body fat is from overeating everything, and research is pointing towards that being processed carbohydrate heavy foods.
In addition exercising at lower intensities will target the fat fuelling system but only if that system is working well enough. The little powerhouse factories in the cells, the mitochondria, need to be used to become efficient. Someone who is overweight, unfit and potentially with other health complications will probably find their mitochondria inefficient and potential few and far between. Therefore actually trying to get into this zone and sustain it will be very difficult and they’ll find their work rate too high, going out of the Fat burning zone. So they probably won’t be able to utilise the fats they want to.
Above is all a bit doom and gloom.
But as an excellent study (Carey, 2009) points out individuals will probably get more return from focusing on aerobic exercise than the Fat burning zone. This is slightly higher intensity than the fact burning zone. Therefore in 20mins for example more energy will be utilised in the Aerobic, ie more calories because it is more intense. Plus after finishing the exercise the is debt to be paid so the body has to work hard to replace the energy lost and recover from the stress placed on it by the exercise. This stress will be making the mitochondria better and more abundant. Therefore increasing the persons aerobic fitness.
I’ve stated before viewing exercise as a weight loss tool is a road to know where. Far more return is found by manipulating diet and focusing on the health benefits of exercise. The health benefits of exercise will end up with loss of excess bodyfat alongside a good diet and sleep.
So next time you’re in the fat burning zone think of the health benefits not the fat burning
References
· Carey DG. Quantifying differences in the "fat burning" zone and the aerobic zone: implications for training. J Strength Cond Res. 2009 Oct;23(7):2090-5. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181bac5c5. PMID: 19855335.