Let's Shout Out Our Friday Exercise!!!

I would really like to recommend taking the V02 test.  I'm not sure if everyone has access to it but it is a test that was offered by the Weight Wise center in Edmond.  It's a treadmill test that took about 8 minutes and was very easy to do.  What it does is measures the amount of carbon dioxide that leaves your body with each exhale, in turn telling you at what heart rate you are burning the most amount of FAT calories.  So many people think that running your butt off and getting your heart rate up to 150+bpm is the way to burn the most calories.  My resting heart rate is in the 90's.   From this test I found that I burned 7.5 fat calories per minute when my heart rate reached 117 bpm.  As my heart rate got higher, I burned fewer and fewer calories and my body actually switched over to burning carbs which is what is needed for energy.  That's why you get really tired after you work out really hard...because you actually burned all of your food energy up and not the actual fat that already exhisted in your body.  I don't know about you but I would much rather walk at a slow steady pace and burn more calories than run around like crazy and burn less.  I have a heart rate watcch that I wear and it will beep at me if I go out of my calorie zone.  Now I know that if I walk for 1 hour I will burn over 400 calories. WOWOWOW!!!

I agree with definitely knowing your target heart rate zone and working in that zone for optimum *fat* burning. Working harder doesn't mean you're burning less calories. You're still burning calories ... just not as much calories are coming from *fat*. Like you said, it will convert to burning carbs instead of fat at an intensity level that is too high. However, I'm all for burning calories by any method possible! ; )

Here's a great LINK that shows methods of calculating your target heart rate zone for maximum fat burning. Be sure to focus on the Training Zone descriptions at the bottom of the page.