Fat Burning Zone

Everyone wants to look good and in order to do that you need to make sure that you don't have too much fat on your body. This is where the endless hours of cardio come in. Well most people think that by just doing cardio at the hardest level possible they will burn off that unwanted fat. Well sadly that is not true and all you are really doing is getting your heart and lungs in a really good trained state. Now by no means is this a bad thing, but when it comes to fat loss it is not very helpful. That is why you want to target the fat burning zone while doing cardio.

What is the fat burning zone? The fat burning zone is the % of max intensity where your body is going to use fat as the main fuel source instead of carbohydrates. Your body likes to use carbohydrates as the primary fuel source because it is fast and easy; however, fats can be a much better source as they provide more energy for your body, it just takes longer for your body to use them.

To find your fat burning zone you want to find 45-65% of your maximum heart rate. The easiest way to do this is to use this equation:
220 - age = max heart rate
Max heart rate x.45 =
Max heart rate x.65 =

These two numbers will be your fat burning zone and will provide you optimal weight loss while exercising. Another thing to note is that like I said your body takes awhile to be break down the fat to use for energy. That means that you have to do cardio for 20 minutes before your body will start using fat for energy. That is the negative about this magic fat burning zone.

Some ways to help counter-act this negative would be to not eat a high carbohydrate meal before doing your cardio. Also it is better to preform your weight training first as this will use up your carbohydrate stores in your body first so you can then get to using your fat stores for energy while doing cardio.

There are many other ways to increase your fat burning such as proper nutrition, resistance training, interval training etc. but this fat burning zone can be rather helpful. Now if you are one of those people going to the gym to do hours of cardio just to lose some weight you can make these slight adjustments to optimize your weight loss.
http://www.livingfitaz.com