What Does Fat Burn Zone Mean
If you’ve ever heard someone reference the ‘fat burn zone,’ you may be wondering what it entails.
The ‘fat burn zone’ refers to a time during exercise when you’re working at a low-to-moderate intensity, or an intensity that’s roughly 50 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate .
Your body relies primarily on fat and carbs as fuel during exercise, and which fuels get used largely depend on how hard you’re working. When you exercise at a lower intensity, your body uses primarily fat for energy , as well as carbohydrates.
This is the reason why exercising at a low-to-moderate intensity is called exercising within the ‘fat burning zone.’ If you increase the intensity , your body begins using more carbs in the form of glucose and glycogen, and you are no longer in the fat burning zone.
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Why Is This Misleading
While its true that the body utilizes a higher percentage of fats with low-intensity exercises, this doesnt make slow workouts the magic pill for weight loss. Why? Targeting the fat-burning zone misses important points cardio and total calories are more important than the percentage of fat burned.
Putting It All Together
Regardless of their names, exercising in both zones leads to weight loss. Ironically enough, the cardio zone, with its higher intensities will help you burn more calories in a shorter duration. For the purpose of losing weight, it matters little whether the calories burned during exercise come from fat or carbohydrates. Focus on a challenging workout and do the satisfying number crunching over your post-workout protein shake.
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What Is My Fat
Your fat-burning zone corresponds to 60% – 80% of your maximum heart rate. While your heart rate in BPM is in this range, you will burn the most fat.
Let’s calculate the fat-burning zone of a person who is 25 years old:
Which Is Better Cardio Or Fat Burn
Heart rate differences
Fat burn mode aims to get our heart rate up to 65% of its maximum, while cardio fashion lets us go up to 85%. So, given that we work less hard in fat-burn mode, why do they call it that? Simple: At rest, we burn more fat than we do sugars.
Why does an unfit person have a higher resting heart rate? an unfit person has a higher resting heart rate than a fit person. an unfit person has a higher heart rate when they are exercising at the same intensity. did person takes less time for their heart rate to return to resting values after taking part in exercise.
What is an elite resting heart rate?
While an average healthy person has a resting heart rate of about 70 beats per minute, the more efficient hearts of most elite cyclists have a remaining heart rate below 40 and some are below 30 because they can achieve the same work with less than half the effort.
What heart rate is considered cardio? The aerobic heart rate zone is a heart rate between 70% and 80% of your maximum heart rate . You reach it while exercising at moderate to vigorous intensity.
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How Do You Calculate Your Target Heart Rate
The target heart rate is where you want to be working in order to get into a particular training zone. To calculate your target heart rate, you need to find the difference between your maximum heart rate and your resting heart rate, then you can multiply this by your desired heart rate.
< p class=”pro-tip”> < strong> Target Heart Rate < /strong> < br/> < br/> Maximum Heart Rate x Target Heart Rate % + Resting Heart Rate < /p>
As an example, someone who is 25 with a resting heart rate of 40 and wants to train at 85% of maximum intensity would find their target heart rate like this:
< p class=”pro-tip”> 220 – 25 = 195 < br/> 195 – 40 = 155< br/> 155 x 85% = 132< br/> 132 + 40 = 172 bpm< br/> < br/> < strong> 172 is the target heart rate.< /strong> < /p>
How Do You Know You Are Burning Fat
10 signs you’re losing weight
- You’re not hungry all the time. …
- Your sense of well-being improves. …
- Your clothes fit differently. …
- You’re noticing some muscle definition. …
- Your body measurements are changing. …
- Your chronic pain improves. …
- You’re going to the bathroom more or less frequently. …
- Your blood pressure is coming down.
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What Is Your Heart Rate
Your heart rate is the rate at which your heart beats. And if you monitor your heart rate during exercise, you can estimate how hard your heart is working, which is directly correlated with how much oxygen you are using.
Based on how hard youâre exercising, you can figure out which heart rate zone youâre working in. And knowing which heart rate zone youâre working in can tell you what is happening in and to your body based on your exertion levels.
Fat Burning Versus Cardio Exercise: Which Is The Best
Individuals often exercise to lose weight, build muscle, keep fit and tone their bodies. However, how fast or slow you lose weight depends on the type and intensity of exercise, diet, and other factors, including your sleep and stress levels.
The general rule in weight loss is burning more calories than you consume. This is often done by creating a calorie deficit. To lose weight, you need to increase your physical activity and reduce your calorie intake.
