Burning Fat vs. Burning CaloriesWritten by Vernita Sherman
To lose weight and get in shape you must have a good diet and exercise regularly to burn fat. The first thing you must understand about exercise is that just because you are burning calories does not mean you are burning fat. Your main focus when you exercise should be losing body fat, and you can’t lose body fat just from burning calories. When we exercise, our bodies will start burning calories, but calories that are burned are calories from carbohydrates in our system. In order to burn calories from your stored fat, your body requires presence of oxygen. There is a certain amount of oxygen that your body needs in order to start burning fat and only way for you to measure amount needed for your own body is to keep up with your target heart rate during exercise. Please understand that if you continue to only burn calories from carbohydrates, you will lose mostly “water weight” which leads to a decrease in your metabolism. Also, think of calories that are burned from carbohydrates as your energy calories. If you lose too much energy calories then your muscles will not receive enough energy to increase your metabolism which indirectly burn fat. Therefore you must increase your calorie intake when you are on an exercise program to replace your burned energy calories. Burning Fat Calories during exercise During aerobic exercise, your body goes through several stages before it reaches point where you are burning fat. You will hear people say that you are only burning sugar (carbohydrates) not fat during first 10 minutes of exercise. This is true to a certain extent. I say this because you will continue to burn sugar past 10 minute mark if you are not working out hard enough for your body to want more oxygen; or you are working out too hard and you can’t supply your body with enough oxygen for fat burning. When you exercise you must move at a steady pace (not too fast, not too slow) so your body will utilize your stored fat (not carbohydrates or sugar) as its energy source. Also remember that just because you reached fat burning stage does not mean you will stay there. Staying at fat burning stage once again depends on if you are moving at a pace that is right for your body. Make sure that you are within your target heart rate range.
| | The Truth About Dieting and Weight LossWritten by Vernita Sherman
You may not like what I’m about to say, but dieting alone will not help you to lose weight. Watching your diet alone is not going to yield results unless it is coupled with proper exercise. You have to make a conscious effort for this. And solution for this is a workout routine. Yes there are people that lose weight just from cutting down on their fat intake, carbohydrate intake, protein intake, or calories in general; but have you seen results under their clothes? It is not a pretty sight! Without exercise (weight training in particular) your body has no way of toning up, and you could be left with near sagging skin with a non attractive shape. Also, losing weight from diets is mostly water weight loss and not fat loss. Do you want to lose water from your body and become dehydrated? Or do you want to lose Fat? The absolute only way to burn a high percentage of body fat is through exercise. The only reason why anyone should choose a diet plan is to see which one can help complement their workout program. The diet plan you choose should be one that you can stick to for rest of your life, and it should be healthy for your body. Diet is such a short term word, so think of dieting as changing your eating habits for long term. Your eating habits should provide you with enough protein for your muscles and enough carbohydrates for energy as well as other vital nutrients. Stay away from diets that focus on losing weight quickly... Not only are they unhealthy, but most of weight you lose is water weight. Once again, do you want to lose water or fat? If you want to lose fat, you most definitely will not be losing it quickly unless you know how to burn fat. Being that you are losing mostly water on these quick weight loss diets, you will soon find out that you will gain weight back just as quick as you lost it (if not faster). You must eat! If your body thinks you are starving, it will feed on your muscle tissue for energy. It is not enough to just take in enough calories each day for energy, but it is how often you feed your body calories. In order for your metabolism to function correctly, you must eat at least 5-6 meals per day. The total calories of 5-6 meals should equal amount of your daily calorie intake. Eating throughout day, gives your metabolism fuel to keep burning your stored body fat. That said, you should still cut down on your calorie intake to lose weight, but you also must know how many calories per day is right for your body. Stay away from diets that say you must eat protein and carbohydrates separately...
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