Forget About Burning Fat and Start Burning Calories

It's about calories and fitness. Period! Forget about the fat burning zone.

Let’s set this straight once and for all. In my opinion the fat burning zone and the Atkins diet are in the same category: designed for the lazy and a gross distortion of the facts. Do you really think that moving at a “walk through the park” pace is the best use of your “fitness” time? The Fat Burning Zone is another one of those health club propagated myths. The fat burning zone is fiction. 

The reality is that it's about the number of calories burned, not the number of those calories that come from fat as a source. The "fat burning zone" describes a level of physical exertion that results in a larger number of the burned calories being derived from fat. True, but by picking up the pace you will burn more overall calories including more from fat and increase your heart and lung work rate thus improving your cardio fitness. The fat burning zone actually describes what percentage of calories burned are derived from fat as an energy source. If you want to utilize burning the highest percentage of fat then take a reclining position on the couch and do nothing. The highest percentage of fat utilization is at rest. The more intense the exercise becomes, the more carbohydrate is used as a source, not to mention your cardio output and muscle fiber recruitment

2007 ©Greg Alario
www.FatBurningLifestyle.com