Heart rate is a measure of how intensely your heart is working helps determine the intensity of physical activity. When you exercise at high intensity, you prompt your heart to beat faster to circulate more oxygen to oxidize different energy sources. Therefore, it is only natural that individuals trying to lose weight will try to exercise at an intensity that keeps their heart rate within the fat-burning zone.
According to the American Council on Exercise, a heart rate that improves cardiovascular fitness falls between 55 to 80% of the maximum heart rate. Athletes and individuals trying to lose weight may benefit more from working out at higher intensities. Note that your maximum heart rate depends on age, as your heart starts to beat slower as you age.
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How Do You Calculate Your Maximum Heart Rate
In order to figure out which heart rate training zone youâre working in, you first need to know your maximum heart rate. This is the most output your heart can handle during exercise.
The easiest way to calculate your maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age. While this is a very general tool, it is not the most specific and exact. Itâs difficult to get someoneâs actual maximum heart rate, because that would require field testing someoneâs heart at their actual maximum exercise output, which is cumbersome. For these purposes, 220 minus age is a good starting point, knowing that not everyone of the same age has the same maximum heart rate .
< p class=”pro-tip”> 220 – = Maximum heart rate < /p>
As an example, someone who is 25 would find their maximum heart rate like this:
< p class=”pro-tip”> 220 – 25 = 195 bpm< br/> < strong> 195 bpm< /strong> is the maximum heart rate.< /p>
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Whats The Best Heart Rate For Weight Loss
Maintaining a target heart rate somewhere between 50 and 85 percent of your MHR during exercise is the ideal for weight loss. But sticking with a higher percentage means you’re working harder, which ultimately burns more calories, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
But what about that 70-percent target heart rate that supposedly keeps you in the fat-burning zone?
In truth it doesn’t matter whether your body burns calories from fat or carbohydrates during exercise. What matters is that you burn calories, period. And you’ll actually burn more calories when you exercise at a more vigorous intensity with a higher heart rate, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Ultimately, “you’re always burning a mixture of carbs and fat,” explains Cathy Richards, ACSM-certified exercise physiologist. “If you are working extremely hard, you would be able to burn a very high number of total calories per minute.”
That’s not to say you have to go all-out the entire time for every single sweat session in order to lose weight. Far from it.
“I’m a fan of using anywhere within 60 to 85 percent max heart rate for as long as you can go and mixing things up. Some days you could do lower intensity for longer and other days you could do higher intensity for shorter,” Richards says.
Burning Fat: Does It Really Matter
The proportional use of fat during exercise is related to training intensity. The lower the intensity, the greater the proportion of fat burned. The higher the intensity, the greater proportional use of glycogen and/or glucose . So, does that mean exercising at lower intensities is better for fat loss? On first glance it might appear so, however this is actually where the confusion begins. Proportional fat loss during exercise doesnt reveal how much total fat loss occurred, nor does it indicate weight loss over the long term.
The real question should be: What type of exercise promotes chronic/long term fat burning and weight loss? Is there an intensity level or type of exercise that is superior in terms of weight loss? Also, remember that the actual time spent exercising takes up a small portion of the day. Your entire days activity should be considered when thinking about weight loss.
After exercise, the body continues to need oxygen at a higher rate than before the exercise began. This sustained oxygen consumption is known as excessive post-exercise oxygen consumption . During EPOC, the body is restoring itself to its pre-exercise state and thus is consuming oxygen at an elevated rate. This means that energy is also being used at an elevated rate
. Current research suggests as exercise intensity increases, the effect of EPOC also increases.
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How To Calculate Fat Burning Zone
Let’s try to calculate the fat burning heart rate range for a person that is 35 years old with a resting heart rate of 60.
MHR = 220 – age
fat burning zone: –
fat burning zone: –
fat burning zone: 135 – 160 BPM
*BPM – beats per minute
Seems complicated? Not with our fat burning zone calculator, which allows you to obtain your results in just a few seconds!
The Truth Of The Fat Burning Zone Theory
This theory argues that the body burns a greater percentage of fat with lower-intensity exercises than at higher intensities because the body does not require fast energy from glycogen.
As such, this theory promotes longer and lower-intensity cardio workouts that maintain your heart rate within the fat burning zone.
However, that is a bit of a misconception. While it is true that the body burns fat during low-intensity workouts, the fat burning rate remains low and you have to exercise longer to burn the same amount of calories you would at higher intensities.
In a high-intensity workout, although your body uses your glycogen stores first for fast energy, it depletes the glycogen stores rapidly enough to force your body to tap on the fat storage.
This means that high-intensity workouts are more efficient in burning way more total calories both glycogen and fat calories.
