LGR Holistic Wellness

Getting rid of excess fat can be quite a challenge if you don’t follow ‘the rules.’ Eat healthy foods, exercise, sleep, don’t do this and don’t eat that. We’ve all heard it before. We all know there are various ways to burn fat, but they never seem to provide the results we want as quickly as we would like.

Some ‘rules’ may also be difficult for you to adhere to, and they all need consistency to be effective. If you’ve tried a few of them and still haven’t seen the results you desire, understanding the fat-burning zone can help.

What Is The Fat Burning Zone?

The fat-burning zone refers to the more effective burning of fat based on a certain heart rate range. The theory is that in order to burn more calories from fat stores, you need to maintain your heart rate at around 50 to 70% of your maximum heart rate when exercising. This means that you need to calculate the intensity of your workout routine.

How Is Your Heart Rate Significant To Burning Fat?

Your body gets its energy needs from carbs, fats, and to a lesser degree, protein. When you exercise, the heart pumps extra hard in order for it to help distribute oxygenated blood to your muscles. During exercise, it needs more energy, as your muscles particularly require fuel.

When blood glucose is depleted this energy comes from stored glycogen or fats which are broken down with the help of oxygen. The fat-burning zone theory promotes longer and lower-intensity exercises so that the body will seek fuel from stored fat.

How To Calculate Your Fat Burning Zone Heart Rate

The fat-burning zone heart rate is at 70% of your maximum heart rate (MHR). Your healthy MHR can be computed by subtracting your age from 220.

For instance, if you are 30 years old, your MHR is 190. To reach the fat-burning zone, you should be exercising while maintaining your heart rate at 70% of 190, which is 133 beats per minute.

You can use various tools to measure your heart rate while exercising, such as a wristband or a chest strap monitor. You can also use the traditional way, which is to count your pulse for 60 seconds.

Exercises To Do To Get To The Fat Burning Zone

To reach the fat-burning zone, there are hundreds of exercises you can do, so long as you get your heart rate up, and keep it there for the recommended duration. Some suggested exercises include jogging, cycling at below 10 miles an hour, brisk walking, and water aerobics. You can also dance or play tennis. It is recommended to perform interval training, such as walking and running combined, which will also help strengthen your cardiovascular muscles.

While there is proof that doing long, low-intensity workout routines can burn fat, it doesn’t mean that you can’t get even better results using high-intensity exercises. On the contrary, high-intensity workouts will deplete your glycogen at a faster rate, after which the body will then tap into your fat storage. That means you can burn even more calories overall and therefore achieve more fat loss in a shorter amount of time.

Any exercise can help you lose weight and stored fat and that’s good. However, the body is very efficient at learning to use less energy with repeated exercise, so to maintain the effect, the best thing to do is to vary your workout routine. Incorporate both moderate and high-intensity training into your workout plan, as these will help you get better and longer-lasting results.

A combination of various exercises, from stretching and yoga to aerobics and high-level cardio, can bring on faster fat loss that is far more sustainable. It will also prevent you from becoming bored with the same exercise routine.

In Summary

Achieving and maintaining the fat-burning zone is considered an effective way of losing fat because keeping your heart rate at 70% of your MHR means your body will tap into your stored fat. Remember to include moderate and high-intensity training to get the best results. However, it all comes down to you and your preferences and what works best for you. Find what exercises suit you and keep you motivated to keep going.