Fat Burning – Know Your Heart Rate and Energy Levels

There are a couple of things to bear in mind when you want to lose weight. There is no one thing that does it. It is a combination of exercise, mainly cardio exercise, and a healthy fat burning diet that will do it. These combined must become a complete lifestyle. Remember there is no quick fix, it took years for your body to become overweight. You should take some time and have some patience to burn fat off properly. Will power is not enough; you must have a disciplined daily routine if you want to burn fat, lose weight, and keep it off.

EIEO
No this is not the introduction of the “Old McDonald Had a Farm”; it is an anagram for “Energy In, Energy Out”. Your body gets its fuel energy from the food that you eat. Your body burns a mix of carbohydrates, which it then converts into glucose, and fat for fuel. The amount that is burned off depends on your physical activity and the food you have recently eaten. When your physical activity uses more fuel than you consume, the body then burns the stored fat and even the protein; regardless if you are exercising or not. If you are not losing weight or burning fat with your normal routine, then you have to exercise to enhance your fat burning.

Cardio Exercise.
Research has shown that fat burning or weight loss is more effective with slow, low-intensity types of exercises over longer periods of time. Try brisk walking or cycling for at least 45 minutes a day. Generally you will expend or burn more energy slowly over a longer period than you will with high intensity exercises over a shorter period.

That is what it is all about. Burning fat or stored energy.

A tool that really helps for efficient fat burning is The Heart Rate Calculator. First of all you subtract your age from 220 to calculate your maximum heart rate. For example 220-40= 180. Here your maximum heart is 180 beats per minute. Your ideal training heart rate is 60% to 80% of your maximum heart rate. If you maintain this for 45 minutes a day at least 3 times a week, you will burn fat and lose weight. The fitter you get the harder you have to work to reach your training heart rate, so this always works.

Any aerobic and rhythmic activity that uses large muscle groups and that can be maintained for the required time is recommended for fat burning. Doing regular cardio exercises will also strengthen your heart.