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The Truth About Your Fat Burning Zone
As you can see, the fat burning zone is also the lowest intensity zone. Seems counterintuitive right? The reason why its called the fat-burning zone, is because your energy metabolism is primarily focused on utilizing stored body fat, instead of carbohydrates as its primary fuel source when you work out at lower intensities.
The problem with this however, is that this can easily be misinterpreted. Its a common misconception that working out at a lower intensity will burn more body fat. Working out at a lower intensity will utilize more body fat for fuel, that is true, however its really about increasing your intensity and burning more calories, which will ultimately burn more body fat.
Are There Optimal Heart Rate Zones For Lowering Glucose Spikes
Based on one study of 11 men comparing intermittent exercise throughout the dayâpre-meal exercise and post-meal exerciseâthereâs no wide consensus on which is the best to lower glucose. However, the study found that brief intermittent exercise throughout the day was more helpful in lowering glucose spikes around breakfast, specifically< sup> 4< /sup> .
This study also confirms that exercise can, and will, at any time, support lowering glucose spikes. Both low- and high-intensity exercise can blunt glucose spikes. And individuals should try different intensities to see how their bodies respond.
Once again, rather than being concerned about a particular target heart rate or heart rate training zone in order to lower a glucose spike, just get moving. Exercise enhances a glucose-stabilizing lifestyle, which is a tool to optimize your health.
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Nail Every Workout With Target Heart Rate Zones
Now that your heart rate zones are set and you know what they mean, you can work out at the right intensity again.
Using your Fitbit tracker, start a workout as you normally would. As you begin moving, no matter which PurePulse-enabled tracker you own, youll see a visual representation of your zones.For instance, in the picture above the heart is in the cardio zone. Want to work on speed? Pick up the pace. Looking to blast fat? Ease up to drop back into your Fat Burn zone. When you adjust your pace on the fly, your Fitbit tracker responds instantly.
If you see the outline of a heart but no dashes, your heart rate is below 50 percent of your max, meaning youre not in a zone. And thats totally ok! If you want to get a cardiovascular boost, just increase your intensity. Here are four ways to upgrade your walk to a workout.
Heart rate reading seem off? Follow these guidelines to increase PurePulse accuracy.
Fat Burning Heart Rate: Can You Exercise At A Certain Intensity To Burn Maximum Fat
How hard should you exercise for maximum fat burn and how can you determine the answer using heart rate data?
Working out at a certain intensity can lead to high levels of fat burn, and you can calculate this using your heart rate.
The overview of the process goes like this: you need energy to perform, energy is stored in your body as fats and carbohydrates, low to moderate-intensity exercise is fuelled by fat, while high-intensity exercise is supported by carbs.
Youre constantly burning fat for energy, but fat can be burnt at a higher rate if the intensity of your activity increases. However, if you increase the intensity of exercise too much, your body will switch from fat to carb burn, so theres a sweet spot if your goal is to burn maximum fat.
Of course, this is quite simplified , but you get the picture.
In general, your heart rate increases as the intensity of your workout gets higher, so in theory you can calculate when your body is burning the most fat based on how many beats per minute your heart is pumping at. How can you make sense of the data?
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What Are The Signs Of Fat
10 signs you’re losing weight
- You’re not hungry all the time. …
- Your sense of well-being improves. …
- Your clothes fit differently. …
- You’re noticing some muscle definition. …
- Your body measurements are changing. …
- Your chronic pain improves. …
- You’re going to the bathroom more or less frequently. …
- Your blood pressure is coming down.
How Can I Burn 1000 Calories A Day
Walk on a treadmill for 60 minutes– Your aim should be to walk on the treadmill at a moderate speed for at least an hour. This will burn about 1000 calories every day and speed up your weight loss process. You can burn 1000 calories easily within this one hour. Biking- This is a fun way of burning calories.
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What Is The Fat
Your target heart rate is a number that shows your heart is working hard enough â and that you’re burning a worthwhile number of calories â during exercise.
A person’s specific target heart rate depends on his or her age: The older you are, the lower your target should be. But generally, it should be between 50 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate , according to the American Heart Association .
Calculate Your Maximum Heart Rate
Get the formula here, plus a handy chart that breaks down average MHR by age.
Is there a certain target heart rate that encourages your body to burn more fat? The simple answer is yes.
Exercising at around 70 percent of your MHR will encourage your body to use more energy from fat, while exercising at a higher heart rate will encourage your body to use more energy from carbohydrates, according to a February 2011 review published in the journal Clinical Nutrition Espen.
Staying in the so-called fat-burning zone might seem like the best option if you’re looking to lose weight. But in fact, that’s not necessarily the case.